According to a recent study by The Economist, 89% of people in business say that formulating strategies appropriate for changing market conditions is very important or essential for competitiveness. But to practice effective strategy alignment, you’ll want to remember these three things:
- Don’t treat your mission, vision, and values as a strategy unto itself. When we look at strategic alignment, it is important to look beyond simply what the company stands for and look towards the future and what the company wants to be. Your mission, vision, and values are very important to the formulation of your plan, but don’t mistake them for the plan itself. Instead, a great strategic plan goes beyond ideas and focuses resources, operations, and stakeholders with common goals to achieve profitability. Once the business environment harmoniously aligns with your human resources and their role within in, that’s when you can expect great results!
- Just because you’ve communicated your strategy doesn’t mean the work is done. Social media has forever changed the way that businesses view their employees and communicate with their stakeholders, so the actions of businesses are now more visible than ever before. This is a double-edged sword, especially when it comes to communication of strategy, because communicating the idea is not exactly the same as true alignment and understanding. Good businesses go beyond the theory and apply the strategy in a tangible way by helping their employees understand how they fit into the bigger picture. Real strategic alignment happens when your people truly understand how their actions affect the business and the other stakeholders.
- Don’t assume your current workforce already has the knowledge and skills to execute any strategy. This is the granddaddy of all mistakes. Believe it or not, as an owner, operator, or employee of a business, you may not be in the best position to know how to create strategic alignment within your business. Though you may know your business inside and out, it helps to have an outside perspective to ensure all the pieces fit together properly.
At Achilles Group, we have a team with the knowledge and abilities to put your whole business in perspective and align all your strategies to achieve the results you desire. We align people with strategic business objectives, because We Are Professionally Human!
