Align Your Organization With Vision and Strategic Goals

In recent surveys, managers report that getting employees aligned around the organization’s vision is one of their top five issues. Employees need to understand the vision and direction in order to make decisions and coordinate activities.

Alignment means having a direction that is accepted and understood. As shown in the figure, alignment starts with clarifying the principles that guide the organization, creating the vision, and identifying the goals and performance measures. It also includes building and implementing a communications program. One of the results is increased employee motivation.

EMA’s unique vision and strategic goals process is designed to:

• Involve everyone–management, unions, and employees–in creating the vision of the new organization
• Provide a structured approach by which the organization moves from today’s view to tomorrow’s view
• Deliver results that can be used almost immediately. The materials and workshop processes are fast-paced, use a hands-on approach, and focus on bringing forth and transferring knowledge

Workshops begin with gathering data, then progress to trial balloons, or drafts, and finally to completed documents that serve as the guides for change. Even though there are discreet steps, it is the interaction of the steps and the discussion among participants that have the power to help the organization decide where it is today, where it needs to be tomorrow, and how to get there.

Process Energizes Participants and Delivers Results

EMA’s vision and strategic goal process is rewarding as well as exciting for all participants. It energizes people, delivers results, provides a sense of accomplishment, and will be used for a long time by many people who will be involved in transforming the organization. It acts as a catalyst to developing and organizing the subsequent complex projects that will be needed to change the culture and the practices of the organization.

There are four major deliverables from the vision and strategic goals process. They are:

• Align project sponsor and the change effort’s steering team around the vision. This includes diminishing resistance to change and identifying and agreeing on goals, measurements, and quick wins
• Establish clearly defined roles and responsibilities
• Generate the ramp-up materials that will be needed by the various teams that will develop the new practices and procedures in the evolving organization
• Build a communications plan complete with schedules, responsibilities, and major messages that have been developed to meet the needs of the organization’s audiences