How to Align with Your People

To start, let’s define what exactly organizational and employee alignment are. 

What is Organizational Alignment?

Simply put, organizational alignment is a clear framework through which your company operates smoothly and effectively. In an aligned organization, the following aspects are well-defined and fit together like puzzle pieces:

• Goals
• Mission
• Vision
• Strategy
• Priorities

In every level and department, and in all projects large and small, efforts are in line with the organization’s short- and long-term plan. What the company stands for is crystal clear from top to bottom.

What is Employee Alignment?

When your people are aligned, everyone understands their part to play and their role in your company’s big picture. People know how their contribution celebrates your organizational values, helping you achieve your goals. 

So, how do organizational and employee alignment fit together? 

Assume you’ve defined your company’s mission, vision, and priorities. Now it’s time to get your people on board, which is not necessarily an easy task as you’ll find out. However, this is essential to your company’s health and well-being.

Employee Alignment is Connected to Your Company in 5 Ways:

It Helps You Achieve Goals

If your people aren’t aligned with your company, you’ll have trouble achieving goals, even if they’ve been perfectly defined. The reason for this is simple – if people don’t understand what you’re striving toward or just don’t have much reason to care, you’re likely to struggle to get where you want to go. Not to mention you have a serious engagement problem on your hands.

To maximize efficiency, have everyone 100% onboard when it comes to company alignment – and fast. When people are well-educated on your mission, values, and priorities, they know what’s needed to help you get there. Rather than simply following any initiative presented without understanding why it must be done, they’ll align with your business goals on a deeper level. 

Those who know what the company’s deeper purpose is will help work toward it. Whether their individual contribution is major or minor, people like to assist in achievements for a company that knows where it’s heading, thus improving the overall workplace experience. In fact, for some people, this can be even more important than office perks or a higher salary.

It Increases Retention Rates and Improves Employee Engagement

With disengagement in the workplace, increasing retention rates and employee engagement should be on every manager’s mind. 

When people don’t understand the reasons for which your company exists or how your contribution to the industry makes a difference, they’ll have very little reason to care about their work. Even highly self-motivated individuals will quickly burn out if they don’t believe they’re truly contributing to something larger than themselves. 

High turnover can easily cost a company tens of thousands of dollars every year. For the people who choose to stay but are disengaged will be likely to have poor productivity. Give your people a reason to work hard for you. Provide them with a mission and vision like no other and watch your engagement blossom.

It Raises Productivity

Muddled project plans, confusing strategies, and dead-end initiatives are all constant struggles in a workplace that’s misaligned. Poor company alignment is essentially a recipe for low productivity and poor communication.

People who work for a company with high organizational alignment are in a perfect position to think on their feet and come up with creative plans. Why? They understand the underlying reason for company endeavors. 

A staff that understands and believes in your mission, values, and priorities will want to put in the work even when it’s challenging. Those who care about what you do (and know what you’re trying to achieve) will go to bat for you when it counts.

It Promotes a Healthy Workplace Culture

Company alignment is essential for creating an open and honest workplace culture. When your people are working toward a common goal and your values are in place, you naturally build a team environment that encourages communication and forms a positive workplace experience. Each person is a valuable team member, and all have a shared purpose. 

Have you reached out to your people to determine if they believe your company culture is in alignment with the organization’s mission and values? 

Pointed questions can return valuable insights into where your workplace culture stands and if employee alignment is up to standards. Be sure, though, to keep your respondents anonymous so that you’ll receive honest replies. Anonymizing identities will allow for truly unfiltered feedback. Ask questions such as:

• Does our company sufficiently promote social activity in and outside of the office?
• Do you feel you are part of a team at our company?
• Are you satisfied with the company dress code and work-life balance?
• Do you feel comfortable addressing issues with management?

It Attracts the Right Candidates

When people are aligned with your greater purpose and are truly working to help your company reach its potential, your organization sends a clear signal to the world of who you are and what you’re all about.

Job candidates know why your people are so engaged at work. Those job seekers who are a good match will gravitate to your company because you’ve effectively communicated what you stand for.

Workplaces with exceptional company alignment act like magnets to the right candidates. Job seekers who don’t care for what you stand for will be less likely to apply to join your team because they simply aren’t motivated by the same goals.

Align with Your People by Using Feedback Data

When your people are deeply aligned with your company’s mission, vision, and priorities, engagement will surely skyrocket. It’s important, however, to check in with your staff frequently to make sure they’re on the same page as you.

Create an environment where everyone feels comfortable providing their input. Listen to them carefully and weigh the benefits of implementing their ideas. A resource like Olumo encourages engagement through anonymous text surveys you can send to your team. Select from hundreds of questions to choose which is right to ask your team at a given time.

We’re the only company out there that collects data and gives you a playbook of exactly how to improve your measurements of success for organizational and employee alignment, workplace experience, and so much more.