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Volume 2.2 Table Of Contents
- Align your business to accelerate progress
- Trend Watch: Security standards for outsourcing increases the need for alignment
- Digging Deeper: Check organizational assumptions before making changes
- Ask the Business Performance Expert:
- Speaking of Success:
Align your business to accelerate progress
Perhaps, like me, you’ve seen situations where a leadership team spent a great amount of resources, time and energy crafting and introducing a thoughtful vision and mission statement. To support it they brought in new people, and launched new processes and systems. They're doing all the right things, yet a few months later these statements exist only on walls and in annual reports. Nowhere are they evident in the everyday activities of the organization.
Why does the problem exist? It’s because these elements are working at cross-purposes with each other. While strategy, people, process and systems must all be in place, it’s the continued alignment of these components that leads to high performance results. Alignment is especially important if your company outsources functions or is an outsource provider (see Trend Watch below).
To find out more, read the complimentary white paper Why Companies Can Do Everything Right and Get the Wrong Results. You’ll learn about three steps for aligning strategic issues with organizational reality issues, so that the right things happen at the right time in the right way to accelerate progress toward your vision.
Trend Watch: Security standards for outsourcing increases the need for alignment
In a special section “Outsourcing Trends to Watch in ‘05” (Fortune Magazine, March 21, 2005), author Michael F. Corbbett reports that government and industry groups are working together to develop strict security standards and laws. This occurs as companies across industries outsource an increasing number of functions.
According to Corbbett, “Outsourcing raises the bar on security, and any supplier that wants to be part of a global services supply chain had better meet the security standards of the most demanding customer anywhere along that chain.”
The new legislation is designed to ensure that companies do a better job of protecting their data, intellectual property and physical assets. This means that regardless of the size of your company, if you are part of a global supply chain to customers in a highly regulated industry (such as healthcare), you may need to make substantial changes to comply with these new standards.
When making security related changes, keep in mind that even small adjustments in systems and technology can have substantial impact upon company-wide processes, people and strategy. Adopting the practice of regularly aligning these areas as you make changes can help sustain your organization’s speed and effectiveness.
Digging Deeper: Check organizational assumptions before making changes
Many leaders believe that when there are a large number of changes to make, it’s best to introduce them all at once and “get it over with.” However, if internal and external stakeholders (such as outsource providers) don’t have the capability or willingness to make changes happen on your schedule, even the best-laid plans can end up on a roller coaster ride to nowhere during execution. How can you avoid being blindsided by unexpected and persistent problems when making changes?
Even when the adjustments you need to make seem to impact only one area of your business, it’s critical to test assumptions about the company-wide implications for people, processes, systems, and strategy. For example a required change in security in one area may dictate the need to hire and train new people, reconfigure your facilities, and change long established processes in other parts of the company. If these changes occur in the middle of a product launch, for example, they could unexpectedly delay the launch date.
When you uncover your assumptions about the impact of even seemingly minor changes before making commitments, you can gain a better sense of your organization’s true capability and willingness to make the changes happen. This enables you to address issues as early as possible and more effectively make changes in a way that keeps your company in synch and delivering on its promises.
Ask the Business Performance Expert:
Q: "We
have a long established relationship with a highly
specialized outsource provider who is critical
to our product development efforts. We can see
that it’s necessary for them to change their
processes to stay aligned with us. Unfortunately,
they don’t see a need to make changes. What
can we do to break out of the gridlock?"
A: One of the biggest challenges
of alignment is that from each individual’s
perspective, they believe they are doing the right
things. This is especially true with outsourcing
relationships, where each company’s practices
make sense in their own context. Using the three
steps of alignment,
- Set a dedicated time and place to listen to each other with the objective of mutual understanding. When there is a lot at stake, a skilled facilitator can be beneficial to the process of strategic thinking and planning*. Using specialized knowledge and tools, the facilitator can help participants break through stubborn issues and make new decisions for moving forward.
- Once you’ve achieved mutual understanding, tap into your colleague’s concerns and interests to negotiate their buy-in. For example, you may be able to demonstrate that the change you’re proposing could actually increase their revenues. Keep in mind, however, that as with any negotiation, you are also going to need to be to be flexible on some issues to accommodate their needs.
- Once you’ve agreed upon a solution, the final step of alignment is to set checkpoints and milestones as a roadmap to keep your agreements and plans on track. With each evaluation, you’ll both have the opportunity to make adjustments and keep your progress headed in the right direction for each company.
*To learn more about BAI’s strategic thinking and planning services call toll free (877) 612-1228 or contact us.
Quote: "It is admirable to climb the ladder of success...just make sure it's leaning against the right wall."
---- Rick Pascal, Rick Pascal & Associates, Inc., Packaging Recruitment Specialists