Strategic alignment can be described as the linkage between the goals of the business, which quantify the progress of the implementation of the strategy towards the vision, and the goals of each of the key contributors. Key contributors include groups, divisions, business units, departments, or individual employees who have an interest in the continuation of a successful corporation.

Strategic alignment, put simply, is “everyone rowing in the same direction.” The tighter the linkage and the better the alignment, the likelihood of flawless corporate execution becomes stronger.

Strategic alignment has several advantages once implemented properly and practiced. Benefits include:
1. Allowing an efficient use of usually scarce resources,
2. Resulting in increased speed of execution, as a corollary,
3. Promoting team efforts towards common goals, and
4. Escalating employees’ motivation, giving them a keener sense of contribution to the results of their individual groups and of the corporation as a whole.

These are good results that many corporations would benefit from, but very few corporations are able to realize them. Since many corporations and their leadership teams attempt to gain strategic alignment, the question becomes what barriers must be overcome.

How can strategic alignment be implemented effectively and what are the key success factors?

The first component of a successful strategic alignment is the extensive communication necessary within the organization to understand the elements of the vision and of the key strategic directions needed. Relentless repetition by the leadership and management teams at every opportunity, including sales meetings, company meetings, and operational business reviews allow each employee to understand vividly how he/she can contribute to the overall progress. More often than not, however, these vital communication opportunities are restricted to boring presentations of high-level tables filled with data that are difficult for employees to associate with their day-to-day jobs.

The second component of a successful strategic alignment is absolutely essential to link the results of each employee’s job to the progress of the entire corporation strategy and to do it clearly and simply. This is best accomplished by using simple measures of key performances (KBMs= key business metrics, or KPMs= key performance metrics), which can be connected to the employee’s annual performance review.

When it reaches the employee, the objectives are incorporated into her/his annual performance targets and these objectives directly support the key goals from the highest levels of the organization. This ensures both focus and alignment as the employee daily delivers on their objectives. Objectives are rolled back up the “waterfall” or “goal tree” in periodic reviews of goals at all levels in the organization.

Implementing strategic alignment is not rocket science. It requires, however, strong commitment from the top leadership and focus on relentless communication at every opportunity using simple management principles of focus, clarity and reinforcement.

In the end, effective execution of strategic alignment is a leader’s top priority and ensures that goals are met and success achieved.

Strategic planning is not strategy

Strategic Planning, often synonymous with Annual Planning, details how you are going to get where you have decided to go. It is a description of how you will achieve your goals — those milestones you established in structuring your business plan. Strategic Planning is operational in nature, it examines the particular actions you intend to take over the coming period. Strategic Planning can be critical — and after you have a Strategy, it is often a good idea to develop a Strategic Plan.

But Strategic Planning is not Strategy. Strategy is the “what” you and your organization are going to be, and the broad approach to how you are going to do that. For instance, your company will become the number one vendor of internet-hosted medical records applications, achieved through freeware distribution to HMOs and clinics, paid for with a back-end, per-patient royalty. Strategic Planning looks at the details of how you will get there — which associations you will joint-venture with, how many sales people you will add this year, what type of advertising you will use, whether to pay for page-views or click-throughs, etc. The strategic plan will itemize the specific actions you will take in a given time frame, and the specific results those actions will produce.

But imagine filling your new car with gas, turning the ignition key, putting the car in gear, getting on the freeway, and putting the pedal-to-the-metal. Full speed ahead. Imagine that for a moment. Wait a minute — where are you going? Many organizations jump headlong into the strategic planning process, without becoming clear about where they are going. Sure they have a direction – North, perhaps; into the Internet Applications space, perhaps. If you execute the plan, your company will surely wind up somewhere. But is it where you wanted to go? Strategy defines the destination, and whether you will take a scenic way or a fast way, and if you want rest stops. Strategic planning identifies the specific highways and the specific streets.

Have you bothered to think about where you want to go recently? Most entrepreneurs, most companies, started with an idea of what they were trying to create. But that may have been a long time ago. Perhaps it’s time to consider this question again.

Strategy is not a set of options

Imagine you are in your car again. This time, it’s Sunday, and you and the family are going for a drive. Where are you headed? “We’ll let’s see”, you say to yourself, “How much gas do we have, and which roads have the least traffic?” Many companies think strategy is about evaluating a set of options, often in terms of available resources, or a competitive response. They say things like — “We have only 12 development resources available to us, which means we can bring two key program feature sets to market, and XYZ Co. has just announced compatibility with our databases. What are we going to do?”

