Are you working more but enjoying it less? Stressed out? Overloaded? Does it feel like things are slipping out of control?
These conditions are becoming “the new normal” for leaders today; they also indicate that your organization is out of alignment:
- People are working at cross-purposes
- Turf wars break out between departments
- Everyone is criticizing or blaming everyone else
- People seem resigned to the chaos
- Many check out mentally
How can you tell if your organization is out of alignment? Here are two checklists with the key indicators. Answer Yes or No to the questions on the checklist that best describes the circumstances of your organization.
Checklist 1: Organizations in a Downward Spiral
- Your profitability is lagging your peers and prior years.
- Your revenue growth is lagging your peers and goals.
- You are losing critical, long-term customers.
- You new product innovation is behind the curve.
- Your cost structure is creeping out of control.
- Your employees are not engaged.
- You keep hearing complaints of too many top priorities.
- You are losing key talent.
- Your suppliers and business partners are not helping you resolve your challenges.
- Your workload and stress are at all-time highs.
If you answered “yes” to four or more of these questions, your organization is out of alignment.
Checklist 2: Organizations in Upward Chaos
- You are growing so rapidly that you can’t keep up with the demand.
- The quality and customer service you deliver are being heavily criticized.
- Key customers who tried your products or services have now ordered elsewhere.
- Product development is caught between fixing bugs and releasing new models.
- Your costs of fixing problems are outstripping your base cost structure.
- You are losing critical executive talent.
- Your employee attrition rate is high.
- You are hiring and promoting in shotgun fashion or breakneck pace and paying the price with lots of painful mistakes.
- You keep hearing complaints of too many top priorities.
- Your workload and stress are at all-time highs.
If you answered “yes” to four or more of these questions, your organization is out of alignment.
Most executives know one of the keys to sustained high performance is having an aligned team. Unfortunately, too few leaders know the steps to take to get there.
Core Concept
Effective executives proactively monitor early warning signals to make sure their organization isn’t out of alignment.
Additional Resources
See also our article on “How to Align Your Organization for Peak Performance” and our Alignment Scorecard to assess your organization’s current 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 online tools: Leadership Derailers Assessment, Personal Values Exercise, Alignment Scorecard. Sign up for their monthly newsletter. If you found value in this article, please forward it to a friend. Every little bit helps!
