Creating Organizational Alignment

Welcome! My name is Todd Gross and since 1999 I have been helping client companies create alignment in their organizations.  Why should you be interested in my blog?  If you have read the book The Outliers you are familiar with the 10,000 hours theory.  With over 20,000 hours of consulting experience with hundreds of companies I have seen first hand great successes and horrifying failures.  No single person working for a specific employer can begin to amass the cumulative experience that comes with diversity that a multi-client consulting position can offer.  By coming here you can learn from what I have witnessed, you do not have to learn the same lessons the hard way.  I will share the experiences gained from working with a diverse client base using a set of proven tools.   

I work with clients across a broad range of industries to enhance organizational confidence and create alignment between activities and strategic vision.  At Advisa we specialize in the areas of competency modeling, job design, personnel selection, performance management, organizational planning, organizational design, strategy development, training and development of personnel, sales force effectiveness and leadership development.

In this blog I will explore how to create organizational alignment as well as a variety of other relevant management and leadership topics. 

You can use the link below to connect to me on Linkedin:

I just spent the month of June on an annual family trip.  For the last 7 years we have taken 3 to 4 weeks each summer and enjoyed a road trip.   This is generally a great recharge time and a true exploration of places we've not seen before.  Our journeys have sent us to about 43 states and 5 Canadian provinces through our history of doing these trips.  The only planning involved prior to our departure is when do we want to leave and by what date do we have to be back.  This has been a wonderful way to vacation and it works well for our family trip but this year I did think about the cost of operating this way and what would happen if a business worked similarly.  

This first discussion on day one is generally what direction should we head.  We usually spend 20-30 minutes in a family meeting (maybe longer) trying to determine what direction we will head.  It often seems like nobody wants to step up and make the decision or state an opinion (sound like any meetings you have been in?).  This will usually set the immediate agenda and get us through the initial day or two.  It is like tackling an immediate project in a business.  The problem is when we are done with the initial destination the family meeting starts over.  These conversations tend to get tougher as we progress on our journey.  Sometimes we find out we just went 5 hours driving in the opposite direction of where everyone wants to go next.  We spend countless hours in these discussions and spend a fair amount of time back tracking.  I could not help but think about the hours of meetings that are spent in businesses to tackle the next project, the next step, re-routing, etc.  The cost to us on our trip is days of time spent talking and missing doing things.  The cost on a business using this approach is huge.  A business not only needs a sound strategic plan but that plan must be converted to an understandable near-term tactical plan to truly create organizational alignment.   

On our trips we have no expectations, performance measurements, or profit requirements to meet.  Without a strategic planning framework to follow a business can wander through these daily discussions making continuous course correction with no clear path.  How much time do you and your people spend in meetings?  How many of your staff has complained about the number and duration of meetings?  How much could be eliminated with a good road map?  It certainly will not, and should not, replace the need to meet with your staff and communicate.  However, what it can do is change the purpose, direction and demeanor of those meetings.  The ability to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your daily interaction is only one of the many benefits of strategic planning.  Your plan cannot be limited to a strategic planning retreat, it needs to migrate to a daily operating plan.  We continually work with clients to link their plan to daily activities.   

If this post is reflective of symptoms presently occurring in your business you may want to consider a few options.  1)  Download the white paper on "Principles for Creating Organizational Alignment"  2) Contact us to discuss how we can help build a road map for your business.

 One of my clients recently contacted us looking for assistance in recruiting employees.  We were able to help them with assessment and selection of sales staff and a network engineer position.  I was pleased but not surprised when I was copied on the following e-mail this morning:

"Sally,

 

Tony is going to start with us on Monday.  Thanks for all of your work on this!  You did a great job!  You have kept me informed throughout the process and you were very thorough.  Just to be diligent, I asked the candidates what they thought about Advisa and the process up to that point during the face-to-face interviews.  They all had positive things to say.  You made this easy for me.  If I need anyone else, I’ll definitely give you a call.  Thank you."

Sally Jacobs handled this particular position but this is reflective of the work and results of our entire ADVISA hiring staff.  They continue to amaze clients with the quality of their work and the low cost at which they are able to provide those results.  

If you are looking for top notch assistance with your efforts to attract and recruit new personnel then contact your ADVISA hiring team to explore how they work with clients. 

