The Alignment Principle

One of the most important principles I’ve learned is to make sure that stakeholder interests are aligned to a common objective. One, it’s the right thing to do. Two, it’s a powerful motivator when everyone is working towards the same goal. Three, it fosters productivity, and four it helps reduce the cost of human capital management. Ultimately, alignment occurs when the critical parts of your company are aligned with (ie support) its strategy (Owen Darbishire). It’s about making sure that you, company management, and investors are always working toward the same goal.

Performance Hypotheses states that the more highly aligned a firm’s organization is with its strategy, the more effectively it will execute its strategy and the better it will perform (DiOL module 3). Evidence suggests that the benefits of alignment are not just additive. Exponential benefits are triggered through consistency across multiple dimensions – “reinforcement” (Owen Darbishire, DiOL)

Well structured teams show up to work, they meet deadlines, accomplish their tasks and meet their goals. High performance teams are essentially the same effective system; however, their performance outputs are a function of soft factors. High Performance Teams excel in: commitment, trust, communication, responsibilities (purpose), collaboration (problem solving + knowledge brokering), involvement and continuous improvement.