When you hear the word alignment what comes to mind?
To me, when something is “in alignment” it means something is correct, true, balanced.
You get your wheels aligned so your car can steer properly. Being out of alignment causes problems for the car, wearing down the tires faster than necessary. The tires can’t hold up to the added pressure.
Poor Business Alignment
If proper alignment is a good thing, poor alignment causes all sorts of problems. Poor alignment has a draining effect, it shortens the normal lifetime of something.
When buildings are constructed, the walls are built on top of a solid foundation and are plumbed or brought into alignment with a standard. It that didn’t happen, the weight of the roof bearing down could cause the building to collapse.
Buildings, companies and lives which are in alignment with a standard and with each other have a greater chance of withstanding the pressures of life.
Correct Business Alignment
Correct alignment is a principle, it’s a truth.
A poorly aligned business is in for potential collapse. As the pressures bear down, misalignment will begin to become more evident.
Unfortunately, instead of correcting the areas of misalignment, many seek shortcuts (just sell more, hire more, raise more money, ignore the warning signs etc).
Instead of truly examining what is out alignment, to tendency is to hide from the real problem and doing the hard work to fix it.
Business Alignment Is Hard Work, But It’s Worth It
Creating alignment often doesn’t involve doing what feels good or performing a quick fix. Many times it is the exact opposite.
Alignment takes thought, hard work and difficult decisions. Again, much like you can’t just throw together a building and “hope” that it’s going to stand, the same applies to a life, a business, a friendship or a marriage.
In fact, the more people are involved, the more important (and difficult) alignment becomes.
As you are beginning to see I am passionate about alignment. I think it is critical for success of an organization, marriage, friendship, and altogether a happy life.
We founded Envisionable to bring to light the importance of alignment in business.
Besides your family, your business is where you will spend most of your waking hours. If you own a business, you are “married” to your business. This is why alignment is so important.
In business, poor alignment de-energizes and de-motivates, causing frustration and lack of focus.
Good alignment energizes and motivates. Teamwork is enhanced because people feel that they are working towards a unified goal.
A CEO’s #1 Job – Business Alignment
A CEO’s number one job is to drive alignment with their vision (purpose). Unfortunately, many CEO’s haven’t clearly communicated their vision and as a result the team is confused. This makes execution more difficult than it needs to be.
Secondly, many CEOs do not have a detailed plan which explains HOW the vision will be accomplished.
Lastly, if the vision (purpose) and plan have been clearly defined, the next step is to track the progress. The purpose, plan and progress need to be defined…and aligned for success. Envisionable was founded to help with all three.
Hopefully I’ve convinced you how important alignment is. Once your business is in alignment you will not be fighting against the tension that poor alignment causes. Your team can clearly see if they are in alignment with your vision…no one is surprised by what you stand for and where you are going. People can choose to either be part of where you are going or not.