Misalignment at the top of an organisation is obviously the most damaging. Lack of alignment at lower levels can possibly be seen early on by good management and can be fixed (albeit, perhaps at a high cost).
Lack of alignment at the top is an unforced error at best and insidious at worst. The folks in charge of the wheel are themselves disorganised with no one watching over; by the time the board takes action huge damage has occurred. Likely there is an “agreement” with business goals, but then things falls apart at various levels: territorial skirmishes, politics, execution, budget, personal agendas, ego, ambition, organisation mismatch to strategy, weak planning, lack of execution depth, lack of organisational stamina and courage. You know.
Of course, The Current Plan does not solve these problems. However we do know that business alignment is one of the key pillars of business success. We want to see organisations align execution to stated business goals. You can learn much just by listening. You can learn much by cross-checking execution against top level goals and planning (look for future posts on this).
Coming to alignment shines a bright light on an organisation.
Much is written in the Internet Era on open organisations, self-managing, entrepreneur-within, individual excellence and leadership through influence. Truly and sincerely, these are all wonderful advances in business management. The Current Plan brings another perspective to business success: A focus on business alignment: The Current Plan. It’s not just software (although it is a great facilitator) but some key principles: Know and state your goals and then track execution against goals. Simple. Common sense. But that’s our belief. We’re still building some of the key supporting aspects within our product, but we have what is needed right now. Our mission: Align. Your business.
