Purpose

To understand within an organisation if the vision and strategy is aligned from top-to-bottom and within teams. This is adapted from The First 90 Days (1).

Method

Ask the following questions to a cross-section of the organisation

Alignment Conversation Template

What are the biggest challenges the organisation is facing (or will face in the near future)?
Why is the organisation facing (or going to face) these challenges?
What are the most promising unexploited opportunities for growth?
What would need to happen for the organisation to exploit the potential of these opportunities?
What is the current vision for this organisation?
How is the organisation planning to realise its vision?
How is progress towards that vision going?

Post-Conversation Discussion Points

Vision and Strategy

What is the stated vision and strategy from the top?
At what point, if at all, does that vision and strategy get lost or misunderstood?
Is the organisation really pursuing that strategy? If not, why not? If so, will the strategy take the organisation where it needs to go?

Vision in Team Goals

How were goals set? Were they insufficiently or overly ambitious?
Were internal or external benchmarks used? i.e. is success defined by vanity metrics or by making a difference to the company?
What happened if goals were not met?