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?