Strategy and Organizational Alignment with Strategy

Working with leadership we craft a strategy creation process that optimizes where the organization is and where it wants to be. The process balances the need for input and dialogue and the need for speed to market. Carol's extensive experience working with senior leadership and Boards to facilitate strategy creation combined with her education in organization development and behavior provide the attention to process, people and content issues needed to create a cogent and implementable strategy.

Our view of strategy:

• A shared agreement among the leadership of the organization on how to reach the desired future NOT another stack of papers that collects dust.
• A learning process, characterized by effective and life giving conversations, in which all possible perspectives are voiced so that informed choices about the future direction are achieved.
• A process that requires “healthy conflict” to engage commitment and accountability once the plan is created. This requires trust among the individuals involved in the process
• Implemented most effectively when it is widely and consistently communicated throughout the organization via conversations (versus presentations) that enable all employees to see what the strategy means to them and how they can contribute.

As the strategy is being created we work with you to consider success factors for implementation. We consider facilitators of strategy implementation and potential barriers (i.e. systems, structure, processes, people) and how to address them to assure the most effective implementation.

Organizational Alignment to Effectively Achieve the Strategy

A good strategic plan is necessary but not sufficient for exceptional performance.

So what makes the real difference? --- How that strategy is carried out. Exceptional, sustainable performance requires that the full organization be aligned to achieve the strategy, with organizational culture being most important.

•         Culture –

•         An invisible force that guides behavior

•         Unwritten rules of how people work together

•         Formed and changed by what leaders pay attention to, model and reward

The strategy, culture, structure and systems all impact how people behave, which ultimately determines whether and how well strategy is achieved. It is a function of how people work together, the quality of their relationships, with trust at the core.

Our approach to alignment is to identify the behavior the strategy will require; determine whether the current structure, systems, and culture support or hinder this behavior and work with our client to design the approach to change, if needed. For example, if the strategy will require more flexibility and cross-divisional collaboration, we determine whether the structure and systems currently support or hinder this behavior and identify any changes needed. We design ways for the leadership team to practice those behaviors consistently as a team and visibly with their staffs to create a model for the way it can be. Organizational culture is created and reinforced by what leaders pay attention to, model, and reward.