Within our organization and in working with client companies the common theme seems to be a guarded optimism as people are seeing a positive turn in their businesses.  Everyone seems reluctant to say the economy is coming back but the signs seem to be there.  The potential pitfall in the reluctantance to accept a return is businesses are slow to add additional resources until they have solid evidence the economy is rebounding.  This approach places companies behind the curve in recruiting employees.  Already stretched employees are expected to do even more and the staff that's in place begins to abandon ship in the hopes of greener pastures.  

In new research published by the University of Colorado it was identified that companies which cut staff too deep are not positioned to ramp up as the economy returns.  In studying companies throughout past recessions companies that made significant staff reductions during downtimes performed far worse than their peers after the recovery.  This begs the question; How prepared are you to ramp up when the economy returns to your sector?  

Companies that lack a sound employee retention strategy and recruiting strategy could find themselves in a desperate reaction mode playing a game of catch up in the very near future.  In 1986 Bob Wilson founded what is now Advisa for the very purpose of providing client companies with the human analytics needed to improve these strategies and others with which business leaders often struggle.   Since its inception, Advisa has grown in both its own resources but also in its scope.  Throughout that journey the transference of the knowledge to help companies in excelling at recruiting, properly managing, and retaining their key assets (their people) has always been a primary focus.  If you would like to learn more about how we have been helping clients address these issues I invite you to begin your journey by attending a complimentary webinar on using PI® in the hiring process.  Simply click the link below to register.

One of the most frequent questions I have been asked in the last few years is "What has happened to the work ethic of the younger generation?"  My answer to that question is "Nothing".  There are varying work ethics in all generations, the younger generation is no exception.  What has changed is the use of motivation techniques that are far less effective with a new generation of workers.  This has not only changed the role of managers but has heightened the need for better managers.  

This is an extensive topic and I would be naive to think I could cover it in a blog post.  What I can do in this post is start getting you to think about the importance of motivation and how it might be different moving forward.  The "carrot and stick" method of motivation is not achieving the results it used to provide.  This new generation of workers entered into the workforce with higher demands and expectations of getting what they needed from the work.  It is no longer about rewards and punishments, it is about meeting the intrinsic needs of the worker.   

What changed was the needs of the new worker, but what generally has not changed are the management skills training done to teach managers how to be more effective at engaging employees.  Managers have to get smarter and equip themselves with better tools and knowledge to effectively manage and retrain these new employees.

Gen Xers and Gen Yers entered the workforce in unprecedented times.  Fear of the stick had little impact as they could, and did, freely move about from organization to organization.  Rewards from the carrot had reduced effect as they could shop their skills in an open marketplace with less supply than demand.  

Manager training programs now have to employ things like behavioral assessments, more clearly defined career pathing that is visible to the employee and built around them, and customized coaching to meet them specific needs and desires of the worker.  If you are still relying on the old carrot and stick method of management you are going to struggle to engage a new workforce and it will likely show up in your turnover numbers.  The basic rewards and consequences management approach is insufficient in satisfying a workforce that has grown up with and has choices.  If you would like to learn more or go deeper into this subject contact us through the tabs above or e-mail me at: tgross@advisausa.com

The results of a joint poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos revealed Americans are more loyal to their favorite soft drink, television show or car brand than they are to their employer.  As an employer or manager those results likely elicited a response of recognition, amazement, or denial.  If it was amazement my hope for you is that you have done a really good job of engaging employees and it is not just denial disguised as amazement.  For those of you who find yourself in a state of recognition or denial it is time to acknowledge the potential damage to your business/department by allowing the situation to brew under the surface. 

Loyalty is one of those relationships that has to work both ways.  If you want your employees to strive to meet the needs of the organization you have to be striving to meet the individual needs of your employees.  This is difficult because what works for you may not have the same results when offered to your workforce.  This leaves many managers scratching their heads wondering how to effectively motivate employees.  It is not that they do not understand the importance of motivation.  It is simply that they struggle to understand the differing needs in a diverse workforce. Without good tools and human analytics managers do the best job they can with the information they have.   Personality assessments (like Predictive Index®) can provide the missing data that allows managers to learn how to motivate employees in a way that meets their individual needs.  

