Did you know only 21% of employees are fully productive? The rest aren't mobilized against the right goals and objectives. In this business environment, ensuring your team is aligned to an understood and compelling direction is vital to building a high-performing organization. Here's #2 in our series on building a high-performing organization in today's challenging business environment: what you need to build great strategic alignment, and the top five ways you know you have it.

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Toto, we’re not in a high-
growth economy anymore:
How to build a high-performing organization in the 21st century.
PART 2: It’s better to be aligned to an OK strategy
than to have a great strategy that nobody’s aligned to.

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seem familiar?
Your leaders and/or CEO
lock themselves in a room
and hash out a strategy. The new strategy is presented
with great fanfare: “Voila! Here’s
the strategy – now get going!”
Without further clarification, some
of your people exhibit signs of
disagreement, and seem to resist
getting to work...
Frustrated that the new strategy isn’t
being effectively implemented, leaders
gather again (and again) to address the
issues they see - without even
imagining there’s a bigger issue at
play.
… while others seem
confused about what they
need to do - and struggle
to work efficiently as a
result.
Others are excited and get
to work immediately, but
lacking clear and
consistent guidance they
wear themselves out with
lots of activity, and end up
with limited results.

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Many organizations create great
strategies in the privacy of the corner
office or corporate boardroom, with
little thought or planning about how to
get everyone on board and moving in
the right direction.
The end result? Only two employees
out of ten are fully productive - the
rest are not totally aligned to the
organization’s strategy, or mobilized
against the right objectives and goals.
you’re not alone.
Source: Corporate Executives Board, Confronting the Six Enemies of Post Recession Performance, 2010

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which leads
us to the
conclusion
that…

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… it’s better to have
an OK strategy that
everyone’s on board
with than to have a
great strategy that
nobody is aligned to.

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yeah, we said that.

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want to know what
good alignment
looks like?

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you paint a compelling picture
.
If you talk about your mission, vision, and strategy in the same old blah, blah corporate speak,
people frankly won’t remember it. But if you capture (and embody) a compelling vision of the
future, one that connects with the hearts and minds of your people – then they’ll get behind
it.
Well-stated and inspiring
strategies help teams
understand the “what” so
they can figure out the
“how” themselves.
We like Starbucks’ mission:
“to inspire and nurture the
human spirit – one person,
one cup, and one
neighborhood at a time”.
It’s an evocative image -
plus tangible ideas about
how to achieve it - in (dare
we say it?) just one ‘shot’.

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your leaders are aligned and
committed
There’s no ‘ifs, ands, or
buts’: to operate in the high
performance zone, your
leaders must be aligned and
committed to your strategy.
Sure, they may not all start
in the same place, but the
alignment process is the
perfect time for different
perspectives to be surfaced,
discussed, and resolved. In
the end, you need an
aligned leadership team
that’s personally committed
to a shared vision of the
future and a strategy for
execution.
“Our CEO’s strategy is fine and all, but I think we
should do bla bla bla instead.”

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you communicate with one voice
It’s not enough that your leaders commit to a compelling vision and a shared strategy. How
they share it matters. To ensure success, invest in a great communications strategy. Prepare
leaders, ensure consistency, and help them customize the message for their business teams.
It’s also vital that you
make sure everyone
shares the same
definition of key
words and concepts.
For example: don’t
just say ‘apples’. If
you mean Granny
Smith be sure you
spell it out - or some
of your leaders may
think you mean Red
Delicious.
How our Washington apple company ended up planting
orchards in Antarctica.

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it’s understood – by everyone
Yes, communicating clearly and consistently is vital; when done well that communication will create
real understanding. But your goal is not just to share – it’s to ensure your leaders and employees
understand the strategy and how they personally support it! Remember, you’re providing the what,
with enough clarity so that your people can make great decisions on the how!
Here’s a tip: throughout the year, check for knowledge and understanding.
Remember, when employees get behind the shared purpose, engagement soars.

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group and individual goals
are aligned
Seems like this should be fairly straight-forward, right? Yet so many companies struggle
with misaligned goals and activity overload. Help your teams get focused on the correct
future through shared goals that support the strategic mission.
Tip: Measure and
reward leaders and
employees on
results that support
the goals of the
organization.
Remember the old
adage, what gets
measured gets
done!
“…needless to say, all of our employees are 100% committed to
our mission of growing the best apples in the world. Now, here’s Bob, who’s our employee
of the year because of his really hard work pioneering new breeds of oranges.”

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say, what’s that again?
you paint a compelling vision
your leaders are aligned and committed
you communicate with one voice
it’s understood – by everyone
group and individual goals are aligned

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collect
perspectives
ok, but how do you get there?
test
perspectives
build
alignment
communicate
& drive action
• Understand your
starting place
• Capture the current
thinking and ideas
• Engage a targeted
group in the
conversation
• Test what you’ve
heard – their words,
not yours
• Analyze where you
have alignment and
where you don’t
• Develop key strategic
themes
• Share the results of
the alignment testing
• Drive alignment across
your strategic themes
through healthy leader
discussion and debate
• Communicate and
engage everyone in
your aligned strategy
• Advance your
alignment through
action planning
• Keep the conversation
going – don’t stop
after the
announcement

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Tune in next month for PART 3: How to transform
your culture to create the environment where your
strategy (and your people) will thrive.
Wait, did you just say,
“Sounds great – but
I’m not sure our
culture will support it”?

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your people = your success.
Seattle ∙ Portland ∙ Vancouver, B.C.
www.peoplefirm.com
thanks for reading.