Organizational Alignment

Organizational alignment is the process of implementing strategies and philosophies to ensure that each member of an organization, from entry-level positions to executive managers, shares a common goal and vision for the success of an organization. Organizational alignment allows the members of an organization to work together to achieve common goals while communicating honestly and maintaining accountability across departments.

Why is organizational alignment important?

Organizational alignment is crucial because it helps to encourage collaboration and a mutual pursuit of company goals, which has several long-term benefits to the success and productivity of an organization. Organizational alignment may also improve the happiness of employees and improve customer experiences. All of these things contribute to:

• A healthy workplace environment
• An improved brand image
• A decrease in employee turnover
• An improvement in client and customer relationships
• An increase in productivity
• A positive company culture
• An increase in customer loyalty

Benefits of organizational alignment

There are several benefits of organizational alignment, including:

Enhanced collaboration

Organizational alignment encourages collaboration across entire organizations. When cooperation and teamwork improve, productivity and efficiency may also improve. Encouraging team members to work together to achieve a common goal helps your organization more successfully achieve its objectives, increases employee satisfaction, and promotes interdepartmental relationships, which could lead to creativity and innovation.

Decision-making

Organizational alignment may clarify team members' responsibilities and decision-making authority, resulting in faster decision-making by preventing delays due to indecisiveness or confusion about communication channels.

Optimized roles

An aligned organization may encourage employees to work within the scope of their capabilities. Often, organizations that use alignment in their business operations delegate responsibilities based on the talents and skills of their employees. Organizational alignment can help maximize each team member's talents and ensure they contribute as effectively as possible to achieve an organization's goals.

Improved self-governance

A well-aligned organization may encourage its team members to work more independently and exhibit an improved sense of self-governance. Organizational alignment allows for a better understanding of their responsibilities, prioritizes their tasks, and helps them make more informed decisions based on the organization's common goal. Instead of waiting for direction, employees may feel more empowered to make decisions and complete tasks with little or no supervision. 

Positive company culture

An aligned organization may help to promote positive and dynamic company culture. When the organization focuses on mutual success and working together to achieve common goals, it can boost morale and contribute to the emotional fulfillment of its employees. In turn, increased employee satisfaction may lead to more long-term relationships, less employee turnover, and enhanced job performance. ;

How to achieve organizational alignment

Consider following these eight steps to achieve organizational alignment:

1. Create a sense of urgency

Before implementing organizational alignment into your daily operations, it's essential to create a sense of urgency among the staff and decision-makers. Consider ways in which you can express your observations and how organizational alignment may help contribute to your organization's immediate success. To do this, you can request meetings with executives and managers, compile your observations and thoughts into a newsletter, or encourage leadership members to research the benefits of organizational alignment.

2. Commit to change

After deciding that organizational alignment benefits your organization, committing to change is essential. It's tempting to rely on old company habits to maintain productivity throughout the transition into organizational alignment. However, do your best to remember that the effort of implementing these changes may contribute to the long-term success of your organization. Furthermore, if your team members see your commitment to change, they might be more willing to develop new habits and adapt to the process of organizational alignment.

3. Define goals

Achieving organizational alignment often involves setting clearly defined, specific goals for your company. Having an advanced understanding of the goals you wish to accomplish through alignment could help you make more informed decisions about how to implement changes in your organization. There are a few questions you may ask yourself to determine your objectives and reasons for seeking alignment, including:

• In what areas is our organization well-aligned?
• In what areas does our organization's alignment need to improve?
• How can alignment benefit our organization?
• What are the long-term effects we hope to see from organizational alignment?
• How will organizational alignment alter our current practices?
• How will we measure success while seeking alignment?

4. Communicate goals

Once you've decided on the objectives you hope to achieve through alignment; you may communicate your goals with the entire organization. It's vital that each team member fully understands the common company objectives and how their roles could contribute to collaborative success. To communicate your goals, send a newsletter or email or schedule meetings to discuss upcoming changes and clearly define goals for each department. Whichever method of communication you choose, be prepared to clearly explain the differences and expectations of your new ways of alignment and answer any questions your team members may have.

5. Identify and remove barriers

Identifying and removing any barriers in your current practices that may prevent you from achieving organizational alignment is essential. Barriers may include:

• Current policies and procedures
• Issues in communication
• Employee habits
• Organizational structure
• Cultural challenges
• Understanding these barriers can help you determine the best way to remove them, such as altering policies or enrolling your team members in communication training and workshops.

6. Celebrate short-term accomplishments

While transitioning into an alignment model, you must celebrate small or short-term accomplishments. Doing so may help to encourage your team members, increase company morale and motivate them to continue implementing methods of alignment into their daily responsibilities and interactions. Consider showing your appreciation of their cooperation by publicly praising their alignment efforts or offering rewards for their achievements.

7. Continuous Improvement

As your organization transitions into alignment, do your best to continue seeking means of improvement. You may not execute organizational alignment flawlessly at first, but try to understand that it's okay to adjust your procedures as you see fit. Implementing organizational alignment may help you learn about areas of improvement of which you were previously unaware and could help you determine which adjustments are most beneficial to your success.

8. Establish company culture

Once your organization has successfully aligned, it's important to maintain alignment by fostering your new company culture. For example, you could rewrite employee handbooks, policies, and procedures to reflect your unique values and collective goals. You may also include alignment training in the onboarding process of new employees to ensure your organization maintains long-term alignment.