If improving employee morale is on your radar screen I encourage you to contact us and take the Predictive Index® system for a test drive.  We can show you how to get that missing data you need to enhance the performance of your management team.  Simply click on the contact us tab at the top of the page or e-mail me at tgross@advisausa.com

An important and laborious part of our strategic planning framework is the SWOT exercise.  We can spend as much as two days in a strategic planning retreat discussing the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats of an organization.  There exists numerous strategic planning methods and different ways to develop a solid plan.  Our methodology begins with an analysis of the current situation as it exists in both reality and in the perceptions of key members of the strategy team.  This is where the SWOT exercise comes in and in our model is critical to the creation of future plans.  



The purpose of this is twofold. First, different important players in an organization often have different perceptions regarding past and present factors. Clarification of these perceptions is very important because without it, the efficacy of the strategic planning process is compromised before it gets started. Second, the clarification of where we are in a variety of key areas also makes clear what we have to do or change to get to where we want to go. It is valuable for all of the participants to get a full picture of the company at large. This will serve to inform and unify the participants regarding the pressures, constraints and possibilities of your consolidated organization.




I am frequently asked if we could do anything to reduce the time spent doing the SWOT.  The simple answer is NO.  The point to the SWOT is to have a real discussion about both people’s reality and perceptions around key areas of the business.  Most of the key benefits derived from the SWOT happen without revelation or ah-ha’s.  This was evidenced in the last session I conducted.  The Chairman showed up on day 3 to be involved in setting the vision.  As we divided into three teams, all of the teams and team members were on the same page as they all just sat through all of the preliminary discussions during the SWOT exercise leading up to this process.  The Chairman did not participate and only had his myopic view on the future and not only became a distraction but was actually destructive to a process that all participants were previously completely bought into and were uniformly headed the same direction.  The process is built this way for a reason and we did not invent it.  This was not a negative reflection on the CEO but was a glaring example of the need of the SWOT exercise.  You ignore it or minimize it at the cost of the quality of the session.  

The process of organizational strategic planning must begin with a solid analysis of your current situation or you are building future plans on an unknown foundation.

Does your team have a common understanding of your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats?  Do you have a solid foundation to build your plan and future on?  

 

 The war for talent continues even through difficult times and times of high unemployment.  As companies reduce staff and try to do more and more with less and less the importance of top talent has risen to greater heights.  

What has changed are the strategies of the war.  Rather than carpet bombing for any talent, companies are now using principles of strategic "smart bombing" for only the very best talent.  While the supply and demand of unskilled talent has risen and fallen, respectively, the supply and cost of top line talent has reduced and risen, respectively.  The best of the best are harder to locate and more expensive to hire.  

The ability to attract, hire and retain the very best talent will be the primary competitive differentiator of the post 2008/2009 economic environment.  

In order to remain relevant businesses must carefully consider their strategic recruiting strategy and insure it aligns with the overall succession planning process and the strategic planning theory for the organization.  Not only do we aid clients in creating this type of organizational alignment we also employee a core of highly qualified staffing specialists with validated tools to assist you in getting the right fit for your organization and its needs.  Contact us through the information at the top of this blog.  

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to play golf with a good friend who is in the banking business in some very distinct and differing markets.  The economy and the overall banking crisis have had a significant impact on his business but in uniquely different ways.  In early 2009, we held a user group meeting and I talked about organizational planning as a beneficial tool to position clients to migrate through the turbulant waters of the economic downturn.   At that time we were all suffering through the early stages of what was to be a longer economic downturn than few were prepared for or had anticipated.  Optimism was still ripe in the early stages of what was later acknowledged as a great fall.  Most felt the rescuers might arrive by mid summer or early fall.  During that meeting I discussed that there seemed to be two prevailing strategies.  Hunker Down, weather the storm and emerge on the other side.  The other strategy called for bold moves, the US was on sale and the time was ripe for scooping up lower performing competitors or even talent. 

My friend often comments that up through 2008 he would walk into social settings and proudly annouce that he was a "Banker."  Despite his organizations' foresight to avoid the trappings that most larger players fell into he now fully feels the stigma of being a "Banker" in today's climate.  How things have changed and the days of old are not likely to return as what we have experienced has changed us all at some level.  Trust in bankers is at an all time low.  Engaging employees has become more difficult and sound employee retention strategies have become essential to survival.  