Strategy is an invention

Strategy is something you make up. Your strategy is a statement of what you will do as a company to realize your corporate vision: what specifically will you accomplish, what meaning will your company have, and how will you create value and profits. Don’t ignore your past results. Just don’t allow your strategy to be constrained by them. Don’t ignore the marketplace. Just don’t fall into the trap of letting your competitors’ actions define what yours will be. And certainly don’t ignore your customers — just don’t think that your customers’ wants and desires are the only measure of what you should seek to accomplish. These references — past results, markets, competitors, customers – must be taken into account.

And then, what it boils down to is this: your strategy is the direction your company will take, because you said so.

An invented strategy inspires you. Because it fulfills your vision for your company, and because you see how the realization of your strategy makes an important difference in the world, it inspires your team, your customers, your prospects. An invented strategy energizes all your constituents, where incrementalism just seems like more work. An invented strategy can propel your enterprise to greatness. An invented strategy can call forth achievements beyond what you currently consider possible. Breakthroughs and blockbusters are never founded on incremental improvement. Like Athena, they spring from the heads of their inventors. And invented strategies can change your company’s relationship to the marketplace and to the world.

Inventing strategy

The route to creating strategy is simple — asking the right questions.

What direction can the company take *now* to realize your vision? What value proposition will you offer customers? What meaningful difference will you make in your marketplace? What meaningful difference will you make in your world? How do you want to affect the lives of your people, your customers, your clients? Your family? Answer these questions and you are on road to inventing your strategy.

Are you building something totally new, or are you improving an existing idea? What are the dimensions of the impact you want to have? Will it be faster? Better? Cheaper? Easier? Safer? More luxurious? More convenient? More portable? More entertaining? More universal?

Don’t worry about implementation…yet

While you are considering Strategy, don’t worry about whether you have the wherewithal to implement what you are thinking about. If you do worry in this way, you are likely to compromise from the get-go. There will be plenty of room for compromise later, if you must. Ignore the resource constraints which dog you throughout the year. You will deal with these when the time comes. Author Gary Hamil suggests that one definition of strategy include the “…quest to overcome resource constraints through a creative and unending pursuit of better resource leverage.”

The Strategic Planning Steps philosophy/business system is an organizational tool that is used by groups and corporations globally to refine their goals and maximize their resources. Drawing from the concepts of strategic military planning, the Strategic Planning process is one way in which businesses strive to attain a competitive edge. Strategic planning involves defining goals, creating an adaptable business plan and measuring core competencies of staff to increase productivity and results. The understanding and implementation of Strategic Planning Steps can significantly affect a company’s ability to maximize revenue and growth. The steps have been used effectively in many fields of business, education and government to formulate productive business systems and resource management solutions.

Strategic Planning Steps Defined

While there are several different approaches to implementing Strategic Planning Steps, most models use the following definitions:

* Mission definition: The mission definition stage of Strategic Planning encourages an organization to develop a brief description of purpose to Inform potential stockholders, employees and customers what they can expect from the company. From the mission definition, a mission statement can be developed that serves as a company’s calling card and core focus description.

* Vision/Trend Analysis: The next facet of Strategic Planning Steps directs a company to analyze current market trends and make committed decisions about where the business is heading. Defining long term goals and visualizing the future of the organization can help to focus current activities and important financial decisions.

* Strategic Objectives: Once long term goals have been set, the strategic objectives phase consists of formulating actual business plans to achieve the visualized goals. One acronym used frequently in this stage of Strategic Planning Steps is SMART. SMART stands for the type of objectives to be developed to fully realize the company’s long term goals. These objectives include:

o S – Specific objectives

o M – Measurable objectives

o A – Achievable objectives

o R – Resource-based, realistic objectives

o T – Time-frame assessed objectives

* Critical Success Factors: Important milestones and achievements key to goal realization should be identified at the critical success factor stage of Strategic Planning. Singling out these factors provides an easy means for measuring the ongoing success of the business plan.

* Actions to be Implemented: After critical success factors have been identified, the next phase involves the development of action plans need to realize success. Specific tasks and organizations management strategies are designed to effectively implement the business plan. Task management is often defined by the core competencies required for each position in the company.

* Performance Analysis and Progress Measurement: The last of the most common steps is comprised of formulating methods by which to measure the organization’s progress. Comprehensive performance analysis tools and measurement criteria are developed to effectively monitor the success of the current system. These tools can be used to report both internally and externally on the progress and growth of the company.

