Alignment

A couple of weeks ago I had difficulty sleeping because my back was out of alignment, and every time I moved the slightest pain would wake me up. Proper alignment is essential for the health and well being of many things in life. Correct back alignment is important for your physical well-being. Wheel alignment on your vehicle will improve its performance and maintain proper tire wear. And making sure your business is aligned is critical to improve its performance and produce optimal results.

George Labovitz and Victor Rosansky tell about the extraordinary turnaround of one of their clients who took over a major pharmaceutical company that was losing $20 million. After three years of working with the company, it was earning $20 million in profits, and the client said the one thing he learned is: “Alignment is everything!”

Labovitz and Rosansky have found through their research and experience that growth and profits come consistently to companies as a result of alignment between strategy, people, processes, and customers. Even during tough times, aligned companies are able to consistently “land on their feet” and outperform the competition.

Alignment is critical because it connects your employees’ actions to the company mission, it links your people and processes to the changing needs of customers, it allows your organization to shape your business strategy using real-time information from customers, and it will create a culture in which all these elements work together seamlessly.

The first element is to develop your strategy. This acts as a blueprint for everyone to focus on critical initiatives, effectively use resources to concentrate on your organization’s core competencies, and to be totally aligned with your Unique Strategic Advantage – the unique value created by your organization and highly valued by your ideal customers.

Organizations with a superior strategy will ALWAYS outperform those without one. It’s the difference between a Wal-Mart and a K-Mart. However, the reality is that many organizations operate without a clear strategic plan, and of those that have a plan, approximately 90 percent of them fail to successfully implement their strategy because 95 percent of the employees don’t understand the company’s strategy, and 85 percent of executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing it.

The second component involves aligning your strategy with your people, and offering professional development programs. Many organizations believe that their employees represent their most valuable asset, and numerous studies demonstrate the high monetary return on investment that comes from investing in your people.

The third component looks at your processes (a series of activities or tasks) and systems (overall structure) for creating value for your customer. Processes involve not only what you do, but also how you do it. A study by Proudfoot Consulting revealed that 37 percent of all working time is wasted because of poorly planned and managed work or inadequate supervision of workers. Increased efficiency results in faster service and a better customer experience.

The fourth component is the most critical because it involves your customers. Your ability to create and keep your customers is central to the long-term success or your business. Just reducing the loss of customers can have a significant impact on your bottom line. According to a Bain and Company study, a 5-percent increase in customer loyalty can grow a company’s profitability by 40 percent to 95 percent. Bain investigated the connection between loyalty and growth and found that companies with the highest customer loyalty grew twice as much as competitors.

Alignment links strategy and employees and integrates them with customers and process improvements to ultimately create greater growth and profit in your business. Is your business in alignment?

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We have written almost 300 articles in the Saipan Tribune with the purpose to provide you with ideas and information that will benefit you and your organization. In the past 11 years we have seen the economy take a rollercoaster drop—and we still haven’t hit bottom. These truly are difficult times where all organizations are taking drastic measures and cutting costs to survive.

We would like to make a bigger commitment to improve the overall business situation by offering free reports that discuss specific steps to improve your specific businesses situation. These are available to any interested business owner at no charge. The first report will be given at a meeting, April 24th. The cost of the meeting is two hours of your time to brainstorm solutions to the most pressing problems we are facing in the CNMI. There is limited space available, so please email us at rikv@bizresults.org to reserve your free report and chair for the alignment session for CMNI businesses. When you email us, we will send a checklist and information to help create your strategy and align the various elements in your business, as well as further details about the meeting.