The interesting dynamic with my friends' business was the duality of his strategies.  In some markets it was time to reduce costs and bolt things down to weather the storm.  In other markets it was time to replace marginal performers with the better talent that was available, look at acquisitions and make some opportune moves.  By having a solid strategy, knowing his business and markets, and having a solid strategic planning framework, he has made the most of what others have simply struggled to survive through. His organization is positioned to not only emerge strong through these difficult times but has actually continued his long standing success track.

Without the foresight and planning we talked through in late 2008 his organization would have likely experienced the same problems that most in his industry faced.  His organization led the market in most key measurables because he understood planning is not just for the good times.  In fact if you were to ask him he would tell you that planning is important in good times and a matter of survival in tough times.  What is your plan for migrating the next year?  How do you plan to emerge from the current economic challenges?  Are you hunkering down, exploring bold moves, or some combination of the two?  Are you stuck and just not sure what to do?  If you're looking for some help you can send me an e-mail at tgross@advisausa.com

Business leaders are starting to fear the danger of burnout.  As businesses have been pressed to maintain costs or reduce expenses, doing more with less has gone into hyper-mode.  The real question becomes how long can we really crank on that dial before we start feeling the effects?  Employees are becoming exhausted and resentful.  Retention and productivity are likely to be the victims of this period of heightened personal and professional pressure. 

It is like adjusting the dial on the thermostat.  If we do not manage it and do it correctly people overheat.  This causes them to just sit down.  The likely results are panic, locking down, inaction, and paralysis.  Top performers will begin to migrate on and off the list of the best in your organization.  Employee productivity is essential to be competitive in today's business landscape but there is a line between engaged employees that are highly productive and employees that have just been driven to hard.

Research indicates that job satisfaction is at its lowest level in decades.  Although you may not be feeling the impacts of this today because of the higher unemployment rates, do not be so naive to believe that there will not be a day when you have to pay the piper.  As consumer confidence recovers quit rates will rise.  These same people will seize the opportunity for a fresh start, looking to free themselves of the feeling of oppressive power.  Business leaders need to be managing levels of risk and pressure and need to be continually mindful of how they control the dial.  They should be continually focused on engaging employees.  They should be even more concerned about the importance of motivation.  

For additional insights into improving employee morale and employee retention strategies give us a call and we will share the insights we have gained through 50 years of research and teaching companies how to up their game in these areas.  You can reach us through the contact us tab on the top of the page or you can e-mail me at tgross@advisausa.com

All of us have had teachers at some point in our lives.  For most of us we are fortunate enough to come across one or two that separate themselves from the people called teachers and are truly the embodiment of teacher.  For me that one that stands out is Bob Wilson, the founder of Advisa.  This week I am at the international conference for Predictive Index® licensees and consultants.  Sitting in the room and reflecting on the accomplishments I had in 2009, as the top total revenue generator in the U.S., I could not help but think about all that Bob has taught me about how to be a successful consultant teaching others how to create high performing organizations.  It is also why Advisa is consistently the top U.S. Predictive Index® licensee.   Whether it is leadership and management training or just helping create organizational alignment, Bob has been a guide post for me to improve my ability to drive the success of client companies.  

Predictive Index® is, without a doubt, a best of breed product but the value to my clients and those of Advisa is truly derived from the quality and knowledge of the consultants who help clients interpret and use the information and insight provided by the tool to become better managers of people and relationships.  The power of PI®, like any other tool, lies solely in your ability to use it.  At Advisa, we have built a team of exceptionally well taught business consultants that guide clients through the difficult maze of human capital management to create confident organizations that consistently perform above peer levels.  As I prepared to sit down to write this blog entry I received a call from a client to tell me they received the "Crystal" Award for broadcasting.  This is one of the premier awards given each year by the National Association of Broadcasters.  I was honored that the client called to include me in their celebration.  This client believes we helped create the culture that allowed them to gain this type of recognition.  This is an example of how our clients lead their industries and how they view us as an integral part of their success.
 


If you want to up your game in the key relationships you have with employees, peers, bosses, or customers give us a call and learn more about Predictive Index® and the Advisa team.  Our contact information can be found in the tabs above.

