Develop Your Alignment Muscles
Every January, a lot of people make the decision to head back to the gym. In fact, so many go back that the “gym membership resolution” is a common joke this time of year. But it’s more than a cliché…to some it’s a serious commitment to take control of their destiny.
What about your credit union or community bank? Are you in control of your destiny?
If your organization is unaligned, your destiny is out of your control. That means it’s time to whip your institution into shape and train some underdeveloped muscles.
That’s right - it’s time to hit the gym.
Find Your North Star
No one undertakes fitness goals without a motivating factor. Whether it’s to get back into shape or to stay in shape, you need a reason – a North Star – for why you’re going to the gym.
And your organization needs a North Star too. It needs a purpose. Otherwise, you have no answer to why you do what you do…
But it’s not good enough to just have an answer to the “why” question. You must actually foster a personal connection between your staff and your purpose. Gallup research shows that a mere 10% increase in employees’ personal connection with the organization’s purpose causes an 8.1% turnover decrease and a 4.4% profitability increase .
Those are amazing results! But how do you create that connection? How do you go from the house to the gym?
Well, you first need to rethink how you look at purpose in your credit union or community bank. Because it’s not something you build from the top. It’s a grassroots effort spearheaded by your employees’ pre-existing behaviors.
As I like to say, it’s not “if you build it, they will come.” It’s more “if they build it, they will come.”
Secondly, you need to make sure your staff lives your purpose. That means repelling those who behave inconsistently with your organization’s goals. An unenforced purpose is one that doesn’t matter, so show your employees you care about the collective North Star.
When they see you care, they’ll care too. And that’s when you really start to take off!
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Watch Your Diet
?Ok, so you’ve started going to the gym – that’s great! But you’ll want to watch your diet if you want regular exercise to be more effective.
And if you want your team to truly translate purpose into action, you need to keep some nasty things out of your credit union or community bank’s operations. What are these processed sugars poisoning your organization?
Poor clarity and alignment.
As On The Mark Strategies’ Strategy Director Shawn Temple says:
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“Too many organizations think they have the plan to succeed. Regardless of how simple or how complex the plan may be, 100% of the staff should be absolutely clear on what’s in the plan and aligned on what they should do to ensure its success. Often, I see that the plan is only available to folks at the top of the organizational chart, and many times, there is even confusion at that level.”
This mass confusion leads to other side effects:
You must share your goals with your staff and explain their role in achieving them to avoid these results. Give your employees something to get excited about. If your institution’s plan seems aimless, they’ll feel aimless at work. They’ll look elsewhere for their goals and purpose.
So, overcommunicate what you’re doing and why you’re doing it. Remind your staff about your purpose again and again and again. Break down the tendency to drift into silos, and prevent your organization’s goals from becoming secondary to department goals.
Aim for a financial institution more akin to a Zen Garden than the British Parliament. Just watch the video below. You don’t want your credit union or community bank to look like that, do you?
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Start Pumping Iron
Kind of like getting back into shape, all this organizational alignment work seems like a huge mountain to climb. And it’s definitely not easy.
However, everyone can perform the first step: start. Take the leap. Initiate the cultural changes you want to see and start asking your staff about your institution’s purpose. As Shawn reminds us:
“Start. That’s it. Get tips from a coach, and start. It’s simple but not easy. You can get there with discipline and consistency. It will take time, but you won’t believe the results on the other side of that hill.”
So, hop on the treadmill. Pick up those weights. Because if there’s one statistic you don’t need to look up, it’s that 100% of people who never start a task will never achieve it.
Meet Your Personal Trainer
Of course, you might need some guidance if it’s been a while. Enlist On The Mark Strategies as your very own personal trainer, and we’ll walk you through how to achieve all your organizational alignment goals.
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Good reminders.