ELEVEN

Actions for Alignment

Change and growth are the result of striving for self-knowledge and realizing our choices.

I once joined a multinational company to assist in a global rebranding I effort. The company had 12,000 employees worldwide. Although the majority of its employees worked in North America, it had an operations or sales presence in a host of nations around the world. The team charged with the rebranding effort discovered that not everyone was as committed to the strategy as those at headquarters. My task was to help facilitate the conversation to align everyone to the effort and move the rebranding forward across the international group.

While the company's culture leaned toward expertise, it never clearly articulated this or communicated it well across the company. It had a vague set of values established at its inception several years’ prior, yet not much attention had been paid to it as the company rapidly grew. This resulted in misaligned practices and mixed messages. There were also a number of subcultures, particularly in its technical facility in France and several European marketing and sales offices.

The executive responsible for the project realized that the branding effort would only work if it aligned to the culture. While the logo was already chosen and aspects of the brand management project were well underway, the further the company moved down the path toward the international rollout, the more the misalignments surfaced. This was very apparent in relation to the description of the new brand narrative. The executive, realizing this, took the initiative and began a conversation to align everyone to the new brand identity. He scheduled a multiday meeting in Europe and invited representatives from all over the world to attend and participate in the conversation. The meeting was designed to create alignment to the effort. While it might not satisfy everyone, it would assure that the worldwide branding and marketing efforts were aligned and the effort would succeed.

At the meeting, I began by asking four very simple questions about the rebranding effort: What's working? What isn't working? What does this tell us? And, what is needed to create success?

Answers to the first question included comments about the new logo, which they agreed was a big improvement, insights into how it would be perceived, and their appreciation that someone was asking them for input.

The list of answers to the second question was much longer. It included comments about the lack of communication, lack of involvement, lack of any exchange of ideas—rebranding was just another directive and some of the language used would not work well in Japan and Italy, and so on.

We then explored what this was telling us and talked about alignment and how to successfully manage the challenge of the change. We also discussed their emotional response to the change, the transition they were undergoing, and what was important to them going forward. The executive leading the effort did a remarkable job listening, asking questions and helping to create an openness required for the exchange of ideas. In an expertise culture, it's good to ask the experts for their insights. By the end of the first day, the energy was shifting, and ideas were beginning to emerge. On the second day, the group took on the fourth question, collaborating to create a strategy, identifying the priorities for immediate implementation, and setting a plan for the worldwide effort.

An added benefit was the insight the group generated about the company's misaligned culture, which also increased their understanding of its subcultures and how to better manage them relative to the company's expertise culture. Within 18 months, the company gathered 300 of its key leaders at a leadership summit, where they identified the company's core values and aligned its leadership and its culture to its brand.

It is always valuable to pay attention to what the members of the team or organization communicate about what's working and what's not. It provides insight into what alignments are present and where the misalignments are.

GOING FORWARD

Inevitably, alignment begins at the top, with leadership's commitment and pursuit of the goal. The responsibility and accountability resides with them.

As the example demonstrates, any part of an organization or any individual team at any level can take the initiative to align. It will greatly benefit the work of that particular team or group and should be communicated and shared with the company's leadership.

Companies with boards of directors should make sure they are part of the process. When a board of directors or advisory board is misaligned, it can have a domino effect throughout the organization. The purpose of board members is to benefit a company by presenting their points of view based on their experience, expertise, and individual wisdom. An aligned board can be powerfully productive.

How to go about aligning a company or team is in the framework. Examining how different cultures plan and organize will provide insight into the approach that will give you the best result. Trust the process and remember that the best way to effect change is by leveraging what is already present in the culture.

First, familiarize yourself with the system for alignment. Begin to assess the business and identify the opportunities for alignment. Identify who in the organization should participate. Answering this question may provide immediate insight into your culture and leadership's orientation. Next, begin the process of assessing and creating your alignment strategies. The pursuit of alignment forces you to ask the difficult questions and confront thorny issues and sacred cows. It also provides ample opportunity to determine what new strategies fit and to weed out those that will likely not work. This will save time and resources and create trust in leadership.

One of the greatest outcomes of the pursuit of alignment is leadership development. Typically, this focuses on individual facets and competencies of leadership. When leaders work to align an organization or team, they are engaged in all aspects of leadership and develop an integrated set of competencies.

After engaging in the pursuit of alignment, we are better at identifying other possibilities. Embedding alignment as part of your vision and culture delivers higher levels of performance and competitive capability and increases your ability to win.

At the outset of this book, I shared my observation that alignment is the greatest challenge facing companies and their leaders. To be successful in leading aligned teams and organizations requires ongoing focus, continuous assessment, and the desire and will to confront misalignments. To be successful, the leaders of companies and their members must be willing to engage in the ongoing conversation of alignment—and to do so in an honest and open fashion. As you have likely already concluded, alignment is the conversation. As I offered at the outset of this book, welcome to the conversation.