I recently worked with a client to merge to competing entities.  It took some time to work through all the legal and business aspects of the merger.  Shortly after that process and all the ink was dry on the contracts I was conducting a training for managers in the two organizations.  A key discovery during the training for the managers in this course was that the heavy lifting of the merger was about to begin.  Often the most difficult aspect of bringing to separate companies under one umbrella is the merging of the cultures.  We are all keenly aware of the fact that people have distinct personalities and jobs have distinct personalities and companies have personalities (Cultures).  Clients often turn to us when adding new members to their teams to insure they are getting a good fit and they are properly merging the new team member into their existing group.  Consequently we have a lot of practical experience on identifying these differences and helping clients successfully navigate through the inherit landmines.  The difference in this scenario is this was team building super-sized.  

Fortunately the same principles of how to motivate employees and the benefits gained through understanding personalities in the work place apply equally well to large groups and the individual.  With the knowledge gained through the Predictive Index ^Ò    system we were able to help them understand the needs of the individuals, teams, and cultures involved.  With this information they will be able to address concerns, demystify fears, and lay the foundation for engaging employees throughout the process.  

Without this additional insight they would have been trapped in the same vicious cycle of explaining the intellectual merits of what was happening, watch heads nod and be extremely frustrated because the emotional side of employee buy-in was never addressed and the wheels came off.  Unfortunately in the long-term battle between intellectual and emotional buy-in, the intellectual argument seldom wins.  

Do you currently have the tools and insight that allows you to address all aspects of buy-in and use them to create high performing teams?  If not then I would invite you to spend a few minutes talking to one of our experienced staff members about the power of the Predictive Index ^Ò   system.  You can e-mail me at tgross@advisausa.com 

 After finishing 2009 with what for me was a very good year and on the heels of several good years, one might think I came into to 2010 feeling pretty good.  The reality is I spent a good part of the third quarter of 2009 trying to figure out how I could possibly begin to repeat the success of 2009 in 2010.  This is not new.  I tend to go through this at the end of each year and I usually do not feel comfortable until I have at least amassed a good first half of the year.  I am certain that there are many successful CEOs that routinely find themselves in the same place as their organizations migrate through their fiscal year.  

As with each previous year I spent December of 2009 developing a strategic planning framework for my own personal business for this year.  Since it was for my segment of the business within a business it was not a typical organizational planning, but the reality of it is the process and the outcomes are not much different than if I was doing it for a client.  Not only do I facilitate this process for clients several times a year, I personally take a strategic planning approach in how I do my job.  

I recently found some comfort in my anxiety about the coming year as I begin to read Jim Collins book How The Mighty Fall.  In his book he talks about the danger of hubris and people believing that they will be successful because they have been successful.  Maybe it is easier to see in my role, but yesterdays success has a very limited impact on tomorrows.  And as Collins cited, companies that fret over how they are going to continue to be successful are much more likely to end up that way.  The diligent thinking, planning, and pursuit of success is what drives great companies to remain great and non-great companies to become great.  Strategic planing is not an event but a process that companies migrate through and keep top of mind throughout their day-to-day activities.  

If you are trying to figure out how you are going to make 2010 the best it can be, especially during these difficult economic times, please drop me an e-mail and we can discuss the process of a good organizational plan.  tgross@advisausa.com

I was recently engaged by a client to conduct some executive coaching to achieve better organizational alignment.  After receiving some 360 performance feedback, it became apparent that the autocratic management style of the chief executive was restricting the growth of the organization and its people. The inherent commanding leadership style was effective as long as the CEO was around and could monitor what was happening; but as the business grew and demands were placed upon him to be out of the office more, his presence, and hence his ability to control output, was continually challenged.  The future growth of the organization and its employee productivity was being restricted by his capacity to touch it.  The strategic planning process was done in his office and it was not a collabrative effort with his critical team members.

Power is one of those things we are granted by others temporarily.  Power associated with position or title is only perceptual power.  Real power is something you earn in your organization.  It cannot be assumed.  It is given for reasons other than authority, position, hierarchy or title.  It is only given for reasons like respect, admiration, quality of relationship, because others believe you, or you have their best interest as a priority, etc.  Additionally, power is held in all levels within the organization.  If someone in a lower position uses real power while you use positional power they can have a far greater impact on your staff than you do, despite or your hieacrhial advantage.

