Article Summary:
Most organizations aren’t aligned, reducing performance and causing frustration and dysfunction. Complete our Alignment Scorecard to gauge your organization’s alignment.
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Most organizations aren’t aligned. As a result, workers are frustrated and the organization underperforms, sometimes badly.
Signs of Misalignment
When organizations aren’t aligned:
- People lack a clear and inspiring sense of why the organization exists and where it’s going.
- There isn’t enough collaboration or trust.
- Cross-functional cooperation is lacking.
- Clear goals are missing.
- Workers don’t understand how their work fits into the overall efforts to achieve the collective vision.
- People aren’t actively engaged.
- The organization doesn’t hire and promote the right people.
- The organization lacks a good balance between its formal structure and fluid efforts to exploit opportunities and correct problems.
- The organization has ineffective and inefficient processes, systems, and policies.
- People aren’t clear about who will do what by when.
- There isn’t enough accountability for—or for violations of the shared values.
- People lack visibility into what progress in being made due to a lack of clear metrics.
- Communication is insufficient, leading to confusion and frustration.
- People aren’t as proud of the organization as they could be.
Is your organization aligned?
Use our Alignment Scorecard to find out.
Alignment Scorecard
When organizations aren’t aligned, it can reduce performance dramatically and cause frustration and dysfunction. With this Alignment Scorecard, you can assess your organization’s level of alignment and make plans for improving it.
The Benefits of Alignment
The benefits of alignment are numerous. Alignment:
- clarifies the elements for success
- focuses people
- eliminates waste
- reduces complexity
- connects people and departments
- builds trust
- provides ongoing feedback
- motivates people
- fosters teamwork
- instills discipline
- builds commitment
- unleashes talent
- reinforces the culture
- creates the conditions for flow and peak performance
Alignment can lead to peak performance.
(See our article, “How to Align Your Organization for Peak Performance.”)
Summary
Alignment is a collaborative leadership practice moving from the long-term of why the organization exists to the short-term of “who will do what by when?” Our ten-step alignment model includes purpose, values, vision, goals, strategy, people, structure, processes, action plans, and communication loops.
Figure 1: The Alignment Model (Vanourek and Vanourek)
Whenever a group of people becomes aligned, the chances for success improve dramatically. Alignment fosters multiple, empowered leaders throughout the organization. It also fosters teamwork and precludes excuses by providing continual, relevant feedback.
Once you work in an aligned organization, you’ll never want to work anywhere else.
Reflection Questions
- Is your organization aligned?
- Have you surveyed your entire organization to get a fuller sense of their perspective on your organization’s alignment and how to improve it?
Tools for You:
- Leadership Derailers Assessment to help you identify what’s inhibiting your leadership effectiveness
- Personal Values Exercise to help you determine and clarify what’s most important to you
- Alignment Scorecard to help you assess your organization’s level of alignment
Alignment Scorecard
When organizations aren’t aligned, it can reduce performance dramatically and cause frustration and dysfunction. With this Alignment Scorecard, you can assess your organization’s level of alignment and make plans for improving it.
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Bob Vanourek and Gregg Vanourek are leadership practitioners, teachers, trainers, and award-winning authors. They are co-authors of Triple Crown Leadership: Building Excellent, Ethical, and Enduring Organizations, a winner of the International Book Awards. Check out their Leadership Derailers Assessment, complete their Personal Values Exercise, or sign up for their newsletter. If you found value in this, please forward it to a friend. Every little bit helps!