Proper orientation determines how fast the new employee can be productive and efficient in his or her new job while giving you a good opportunity to make your new employee an efficient part of your team.

Below are 15 suggestions that will help you deal with your new employees during their first few weeks to help make sure that they get started on the right track.

1. Have a induction policy for welcoming and training new employees. Don’t just leave it to whoever is available. Human resources should cover the HR side of the induction with a trainer (if you have one) or a senior manager or supervisor covering the more hands on part of the job. Either way the following is a minimum of what is required.

2. Give your employee a warm welcome. Don’t just point them to the area they work and let them get on with it. Nothing makes a new employee feel comfortable more than a warm welcome.

3. Give them a brief description about your role as a supervisor. Knowing who’s in charge and what you expect from them will make them more comfortable with you as the boss.

4. Give your new employee a welcome tour of the whole department or site. Make sure they know how to get to the bathroom, emergency exits, cafeteria, etc.

5. Give them a brief summary about the company. Include the company’s history as well as its mission and objectives.

6. Demonstrate your company’s products and/or services. Pay particular attention to the products relating to the area in which the employee will work. This will make them more secure and confident with the work that they are going to be doing.

7. Explain to your new employee how the company works. Particularly if the company has any unusual working practices or a different structure than the norm. Again, this will help familiarize them with the company.

8. Tell your new employee about the company’s competitors. Let them know what is being done to make sure that the company is staying ahead of the competition.

9. Explain in detail your new employee’s responsibilities and describe their job functions. Don’t leave it to the other employees to teach them the basics unless there is a trained member of staff whose job it is.

10. Let your new employee be aware of what you and the company expect from them. This includes proper work ethics, productivity, teamwork, and appearance.

11. Explain the specific conditions and requirements of employment. Include hours, pay, pay periods, holiday pay, sickness provisions, pension, medical benefits, lateness etc.

12. Be very clear about the safety rules, policies, procedures and regulations. Explain and show proper use of safety devices.

13. Introduce your new employee to his or her co workers. Give them a brief description of their jobs and responsibilities.

14. Outline opportunities for promotions. Also outline any other similar special opportunities.

15. Give them time to acclimate to their surroundings. Give them a work buddy, a friendly experienced worker, to show them the job and work with them for the first week of two.

Covering all of these basics will help new employees settle in and they will be more efficient able to be contribute much more quickly compared to employees that are just left to their own devices.

Sometimes your potential boss or your boss decides to set up a meeting or interview in a strange place, such as a hotel lobby. First things first, get there early, find a comfortable, quiet place and sit calmly while waiting. You should take a few steps around to release some tension too.

If an interviewer wants to catch you off-guard, they will arrange a business meal at a local restaurant. At this meal, there are some key points you need to keep in mind. Your social graces will be observed and you will be considered as a whole person. Most of the time, a meal interview is the second interview, so you are under strong consideration and also intense scrutiny. Over ordering food or drink can signal poor self-discipline, which will call into question your judgment and maturity. If you are rude to waiters and bus people it shows that you will not get along with subordinates and thus, poor leadership skills.

First of all, you will want to avoid alcohol because it fuzzes your mind and cognition. If you do have a light wine, never order more than one glass. Water is a much better choice, but if your interviewer is ordering alcohol, you may want to also.

Smoking is tricky. If your interviewer is a smoker, and he/she lights up, you may join, but never light up during a meal.

Never order something really messy, like spaghetti or sloppy joe, and never speak with your mouth full. It is easier to order the same thing that your interviewer does. Do not change your order once it is made and never send the food back. Do not order expensive food. Don’t order anything with bones.

Finally, at the end of the meal, be sure to thank the host for the wonderful meal.

In today’s business climate if you’re not on the offensive then you’re being whipped and buffeted from every side by the obstacles you encounter. If something isn’t working in your advertising and you’re a floater then you just wait until next week, or next month and see if it improves. But if you’re paddling and guiding your business, then you’re busy working out how to fix what’s not working.

Take for instance that big boulder in the river known as “competitive intelligence”, which refers to the knowledge needed to implement successful competitive strategies. If you haven’t got a handle on this it can spell disaster to your business. Let’s look at an example of what I mean.

Suppose you find out that a competitor has dropped the price on a product competing directly with your business’ highest gross margin item. Before you drop your price to match, ask yourself whether this could affect your ability to compete. If the answer is “yes”, you should do a bit of sleuthing to answer some key questions like: * Is the price cut an unequivocal comparison, or have certain features/services been modified? * Is the price drop sufficient to overcome customer inertia to change? * Does the competitor have the capacity to handle increased demand without damaging customer satisfaction? * Is the price change restricted to one territory or account, or is it across-the-board?

