We know that alignment should exist between the vision, mission, and the operations of an organization - but often times it can feel extremely hard to maintain.
Many organizations have clear visions and missions, neatly framed on office walls, but rarely do they truly come alive and penetrate through the entire organization as an ultimate guide for teams.
It’s why initiatives continue long after they should, employees that aren’t the right fit or aren’t in the right seats continue to stick around, and why as a leader you have that nagging feeling you can’t escape that something, or many things, are off.
You keep “chipping away” at different parts of the problem or problems, but can’t seem to make significant headway. You know that major change is needed and at times you know exactly what those changes are, but you can’t seem to execute on those things.
If you’re relating to this right now, I would invite you to take a few minutes and list out the top 3-5 things that come to mind - the things that aren’t quite right.
Some potential examples:
1. You have some people on your team that aren’t quite a fit - they aren’t quite in alignment with the rest.
2. You know you aren’t serving your customers the way you know you could be, there are “holes” in the process, and you know you need to figure out a way to close those gaps.
3. Red tape - there are sensitive subjects that prevent visions and missions from being carried out “on point”.
I would then invite you to take a look at a written copy of your vision (where you’re headed) and mission (how you get where you’re going). How are each of these things not in alignment with the vision, and then the mission?
They key is recognizing the gap between the lack of specific things out of alignment and the ability to carry out the vision and mission on target.
Every leader wants to be on target, and teams thrive when they know they’re on target. So how do we bridge the gaps to stay on target?
Some potential solutions:
1. List out the reasons why someone may not be a fit, identify the discord, or lack of alignment specifically. Identifying the traits allows room for conversation around it.
2. Identify where certain breakdowns are happening in the customer experience, using journey mapping as a tool to look at the current process from end to end.
3. Reflection and self awareness on behalf of leaders and teams is essential to breaking down any walls that may be preventing organizations from operating on target. Practicing this as a leader and allowing space for your team to do this makes space for innovation that truly drives growth.
Maintaining alignment drives growth, creates clarity, and brings order to ourselves and our organizations. Don’t ignore the things that don’t seem quite right, addressing them creates freedom for leaders and teams. It allows organizations to carry out their visions and missions on target, and when they operate in that space, it’s powerful.