In the research for Crucial Confrontations the researchers discovered a proportional link between the types of power used and success or failure.  The more position power (authority) was used the less successful leaders were.

Since your authority resides within you, like you it leaves the room when you leave.  If you want your influence to remain after you leave, you have to rely on more than just authority.  People who possess true power never really need, and seldom do, tell others they have power.  Threats or ultimatums are simply not necessary to accomplish what they need to get done.  Does your power stick around after you leave the office?  Do things run as smoothly or efficiently when you're not there?  Are you hesitant to leave or not be involved because the wheels tend to come off when you unplug?  

Take a minute a download the leadership white paper from the link on the top left of the page or e-mail me at tgross@advisausa.com 

 

I just wrapped up another Organizational Planning project for a client.  As we converted the goals to an actual tactical plan for 2010 I asked them to review all the listed action items and ask 3 questions:

1. Do we have the time and resources?
2. Do we have the skills and talents to accomplish the plan?
3. Do we have the commitment and desire?

To be successful these questions needed to be answered positively.  As you consider your own situation, these should be as well:

Are our time-lines reasonable?  Do we have the budget, equipment, infrastructure, resources?  Do we have the right people in the right places?  Do we have the skills and talents to effectively do what we are asking?  Do our people understand the vision?  Do they buy-in to what we are trying to accomplish?  Are they on-board?  Do they have line-of-site between what we are asking them to do and the overall vision for the organization?  Do we have metrics in place to define and measure success, and reward or course correct as necessary?

If you have the right people in place your job as a leader is often to remove the obstacles so that your people can do what you need them to do.  As you consider strategic planning implementation, how do you take the strategic planning framework and convert it to action, you should consider these obstacles.   If you do this well the biggest problem you might have is staying out of your people's way.  

Learn more about our organizational planning process by clicking on the "What We Do" tab above.

I recently watched an interview with Bill Curry where he was talking about his relationship with fellow Baltimore Colt player and roommate Mike Curtis.  Bill was the center for the 1970s Colts and Mike played the linebacker position.  In Bill's words the two disagreed on most things but when it came to vision and goals the two were completely aligned.  As such the things that would drive two people who tend to disagree apart did not even make their radar screens.  At the end of the day they were grounded by a common vision.  

I have spent a lot of time in the last few weeks asking people at all levels in organizations how they are connected to the mission, vision and values of their respective companies.  I guess it should be of no surprise that if they were not directly involved in the organizational strategic planning retreat they can seldom articulate a connection.  They can read the statements displayed on the walls but feel that those statements are something the executive team created and they are not directly connected.  They just need to do what they are instructed to do.  Can you imagine the impact that can have on engaging employees or how it could relate to the importance of motivation?  

A valuable exercise is to take those published statements and ask each person that works for you what role those statements play in their jobs?  How do they exemplify or impact each line item in their role?  How is each item demonstrated in their area of responsibility?

If you would like some help in creating this kind of organizational alignment and buy-in in your organization please contact us for a free intial consultation. 

What role should a personality assessment test play in your assessment and selection process?  If capacity is the knowledge, skills and experience to do a job and desire is the internal motivation to do the job then we can think of applicants in four quadrants.






Box 1 This group seldom results in success.

Box 2 This group might be the most frustrating of the four.  These are the people who you know have the ability to do the job, and they can be good people, but you are just not getting the results you want.  Applicants in this box can work if what you truly need is a short-term solution or to fill an interim position which you know the applicant will move out of and into something they have a greater desire to do.

Box 3 This group is the often overlooked potential. When organizations have limited budgets or limited applicant pool, but possess time and training capacity, you can hire box 3 applicants with the goal to teach capacity and move them to a long-term solution.  

The goal for Box 2 & 3 should be develop a plan that moves them to Box 4 or make the hire understanding the likely consequences.  Box 2 & 3 can be representative of having the right people on the bus but not yet having them in the right seats.

Box 4 This group is reflective of the type of applicants that end up as engaged, high performing employees.

