Tag: aligning employees with strategy

Posted on

Alignment Series #3: When strategy changes

In Series #1 and #2 I discussed the best steps for aligning people with strategy and how to know when strategy must change.

In this post l get to the execution part of a change in strategy and answer, “How do you re-align people when strategy must change in a way that changes their daily work?”

For their Sept 2015 newsletter, Palladium Group, founded by the fathers of the Balanced Scorecard, Robert Kaplan and David Norton, asked a few thought leaders including me to provide guidance to their readers on this subject.

How Do You Align Culture with Strategy?

Want to get what you expect, even when your expectations change frequently as your company grows? Create clarity around how problems will be discovered, communicated and solved. Communication between individuals and managers can ensure that decisions are made, and resources are allocated smartly – and aimed at keeping execution on track with strategy.
Continue reading “Alignment Series #3: When strategy changes”

Posted on

Wow! Fitting in, with a value-added mindset


Here’s our “wow” for this week: This Wow! goes to —, our newest team member for his self-starting attitude and motivation to make a difference in moving us forward.

Why is this “wow!”? To best identify for the employer if the person is the right fit, deliverables are needed. To best identify for the employee if they are in the right fit, they need to take action.

If both the manager and the employee are thinking “how can I add most value to him/her, while staying aligned with company goals” then quick wins will follow. It takes both employee and manager to ensure a good fit and nurture the value for the company. Continue reading “Wow! Fitting in, with a value-added mindset”

Posted on

Leadership -Connecting with (your) people to improve results. Step 4: Removing roadblocks

In this series we are talking about connecting – connecting to people, connecting people to the business results you want, and getting those results.

Recap:
In Step 1 you selected up to three of the most critical strategic themes or objectives. In Step 2 you mapped these themes to your Strategy so that key objectives can be prioritized and contrasted (it is not uncommon to have conflicting objectives that need to be sorted out). And in Step 3 you prioritized so that you’d be sure that what is most important gets done.

Now before we move on, it is critical to have a plan for identifying and removing roadblocks. You will face at least one. I’m going to list a few of the most common ones here, along with answers that have worked for others. I’d love to have comments and additions from readers.

Here are three common roadblocks to getting what you expect: Continue reading “Leadership -Connecting with (your) people to improve results. Step 4: Removing roadblocks”

Posted on

Motivating employees – discover their “WIIFM”

Question: How do you get employees motivated and passionate about the mission of the organization so that they strive for self improvement and improved work performance without micromanaging from management or finger pointing at their colleagues?

Lori’s answer:

You’ve put a lot of great keywords into your question: motivated, passionate, mission…
This tells me what a great leader you are – congrats!

But guess what? -No one in your company will care about the practice in the way that you do. That is because the WIIFM (what’s in it for me) for you IS your company; that’s not the case for your employees.

I also love that you brought up finger-pointing. It is a sign of unclear roles and expectations (read: measures).

Continue reading “Motivating employees – discover their “WIIFM””