In one hand you have your business plan to fuel growth and in the other, you have your ambitious goals for the future. The question is, how do you achieve those goals and decide on the process that will get you from point A to point B? This is where the strategic alignment model fits in - the next step towards making your vision for the future of your business a reality.
The strategic alignment model involves bringing your staff members and your internal teams in line with your planned objectives - essentially bridging the vital gap between strategy and execution.
This is the stage where you might realise that some of your departments are out of sync with the goals of your business, for example. It may also include the realisation that certain staff members need to take on new roles so the objectives that have been set can be reached. This ensures progress doesn’t become stagnated.
The alignment process helps you put all of these pieces into place, taking the relevant steps to ensure that a business’ divisions and employees work in collaboration towards the company’s stated goals.
Using the strategic alignment model, you can make processes more consistent on a company-wide level. Meaning bad decisions that are based on time pressures which result in failure can finally be a thing of the past.
Without strategic alignment, people in roles similar to you run the risk of spending countless hours pursuing initiatives which aren’t the right aspects to focus on at the time - even if the initial ideas are good.
If the strategy in your organisation is unclear to your employees, then there’s also the additional risk of them potentially losing faith in the mission, values and the vision of the wider business.
At the other end of the spectrum, strategic alignment can increase employee morale and their willingness to offer their best to the organisation. This, in turn, helps achieve business goals and solidifies the blueprint to cultivate a positive company culture.
By implementing strategic alignment across your organisation, you can:
Regardless of whether your business is a large one with older departments that are no longer relevant or a small business experiencing rapid growth and you want to avoid expanding haphazardly, strategic alignment can set you on the right path.
Time and Money: Strategic alignment can help a business like yours save valuable time and money. You may find that a handful of functions overlap and it would be more efficient if they merged into a single division with shared resources. Strategic alignment allows you to look at if these effective changes can be made.
Decision-Making Speed: Strategic alignment results in quicker decisions and reduced time to execute them. This means employees can focus on the business tasks that matter rather than figuring out who needs to be consulted when making decisions.
Fewer Wasted Resources: Strategic alignment clearly differentiates between activities that promote company growth and those that play a secondary role. This ensures you’re able to focus your limited resources on the actions which contribute to growth.
Increased Leadership Credibility: Leaders that can regularly deliver on promises and expectations have much greater respect from employees and internal teams. Strategic alignment improves delivery, efficiency and effectiveness, so it can also inherently improve employee respect for leaders like you.
Greater Engagement From Employees: Strategic alignment connects and communicates each employees’ work to the wider organisation’s strategy. When your team understands how their individual work links to the strategy and the role they play in achieving business goals, they’re more likely to be satisfied with their work and, in turn, they become more proficient.
How Can Strategic Alignment be Achieved?: To fully achieve strategic alignment, it’s recommended that your organisation adopts connected planning. This planning method allows you to accelerate business value while breaking down information silos to eliminate efficiencies.
Its purpose is to create one version of truth so that each role within your organisation has the right views by incorporating data, people and plans. You’ll benefit from collaborative decision-making, greater insight from collective intelligence, the ability to handle complexity, scale beyond the challenges of today and much more.
To find out more about connected planning, how it can benefit you, its many advantages, the tools you need and more, then download this whitepaper.