If
I were to ask members of your executive team to identify your company’s
top three strategic priorities would their answers actually match?The November 2013 issue of Inc. Magazine reported that 64% of executives think their top teams are aligned, but in truth, alignment happens in only 2% of companies. There was even less consensus when executives were asked about their company’s value proposition, according to Inc. Navigator CEO Brent Sapp.
This was not news to me. In 1992, I was challenged by the president and chief executive officer of an office furniture manufacturer to justify why he should support and fund a leadership offsite. In the meeting with the president were members of his executive team. I requested permission to demonstrate just one value of a leadership offsite. He agreed and I gave the five executives three post-it notes. I asked the team to write the company’s top three strategic priorities on the post-it notes. I then asked the president, how likely is it for the team to pick the exact same responses? He told me the responses would all be the same. He learned quickly that two-thirds of the team members were misaligned.
I then asked the president what the value would be to the company and shareholders if after one leadership offsite, the leadership team was not only aligned to the strategic priorities of the company but also aligned with the critical leadership competencies necessary to fully execute the actions required to achieve the strategic priorities. Needless to say, that leadership offsite was supported and funded and the result was the 100% alignment of strategic and operational priorities.
Twenty-one years have passed and the same issue of misalignment is rampant in many organizations. Don’t believe it? Then test it in your organization! This process will work at the executive level or any level of the organization. Just follow this simple process.
1) Give each participant three post-it notes.
2) Identify the focus question and write it on a flip chart or white board.
- Executive example: What are the company’s top three strategic priorities?
- Function, department or team example: What are the top three goals that our department or team must achieve this year?
3) Without discussion, direct the participants to identify one response per post-it
note. After the participants complete the assignment, ask this question: How likely is it that we will all have the same three responses? Lead a brief discussion.
4) Have the participants individually bring their post it notes to a flip chart, white board, or wall and identify their responses to the group. Then ask the group to organize the responses by agreement in rank order.
5) The executive or leader in charge of the team does not share his/her responses. His or her responses are the correct response and are shared last.
6) Have one participant review the rank ordering of the responses with the group. Lead a discussion about the level of agreement and disagreement.
7) Have the leader of the team share his/her response. This sets the stage for the leader to discuss the level of alignment and areas of misalignment. Facilitate a discussion with the intent to reach an agreement on the importance of alignment, and identify actions that the group can take together or individually to make sure they stay in alignment.
This activity is critical if your organization is to achieve its strategic priorities, or if your department is to achieve its goals. Navigator CEO Brent Sapp said, “The importance of transparency is clear (75 percent of leaders surveyed called it critical), but growth has a curious way of clouding your team’s collective view.” The organization that survives, Sapp says, “are those that block out the noise and focus clearly on exactly what customers hire their company to do.”
Remember, employees spend time and resources on those actions they deem most critical to their success. Make sure those actions are aligned with the strategic priorities and/or department goals. Tell them to ask themselves each and every day if the task they are performing is in support of the strategic priorities or department goals, and if not, why are they doing them?
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