October 22, 2020 7 min read
The opinions expressed by the entrepreneur’s contributors are their own.
This is the first in an exclusive series of articles from Total Alignment authors Riaz Khadem and Linda Khadem, entitled “The Alignment Factor”. Check back every Thursday for new rates.
Every business owner knows that market alignment or external alignment is critical to the success of the business. But what about the internal alignment? Internal alignment is just as important and includes the alignment of employees in an organization to work efficiently and collaboratively and to achieve the company’s purpose.
The orientation of people has two different characteristics: orientation towards a center and orientation towards movement. The first is mainly in the realm of thinking; the second in the field of action. In accordance with the center, people’s thinking is focused on a single point of reference. In accordance with the movement, people’s talents and energies focus on activities related to the implementation of strategies to move the organization towards its vision.
Successful startups are a good example of centering around. The cohesion with a center manifests itself in the leadership of the entrepreneur. The entrepreneur’s mission becomes everyone’s mission, and centering is assured. The entrepreneur’s keen sense of the needs of the market leads to a vision for the future and a strategy to achieve it. The vision and strategy set the direction for the movement of the workforce.
Related: The 4 levels of organizational alignment
If the company is successful, the momentum created by this dual alignment spurs a significant amount of growth and success, which further reinforces the alignment with the center and movement. Most successful startups have an alignment condition because the two alignment conditions exist at the same time.
Misalignment challenges
As a company continues to grow and expand, misalignment inevitably creeps in. Things are getting more complex and there are many problems. For example, financing growth can be difficult. Keeping up with the needs of a changing marketplace is challenging and the inability to obtain timely and relevant key information to make decisions becomes an obstacle.
As a company continues to grow, the need for financial resources and new talent often dilutes the control and even influence of the original founder. Alignment is soon lost as new voices are heard and new people bring their own vision and input. Often the new perspectives are what the company needs, but how does the internal alignment survive all these transitions? The entrepreneur is unable to maintain the dual dimensions of internal alignment.
As the organization grows, so does the challenge of misalignment, overt or covert. Misalignment slows the organization’s progress and disempowers the dedicated team, while encouraging personal agendas for individuals. Many entrepreneurial organizations fail to scale up.
The alignment solution
A new structure is required to support the organization in this scale-up process. It is advisable to avoid the trap of adopting old structures and management practices where misalignment can easily occur and thrive. A fundamentally new infrastructure is required to deliver on the company’s promises and value proposition in a state of alignment. A number of transformation processes will be required in order to build this infrastructure and use it to navigate through the scale-up phase of growth.
The transformation process must begin with the entrepreneur and the top team involved in a meaningful conversation with everyone involved. At this stage of expansion, a new mission and core values should be defined to serve as the new center of alignment. Approval for this center is guaranteed when all parties are involved and contributes to the creation of the mission and values. The same team should work on formulating a shared vision for the future and strategies for realigning the market. The vision and strategy resulting from such a process determine the direction of movement for all employees.
It is important to protect the alignment process from misalignment. The alignment must not be forced. True alignment is achieved naturally through active participation, involvement, and understanding. In addition, those involved in this alignment activity need to know that alignment promotes, not diminishes, everyone’s creativity. Creativity and innovation are the necessary elements of growth. In an aligned state where the direction of movement is clear and responsibilities are established, the individual’s creativity is focused more on increasing the speed of movement than on flowing freely.
The value of the process of building an approximation infrastructure needs to be clearly understood and agreed to ensure the genuine participation of all parties. Without understanding and full acceptance, the process will not really lead to alignment. Personal opinions abound and they should be channeled in a constructive flow to contribute to the transformation process. Because of this, facilitating the process must be done with care, patience, and respect for every point of view. A positive and attentive approach to moderation ultimately wins any natural resistance to these efforts.
The role of methodology
Having a methodology in place is key to implementing the internal alignment. With a solid methodology that everyone understands, it is far easier to combine different points of view than to exchange different opinions without a methodology. It is far easier to enable consensus in a group consultation, for example when there is a set of ground rules for the discussion that everyone accepts.
With the right methodology, the following results should be achieved: an inspiring mission, vision and values; creative strategy; clear accountability; cross-functional collaboration; Access to data; improved skills; and the ability to add value to customers.
What is the alignment like?
In a state of alignment, the organization has an inspiring mission guided by core values that are never violated. The mission is not just to make money. Rather, it is about offering services or products that contribute to human prosperity. Mission gives everyone a sense of their work, a reason to strive for excellence.
The organization has a vision of success and goals for the accomplishment of its worthy mission. Goals are challenging and require effort and creativity to achieve. A strategy to make the vision a reality has been developed based on a solid strategic process and the involvement of the organization’s strategic thinkers.
The strategy for achieving the vision set the direction for all employees. It is a roadmap to success that is specific enough that each employee can find their clear path to success, but is flexible enough to change with the changing external environment.
In an alignment state, each individual contributes to the implementation of the strategy (vertical alignment) and works together with others (horizontal alignment). In a state of alignment, there is a rhythm of conversations in teams and between employees to advise on progress, create action plans, take action, and then think about actions aimed at maintaining alignment and moving the organization towards its vision .
Related Topics: Getting Employees To Tell The Whole Truth When You Need To Hear It
The state of alignment has immense power and will allow the entrepreneurial organization to stay united, survive the difficult scaling phase, and emerge as a recognized player in its market with extraordinary success. It has the power to bring about positive change based on the fulfillment of its well-defined and worthy mission while holding on to meaningful core values.
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