Being in business alone is tough. Everything that you do in a company has to be a strategic decision.
Alignment is very important in making decisions and maximizing the usage of resources to build a strong business.
33% of employees don't feel like they are reminded enough of their company missions or the reasons why they come to work every day. Even though those numbers aren't very high, companies that are highly aligned with their employees have 36% higher growth than companies that aren't strongly connected.
Litmus Test 1
There is a test that you can perform to start an honest conversation about strategy and organizational effectiveness. By asking yourself three important questions, you will provide yourself with the insight necessary to facilitate activities related to your company's structure. Ask yourself:
Why do many businesses easily succeed while so many others crumble before they can get off the ground?
A key reason is a lack of strategic alignment, which means not making better forward-looking decisions and not being flexible or adaptable to changing environments in a mutually beneficial way with other organizations.
Litmus Test 2
Why do many companies only consider external environmental challenges during strategic planning?
Although it can be easy to focus on outside influences, organizations will fail if they fail to examine internal obstacles as well.
Only after effectively addressing both internal and external obstacles can an organization achieve positive strategic alignment.
Litmus Test 3
What is the company’s organizational purpose?
What the organization is trying to achieve or where it’s headed.
Strategy is how you will achieve a certain purpose and values are how you embrace the vision of your business and allow your employees to know their importance as part of a bigger picture.
Tell Tales
Misalignment has several tangible costs that directly impact a company's ability to remain profitable and competitive. These costs include:
Lost sales and lower revenue
$109M of potential revenue is lost for every $1B spent on a project due to misalignment.
Running a business can be costly and losing out on hundreds of millions in potential revenue every year is irresponsible when you're trying to reach your company's goals.
If you find that your company is spending more on various projects than planned, it may be time to think about whether there are any real concerns with the way the company is being run - because if there aren't then it could just be down to poor alignment which means the best way forward would be to start by bringing people from different areas of the business together who have experience in making important decisions.
A lack of alignment leads to significant waste and loss of productivity so it's important to deal with this problem before it gets out of hand.
Unmotivated Employees
Roughly 43% of an average knowledge worker's time is wasted on miscommunication. Miscommunication costs employers roughly $26,04 per employee as well as a fall in productivity.
Ineffective communication can be caused by cultural issues such as when people display negative behaviors that are mismatched with the company's stated values.
Hold employees accountable to your core values and don’t let them make excuses when they don’t live up to expectations or go against your rules.
This strategic vision/direction should explain how each team will be aligned with the overall vision so as to better cooperate with one another in a bid to achieve objectives more efficiently while managing changes that lie ahead on the journey using resources most effectively by working well under pressure as a team.
Optimal Resource Management
Organizations that focus on strategic alignment may be able to more effectively use their resources.
For example, in an organization where the employees are self-motivated, this can mean taking advantage of the organization’s capabilities more efficiently because they are aware of what it is that drives their orientation in their desired career path and will use their time accordingly.
Thus, the ultimate benefit is efficient asset management allows you to do more with fewer resources. It consolidates all project-related data and documents into a central database with real-time updates.
Better Agility
Strategic alignment allows companies to make better choices regarding matters of goal planning, by helping them identify specific areas for improvement as well as what practices need to be emphasized in order to achieve this success.
As such, it's important when developing a long-term plan for the organization that decision-makers understand how the plan can contribute to fulfilling overall corporate goals so they know where and how to focus on steps, tasks and short-term deliverables that will ultimately aid long-term goals, including the following:
- Increased focus on high-value activities within a team. - Reduced ambiguity and confusion about what a team is working on and why - Lower payroll costs because a company needs fewer people-hours to get the same work done
Accurate reporting is a vital piece of measuring success. In strategic organizations where members regularly check-in, we can assess their progress using up-to-date progress reports that assist us in making timely changes if wanted.
Strategic alignment, for us, means that all elements of your business – including your vision and mission as a company and the way you actually do things day-to-day—are organized so that they can help fulfill your company's purpose.
While a company's purpose generally doesn't change, what strategies it employs and the way its employees are organized can. This makes any efforts to try and align strategy with organizational structure feel like an uphill battle that might never end.
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