How did Alignment get on the agenda?

The current focus on alignment as an enabler and driver of organizational performance is a relatively recent one, particularly compared to the decades-long focus on employee engagement.

But does this mean that alignment is a “new” concept?

In the ebook Leading Alignment, Philippe Guenet, a seasoned digital change expert and systemic coach, discusses the evolution of alignment in modern digital business and the intrinsic and enduring role it plays to achieve performance. 

“The nature of enterprises has always been to create alignment: alignment to the needs of customers, alignment of the core departments and business units, and alignment of people and teams to collaborate towards shared goals.

“Traditionally, management has been at the epi-centre of cascading and coordinating alignment. Managers get annual objectives from their hierarchy, which they then negotiate (especially when their compensation is linked to those) until an agreed exchange of scope coverage against allocation of resources (financial, human, technology, etc.) is agreed. The managers then spend the rest of the year driving the execution of their team(s) to the expectations set. The conventional wisdom is to give sufficient incentive to the managers (by ways of bonus or promotion), for them to drive satisfactory execution and realisation of the set expectations.” 

Philippe continues: “One level below, projects get defined. Estimation, planning and commitment to deliver the projects on time, all become factors of alignment. People organise to meet the plan and the delivery milestones. The plan becomes the unifying banner. Projects are controlled through RAG (Red/Amber/Green) status reporting, and PMOs (Project Management Office) collate a view of status across the organisation’s project portfolio for senior management, as a means of aligning the top of the organisation to the level driving their execution.” 

Standard processes played a further role in driving alignment in this picture. “In many organisations, this set-up (budgets, projects, management control) is the fabric of the way alignment drives execution of the strategy set by leadership.”

Despite the seemingly intuitive logic of aligning though managerial force and project management rigor, it is becoming clear that this pressurized approach is not fit to drive desired results in the increasing complexity of faster moving and globalised digital business. Philippe explains: “We should observe this is not a strong form of alignment as the people doing the work are mainly executing, as opposed to having any meaningful involvement in shaping the work. Their actual motivators are primarily based on the fear of failure and its implications in terms of compensation or career prospects.”

Inertia is an additional challenge. “The ‘system’ is operating this way because it seems to have worked in the past, and individuals support the system for their own reasons: Senior management like to have somebody accountable that they can go to for updates (or blame). Some employees enjoy the simplicity of being told what they need to do, which in turn supports leadership that instructs them in what to do. 

In the coming of the digital age, business performance is shifting from regimenting a scaled execution, which characterised the 20th century, to the nimbleness of re-imagining new business models and the ability to deliver on them. This is completely shifting and refocusing the alignment game, something the Leaders need to urgently reskill for. In this up-coming ebook, we explain what changes and how they can support it.

Leading Alignment was written by Phillippe Guenet of Henko and edited by Mirror Mirror.

Download the ebook: Leading Alignment

Join the Leading Alignment public webinar - https://www.meetup.com/DigitalLeadership/events/275165402/

Philippe Guenet is an Executive and Team Coach centred around digital leadership and agility. He has a systemic coaching background and focuses on alignment in the work system by developing relationships, flow, strategic coherence and operational excellence. Philippe founded Henko with the view that clients in digital change need a new breed of support services that effectively mix coaching in the context of a better flow, operational excellence, digital strategy and better people engagement and teamwork. 

Mirror Mirror supports teams with cognitive and behavioural alignment so they can become more effective. It adds clarity, engagement, and ownership. And it takes out conflict, cost, and risk.