An aligned workforce is a happy, engaged workforce. Unfortunately, alignment between an organization and its employees doesn’t come naturally -- it takes planning, hard work and communication. Think of alignment as a playbook for the entire company, just like in sports. For a coach to make sure every player is on the same page and goals are made, that playbook needs to be shared and discussed in real time. There’s a reason watching a sports game is much like watching a choreographed performance -- every movement and play has a purpose that each player knows inside and out. The same goes for employers and their employees.

1. Shravan Shetty
Career Coach
Content :Stacy Land
https://www.linkedin.com/in/consultshravan/
https://medium.com/@shravanshetty
www.consultshravan.com

3. What an Aligned organization looks like
• Everyone is familiar with the firms mission, vision, goals, and beliefs and strives to
support them.
• Regardless of seniority or position, all employees can identify how their daily
activities support for example their firms mission statement.
• Employee behaviors and attitudes reinforce the corporate culture, and employees
embrace the methods of interacting externally and internally that are acceptable and
rewarded in the organization
• Employees also prioritize work appropriately in a well- aligned organization.
Organizational alignment is as much as about how work gets done – and not done –
as it is the goals that completing a piece of work may fulfill. Everyone speaks the
same language, too
• An aligned organization offers everyone a linked and causal view of activities , both
from the top-down and the bottom up . Executives see their strategies translated and
activated by the activities of their workforce.
• Employees understand how their work contributes to their firms success. In addition
, the softer side of culture is taken into account . Everyone is playing from the same
rulebook and has the same , or at least complementary, values

5. Why firms care about organizational alignment
• Most executives believe organizational alignment offers their firms a competitive advantage. The
advantage is leveraged from the effective translation of business strategies into day to day activities.
• Effective leverage means that they can deliver on the promises executives have made both internally
and eternally.
• Employees flourish in an aligned organization. Knowing how one’s activities add to a business value
engenders a sense of teamwork , contribution and definitely leads to job satisfaction.
• As a knowledge practitioner, you probably recognize that the importance of job satisfaction and how its
derived are part of the characteristics of knowledge workers overall.
• Alignment is not only for the people on the lower rungs of the organizational hierarchy , either. Its
important to remember that your alignment helps support your bosses alignment.
• Senior Executives have to align too. They are accountable to the board of directors , or the CEO- to
someone – to talk about how their work too supports the business . They have to demonstrate how
they are moving the strategy forward. If they come out with any business activity even from the top
with no alignment , there will not be any support for it. In fact , a Senior executive or CEO who supports
a non aligned activity looks irresponsible

7. Alignment Artifacts
Behind organizational alignment are a number of “Alignment artifacts” that you
need to collect in your own firm. They may include the following:
A mission statement
A vision statement
A values and beliefs statement
The second chunk of alignment artifacts are derived from the first :
Operating Strategic imperatives / Initiatives
Objectives
Goals .

9. You may not find every element on the list mentioned before and you may
uncover additional artifacts depending on how your organization views and has
institutionalized its own alignment. When you set out to locate the alignment
artifacts in your own firm , you must look in multiple places:
Your firm as a whole undoubtedly has its own mission statement , values and
beliefs , and other alignment artifacts.
Other areas inside your firm may have also develop their own alignment
artifacts, which ideally support those of the firm overall.
Even if , for example your workgroup has not developed its own mission
statement , it most likely owns or is involved in supporting one or more
derivative facts.
Also , look for the alignment artifacts of your internal customers workgroups
or divisions, and those of any concerned entities such as IT Or your PMO.
Bottom-line : We all should work for demonstrable alignment in each role . This
has a domino effect and increases buy in