"Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together." -- James Cash Penney, founder, J.C. Penney retail chain
Many companies are challenged with creating genuine alignment and commitment amongst their leadership teams around critical expectations and aspirations. Unfortunately, lack of leadership alignment quickly shows up in missed quarterly results, conflict in the top team, competing priorities and a lack of cohesiveness and focus.
We believe that
- Leadership teams are a reflection of each leader’s unique background expertise, experiences, beliefs and opinions. The goal is not to get leaders to think or act the same but rather to get them to agree on and commit to a shared set of goals and objectives.
- Leadership alignment is as much about "what" leaders and the business want to achieve, as it is "how" they want to work together to pursue objectives and results.
- Leadership alignment must begin with a shared understanding of the business strategy and the underlying values that will govern how it is pursued.
- Direct communication and feedback trump systems and processes. The latter two are important but insufficient to guide and measure leadership alignment.
- Careful assessment and evaluation of gaps in alignment is essential; moving at the right pace to correct these points of misalignment is a key to success.
Our Approach
- We seek to understand the current leadership operating model to get to the bottom of the motives, actions and behaviors that are influencing effectiveness and results.
- Identify areas in which misalignment is diluting productivity. Quantify the extent of the impact on results. Establish a unified understanding among the leaders of how the organization creates value, and an approach to setting organizational priorities based on the impact on value creation.
- Ensure that a clear leadership operating model is in place that defines the accountabilities, decision-making authority, success measures and norms of behavior that will define how leaders collaborate.
- Develop the habits of focus and discipline across the leadership team to ensure consistent and relentless focus on results.
Benefits
- Improved organizational performance and results.
- Higher rate of leaders accomplishing their objectives.
- Greater efficiency and productivity in how work gets done.
- Higher employee satisfaction and engagement.
- Fewer power struggles within the organization.