Effective strategy covers product design, branding, services, and a host of other variables that, in total, comprise your competitive edge. Protecting your edge requires a real-time stream of knowledge about the changing competitive landscape. The most significant fund of ongoing information, on an ongoing basis is your sales force.

Salespeople have the most direct contact with customers, and have customer feedback on the competition which is both real and perceived. However, their job is to sell, so it’s important that you make them aware of their importance and involvement in gathering competitive intelligence.

For the successful collecting of information from the sales force, you must prove to them and their sales managers that the process is of value to them. This means you have some homework to do which is gathering information that is already available internally. Look at and analyze call reports, won-lost reports, and sales records for red flags and trends. A competitive move in one territory may seem insignificant until added to information from other territories, or as part of a global rollout strategy.

Augment these finding with public data from published sources and industry analysts, and you can offer your sales force tips on competing more successfully. By initiating the information sharing process, you will encourage reciprocity on the part of sales once they see what’s in it for them.

In addition to the sales force, people from other functions in your firm are often repositories of useful competitor information. Accounting, procurement, HR, and other functions attend professional meetings with competitor counterparts and may have bits and pieces of the competitive landscape puzzle. Do they know how important this data is, and have you motivated them to share it?

This is but one little corner of your business life, but unless you’re on the offense – paddling instead of floating – you’ll lose your edge and be left in the dust by your competitors. Personally, I’d rather be paddling my little heart out instead of being tossed by whatever winds blow my way.

Motivational experts get paid big bucks to tell professionals, striving for success, that they must constantly examine these factors. How do you do that? Follow the 5 tips that follow, and watch the changes.

1. Maintain a Positive Attitude – Life is only 10% of what happens to us and 90% how we react to it. We’re responsible for our own actions and attitudes, and changing them when appropriate. When you’re around people/things that are uplifting and positive, you feel that way. You have more confidence in yourself, and know you can change whatever needs changing. If you can make your workplace such a place you’ll find happier workers and higher production. You might even find your employees look forward to coming to work!

2. Leave Personal Troubles Home – Everyone has problems, but they don’t belong at work. Turn your attention and energy entirely to your on-the-job tasks. This will actually be good for you because you’ll get a mental break from your troubles.

3. Create Positive Affirmations – The reason for writing goals for your business is the same as creating positive affirmations on paper. What your eyes see and ears hear, your mind will believe. Try it! After you’ve written them down, read them aloud to yourself – and do it every morning when you get into work. You’ll be amazed at what happens. Come up with a set of new ones every month. Statements such as, “I’m an important and valuable person,” or “I know I’ll make good use of my time today.” Repeating them out loud everyday at a set time will help reinforce positive actions.

4. Make Sure Break Times Are Really Break Times – This is an area where many bosses fall down. You become so intense about the project or situation you’re working on that you don’t ease up. Thinking that it’ll be solved in the next few seconds, and then you’ll get a cup of coffee can lead you right up to quitting time. Regularly adhering to a specified break schedule, even if you’re the boss, releases the tension. If you work on a computer this is even a greater problem because before you realize it – you’ve been working in that same position for hours. The best answer to this is to set yourself a reminder on your appointment calendar for every 2 hours, and let the computer reminder chime send you the alert to move around.

5. Exercise, Exercise, Exercise – I know that lately it seems that “exercise” is the cure-all to every physical ailment or your love life, but despite that there is some truth to that ugly word. By “exercise” I don’t mean that you should go out and join a gym and spend your lunch-time, 3-days-a-week there working out. What is really beneficial and workable is that at those chiming alerts from your computer, get up and walk around your desk or room. Maybe go outside and get the mail and enjoy the sunlight (if you’re an entrepreneur that has a home office), or just get up and do a few stretches. Concentrated, tense thinking – typing – plotting plans – or whatever your work, makes all those muscles tighten up and knot up. Then when we move we “ooh” and “ouch” because we’ve knotted up into a ball of tension. Periodic stretching, even at our desk, or just getting up and walking over to the window and getting a different view can help. One of the greatest disservice modern business decor has done to us, is making our offices pristine, sleek, unencumbered spaces. There is nothing more relaxing than getting up from your desk and walking over to a peaceful,

1. Strive to build customer loyalty. Customer loyalty is the most important secret to achieve good customer service. It will be nice if you know your customers” full names, contact numbers and other personal information. If you show concern for what matters to your customers, you are just building their loyalty and you are acquiring customers for life.

