Alignment and Leadership: The Essential Role of Leaders in Guiding the Way
Company leaders play a critical role in driving alignment throughout all business facets. They are responsible for cultivating the culture of the organization, charting the path, and facilitating a unified approach to company goals. When your organization is clear and aligned, you optimize value chains for your customers and your team simultaneously. Clear and consistent guidance from top management will create the ripple effect that ensures that every member of your company understands your mission and is empowered with the tools to make mission-driven decisions.
“Teamwork statistics specify that 97% of workers and employers believe that the lack of team alignment influences the success of a task or project. Similarly, when everyone knows their objective and tasks, the team becomes unstoppable.”
5 key leadership behaviors and practices that contribute to fostering alignment:
1: Set a clear vision.
As a company leader, you have a responsibility to articulate expectations and the overarching company mission to all team members. It is imperative that your employees understand your company goals – employees become much more engaged in their work when they realize their purpose and impact. In addition, clarity builds confidence. Employees who feel empowered by their knowledge of a clear and concise mission are better able to voice, promote, and work towards this mission. Employees will then have a greater sense of the value that they provide to your company and its goals, which leaves them feeling much more fulfilled by their contribution. Studies have shown that “companies with high employee engagement are 21% more profitable.” When your employees better understand their individual value and contribution, your business is guaranteed greater employee engagement.
2: Provide guidance.
Top management should lead by example. Give feedback and support, offer training and helpful resources, and ensure that your team members are well equipped to perform to your highest standard. Leading by example is a key contributor to greater alignment and employee engagement. Greater guidance, through not only example, but investment, assistance, and personal involvement in the success of your employees results in improved self-governance among your employees. By ensuring that your employees have a clear and strong understanding of your company mission, they will feel a greater sense of autonomy and an ability to make more efficient and mission-driven decisions.
3: Foster positive relationships.
Promote open communication, encourage collaboration, empower others, and highlight successes. You want your team members to feel appreciated and important. As a company leader, you should take it upon yourself to cultivate a welcoming and nurturing workplace community. When your employees feel empowered to independently make critical decisions for the benefit of your company, the success they will feel from their productive contribution creates a more positive workplace environment. That sense of employee empowerment begins with leadership. Leaders have a responsibility to equip their employees with a clear sense of company mission. Building a clear mission ensures that employees make goal-oriented decisions. The success that comes from supplying your employees with the tools and understanding needed to make these decisions creates a positive environment. Positivity in the workplace encourages this cycle to continue.
“In healthy work relationships, everyone benefits, and everyone experiences moments of authentic happiness and enjoy. Businesses thrive under such leadership.”
5: Be transparent and honest.
Build trust with your team – this will not only help your employees to feel secure and valued, but it is critical for developing a cooperative and positive work environment. Communicate openly to ensure that everyone is on the same page and has a shared understanding of the direction in which they’re going. Establishing an open and communicative company environment leads to greater collaboration. It is the responsibility of leadership to set a company tone which values employee opinions and participation. An open and transparent dynamic between company leadership and employees builds a symbiotic relationship, where company collaboration and productive feedback can flourish.
5: Empower decision-making.
Offer employees the authority to make decisions – this allows leadership to demonstrate that they trust and support their employees’ abilities. This technique also enables faster decision-making so your team can adapt quickly and effectively to changing circumstances. Instilling clear messaging and alignment across all departments ensures that you count on employees to make critical decisions without having to resort to leadership for help, by giving them a benchmark for decision-making. When employees feel this sense of confidence, you can feel more certain in their ability to clearly differentiate between decisions that promote growth and those that play more of a supporting role. Building a clear mission-driven group of employees helps focus “limited resources on the right activities to promote growth and that they align functional and business priorities.” Overall, taking time to make sure your team is aligned guarantees that their decision-making is goal-oriented, and that they feel empowered to make these decisions independently.
“Businesses that empower and equip frontline staff to make informed decisions are experiencing higher growth than [those] that do not.”
A strong sense of company alignment and understanding of your business mission is so important to building an empowered group of mission-driven employees. Before leadership can expect employees to have a strong understanding of their business mission, they must first have their own clear understanding of the company mission. Creating an efficient, approachable, and distinctive mission for your company ensures that employees are empowered with their understanding of company messaging, and that leadership is equipped with the right tools to create concrete goals for employees. Refining your mission and building a plan to break down and achieve the development you’d like to see for your business is the first step towards more efficient growth. Bringing in an external company, like EnticEdge, to challenge and refresh your mission is critical to ensuring your team is efficiently aligned and empowered to help your business succeed.