For many people, when the word alignment is said, the immediate thought usually revolves around vehicles and tires. Most drivers know misalignment with tires causes excessive wear, creates a potential driving problem and ultimately increases replacement costs.
Businesses also suffer from misalignment specific to their processes. This lack of alignment is showcased in “Fail-Safe Leadership: Straight Talk About Correcting the Leadership Challenges in Your Organization,” a book by Linda Martin and David Mutchler.
The authors created a vignette all too common for many small businesses. The CEO wanted to achieve a frequent goal: Increase sales. But his C Suite team are all engaged their processes and those processes unknowingly work at a cross purpose.
To illustrate, the vice president of human resources decides to upgrade training on all existing machinery. However, the vice president of operations realizes he must replace 50 percent of existing machinery with new equipment. Then the vice president of finance decides to cut the budgets to human resources and operations. All believe their efforts would achieve the CEO’s goal to increase sales.
In businesses regardless of size, the authors contend there are basically three levels of alignment:
Level One is where an expensive vision statement has been created. Unfortunately, creation and adoption of that vision by 100 percent of the employees are two entirely different behaviors.
Level Two is represented by the previous vignette. There is a vision. The C Suite knows it and yet their actions produce the opposite intended results.
Level Three alignment is happens within the strategic planning and thinking process. A three- to five-year vision is established and is followed by the mission for the current year. Then critical success factors are determined with smart goals leading toward the desired results.
During this strategic planning and thinking process, executive leadership also provides the opportunity for all employees to participate in creating the values statement for the organization. Leadership is responsible for the consistent monitoring of all behaviors.
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Alignment is the responsibility of executive leadership. Failure to secure the desired results, be it increase sales, improve customer loyalty or retain high performing employees falls directly at the feet of leadership and no one else.
Next week: Exploring at Lean Thinking within the businesses processes
Leanne Hoagland-Smith is an author, speaker and executive coach. Her weekly column explores issues that impact the bottom line of firms with fewer than 100 employees. She can be reached at 219-508-2859.