Dr. Bill Donahue

Strategic Alignment

A Common Challenge

“We talk about ‘being on the same page’ and getting the work done, but I’m not sure we really know what that means!” “We are trying to move from a chaos to clarity during the reorganization, but we seem stuck.”  “We agree that everyone needs a place to flourish on the team – but we cannot seem to get everyone moving in the same direction – everyone has an agenda! Help!”

These statements are symptomatic of a challenge every leader faces—creating strategic alignment. That is the art (or drama!) of getting people focused and working together toward a common goal. Alignment is essential when it comes to establishing a core value, guiding change or launching a new initiative or product. Most organizations are filled with silos and brands that compete and rarely collaborate.

You know when things are out of alignment on your car when the tires wobble or the car “pulls” to one side. When it comes to strategy and leadership goals, the symptoms are:

• Lack of clear direction and objectives for the entire organization
• Leadership roles – staff and volunteer – are not delineated
• Sub-groups and ad hoc teams compete for exposure, authority and resources
• Departments do not work together to achieve the wider goals

Establishing Alignment

If you are seeing these symptoms, you team lacks either vertical or horizontal alignment—or both. Vertical alignment occurs when various teams and groups set their specific goals in line with the your overall mission. Horizontal alignment becomes a reality when departments and groups work together to accomplish these mutual goals.

The alignment process has three phases. In Phase One there is shared communication about objectives, meetings, needs, success stories, resources needed and best practices. At Phase Two leaders ensure the coordination of activities and training with one another so that resources are stewarded and everyone’s efforts are honored. No more money wasted because of duplication or people upset with too many meetings to attend, training sessions to work through or time wasted making the simplest of decisions.

And finally, collaboration describes the Phase Three—when teams help one another to achieve organization-wide objectives. Sales and marketing groups work together to build a family of products and services that the customer actually needs. R & D no longer operates in a vacuum, and end users are part of the design process, not simply evaluating the results. Then our efforts begin to get very exciting and rewarding—for everyone!

Let’s put an end to turf wars and organizational chaos. And let’s avoid becoming a collection of mini-subsidiaries that just happen to share office space at the same address, vying for control and competing for scarce resources. By creating compensation models that reward individual and collaborative performance, you force people to work across the structure, not simply within it. That means a flatter leadership structure and more shared authority.

Risky? Yes. Messy? Definitely. Effective? Absolutely.

More people are living together instead of marrying for fear of it. More guys remain single because of they cannot do it. More projects fail for lack of it. Key innovations fall short of discovery when we fail to exercise it. And most leaders know that without it, you may a well kiss success goodbye.

It’s the “C” word of the 21^st century- COMMITMENT.

And there is less of it to be found every day.

It is wise – no, it is essential – to keep your options open in a volatile economy and ever-changing marketplace. Flexibility is the new stability. Preparing for the worst isn’t enough – you have to prepare for the best. What if you succeed? What if our idea goes viral? What if we have to hire 5 people instead of 2 so we can keep up with demand?

It makes sense to stay flexible, adaptive, mobile and accommodating.

And that strength may be your greatest weakness.

COMMITMENT – not flexibility…

• got Peary to the North Pole in 1909
• drove Alan Kay and Xerox PARC to invent the laptop in 1968
• brought down the Berlin Wall in 1989

The man or woman who has been willing to embrace the “C” word is the one who sees the fruit of their labor.

Born in 1890, an era when women were to stay at home, raise kids, and tend to husbands, Henrietta Mears started a small Bible study group on the UCLA campus in the late 1930’s – at 6 a.m.! For decades to come she would teach and train COMMITTED men and women for ministry. Some of her protégés include Bill Bright who founded Campus Crusade, Dick Halverson, Chaplain of the Senate for many years, and a little known man by the name of Billy Graham.

I am glad she was committed!

In business, education, church work, or athletics it is the COMMITTED – not just the gifted – who make the biggest impact.  Are we willing to hang in there when others are bailing out?

Are we willing to pay the price, take the high road, the rugged path?

Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing. 

- Thomas Edison.

Are we just “seeming” to do – or are we doing?

Years ago, in the midst of his 18-year tenure as CEO of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, Richard Teerlink made the following comments about an emerging trend at the time – the empowerment movement. Employees, it was said, must be empowered, not just trained. Workers need the tools and resources to make decisions and determine strategies without knocking on a supervisor’s door for permission at every turn in the road. Makes a lot of sense

Teerlink agreed; but he wanted more.

“I’m all for empowerment. But we need competence first. If you empower dummies, you get dumb decisions faster!”

Teerlink wanted competence, in a team and in a leader. Core commitments and a clear sense of calling are essential for success (see my previous 2 posts in this 5-part series on Developing the Leader Within). But without competence, all the character and clarity in the world won’t get you very far.

David Gergen, an eyewitness to the leadership of four US presidents, writes on this matter. Instead of competence he uses “capacity” to refer to a leader’s ability to muster the wisdom, resources and willpower to make decisions and handle the complexities of the job. His words in the foreword of True North demand more than a few moments of reflection:

“…character without capacity usually means weakness in a leader; but capacity without character means danger.”

Character at the core is indispensable; but note also the role of competence. An incompetent leader is a weak leader. We all know leaders who have exhibited solid character – presidents, business leaders, college professors – but who lack the competence (capacity) to perform at a high level, especially under pressure.

Competence matters! Does it matter to me? To you?

Are you good at what you do?

Are you working at getting better at your craft?

Where is your growth edge?

Who gives you honest feedback about your skills and performance?

Will you identify your true strengths and use them to the best of your ability?

I hope so…we need you at your best!

Dr. Bill Donahue