2. Provide authentic customer service. Nowadays, service has been a cliche and just a traditional way of dealing with customers. If everyone’s doing it, it’s a high time that you personalize your service. Be creative; personally know your customers and identify their individual needs. Make certain that your offerings are valuable to your customers.

3. The old adage “customer is always right” is still applicable. If one customer approach you and complains, be serious about handling his concern. If the customer is angry and upset, calm him with soothing words first and show him how serious you are in correcting any problems.

Once the customer is satisfied by how you addressed his complain, thank him for conveying the problem to you. Keep in mind that advertisements will not be enough to repair a damage done by failing to address customer complaints. Silent complainers can also do great damages to your business. These are those who just walk out your shop without any complains but you”ll never see them again. They are openly criticizing your services to other people thus establishing a bad reputation for your business.

4. Be honest with the customers. Once your customer suspects that you are lying on them, he is an instant lost buyer. If a customer seeks for your advice about a product, openly tell them what they need to know. In the end, they will thank you for being so genuine with what you offer.

5. Go the extra mile. If you want superb customer service, you should exert extra effort. You can send a birthday card or insert a thank you note on a customer’s package. You can send a congratulatory note when a client gets promoted or you can clip the article if you see their photo or names in print. There are various ways to bring your clients closer to you.

6. Pass it on to your staff. If you are handling other personnel, educate and train them about good customer service as well. There will be times when you can’t directly deal with your customers and your staff must be able to show them the excellent customer service they want.

Competitors are looking to cater to those unsatisfied customers of yours so it’s better take care of your clients through good customer service. It should not only be a lip service; authentic customer service is one which comes from the heart and achieved through visible actions.

This situation can be caused by many things and it can affect both individuals and teams. Regardless of the reasons for the situation, there are specific, predictable ways to get past the funk. When you apply these suggestions (and some of them you can apply within one minute of finishing this article) you will lift both your spirits and your productivity, and begin to give you your rhythm back.

Since there’s no reason to wait any longer, let’s get started!

Get started. Action is the most important force we have. Taking action, whatever it is, will make a big difference. Often our energy is drained by procrastination. Lou Holtz, the longtime football coach said, “When all is said and done, there is a lot more said than done.” Stop talking about it or thinking about it and get started. Do something. Do anything. Get started!

Fake it. Dale Carnegie taught us that if we “act enthusiastic, we’ll be enthusiastic.” This is a fundamental truth. If you don’t immediately take action, you can begin by getting yourself excited about the task. If you are having trouble getting excited about the task, get excited about getting over your slump. That will motivate you and help you get going.

Start small. The first actions we take don’t have to be large. We may even feel a bit daunted by what is in front of us. In fact, the size of the project or obstacle in front of us may have been what caused the slump to start with. The size of your actions doesn’t matter. Take a small step right now.

Think big. While you may start small, you can still think big. Having a big vision can help motivate you and get you excited. It can be incredibly helpful to have a big vision.

Set a goal. Of course the “think big” suggestion is related to goal setting. But you can have a big vision without truly having a goal. Again, at this point the size of the goal is less important than having a clear endpoint that is something you really want. I didn’t make this the first suggestion, though you could argue it should be. Why didn’t I? Because sometimes people procrastinate in setting a goal! You need this step, and if you can get that clear focus at the start, all the better.

Get some help. Sometimes a task is easier if you have someone to work with. Get a co-worker to share the load on your project, and offer to help them in return. Ask a neighbor for a hand. Their helping hand or their camaraderie may be what stimulates you, or maybe it is the accountability that comes from another person saying, “I’m ready, where do we start?”

Get some advice. Talk to someone who knows about your project or task. Ask for the benefit of their experience. Get their ideas about how to proceed. Their advice will be helpful, and you will likely feel some support for your actions.

Have a daily plan. Do a little bit more each day. A big effort today is great, but if it isn’t followed up tomorrow you might find yourself right back where you started emotionally and psychologically. Have a daily plan and work that plan. Consistently work on the task or project and you will find your energy and enthusiasm growing. Soon your slump will be a distant memory.

Set a reward. Maybe you will reward yourself with your favorite dinner, or a night out, or a new CD. Pick something commiserate with your task and something that is motivating to you (or your team). It won’t be long until you will be enjoying the rewards you set for yourself.

All of these suggestions come back to the idea that we need to get into a rhythm. When we get into a rhythm, we get out of our lull and into greater joy… and productivity.

Go ahead, get rhythm today!