In the hiring process a lot of effort is generally spent on investigating an applicants capacity to do the job.  Determining whether an applicant has the capacity to do the job could place them in box 2 or 4.  The unfortunate part of hiring a box 2 candidate when you thought you were hiring a box 4 candadite is your ability to move someone from box 2 to 4 in the same job is somewhat limited.  This often results in employees who can make a splash upon arrival and then trickle off or leave.  

So how do you get to the "desire" aspect in a applicant screening?  Personality assessments, like the Predictive Index® System, can help you identify the kind of work people enjoy doing.  To identify the traits of the job, we use a survey called "The PRO," and then matching the applicant's drives to the traits of the job you increase your success in placing people in jobs they actually have the desire to do.   

By using behavior assessments that have been validated as hiring assessments in your selection process you can dramatically increase your probability for long-term positive results.


All you have to do then is manage them in a way that meets their needs.  The good news is we have been teaching managers and supervisors how to do that for over 50 years.  

An important component of strategic planning implementation is to insure that your organization is actually designed in a way that yields the greatest probability of achieving your vision.  As we have worked with companies over the last 20 years we have helped them in creating a strategic plan only to see its success impaired by the very design of the organization.  This recurring issue is why we have included a review of the organizational architecture as part of our planning process. What should be inherent in the design is focused accountability, fluidity as things naturally migrate through your business, and line-of-site alignment to the strategic vision.  Although this is not complicated, there is certainly an art to seeing the components and orchestrating a high performing, confident, focused, and fluid structure.

Some key principles we focus on when engaging in creating organizational design structure:

• Don’t put people or departments in a position that causes them to choose between conflicting responsibilities
• Identify the focus areas of the organization from a very high level
• Add other primary areas of focus identified in the process of strategic planning
• Build an organization where an individual is responsible to focus on, own, and guide singular primary areas (Eliminate finger pointing and have ONE person to go to in the event of problems)
• Link areas where there is symmetry

Does your business more closely resemble a traditional stick built house in a mass-produced sub-division?  Are you ready to step-up to a custom built structure that truly serves the need of your business?  We are professional organizational architects and would appreciate the opportunity to talk with you about how we can help your business.


 

"Having taught Strategic Management at the university level for numerous years I was intrigued by the way ADVISA handle the Strategic Planning Process. Orchestrated by Heather Haas and Todd Gross I found the initiative to be a true process and not just an event. Embodied in the process is a disciplined approach to moving an organizational forward by focusing on a manageable number of priorities. Priorities that found their origin in our vision, mission and business model. I feel confident that we are headed in the right direction by doing the right things. The folks from ADVISA enabled us to develop a sense of organizational clarity we have never experienced before." 

Dan Moore
President/CEO 
HomeBank

 

 

Heather Haas, our COO, and I just finished working with a group of schedulers in a large medical practice to improve the perceptions of the quality of their customer service.  The foundation of this training was an exercise that caused the schedulers to take the mission, vision, and values of the practice and convert those statements to what they specifically mean to their position.  This exercise allowed the schedulers to have line-of-sight between their role and the strategy of the organization as a whole.  This was somewhat of a new concept for the participants.  To date they had not thought about how what they do relates to the stated mission and values of their practice.  In our experience it is often the lack of this line-of-sight or employees' inability to connect directly to the organization's strategic planning framework that impairs their ability to help in achieving the strategic goals of the organization.  

When I started this blog around the concept of creating organizational alignment these are the very principles I had in mind.  When strategy, leadership, and execution are aligned and are both clearly visible and clearly understood by all, you have established a foundation for a truly confident organization.  If you asked the members of your staff how what they do directly impacts the mission, vision and values of your organization, could they clearly articulate the connection and impact?  If you are unsure if they could, then consider exploring some of the tools, training and expertise we can bring to your business.   

For the last few days I have been working with a client creating a strategic plan.   They had just brought in a new sales executive that has all the promise to be a game changer for their organization.  Early in the review of their current sales team the theme that was appearant was his new team did not have the confidence of some of his prior teams.  As I thought about his comments I thought of the company's we have worked with and our mission to create confident organizations.  There is certainly a difference in the organizations that have that corporate swagger and those that do not.  

Does your organization have it?  Does your organization need it?  It takes alot of components to line up to create that kind of a culture in an organization.  We are helping this client create a confident organization.  In fact we have spent the last twenty plus years researching and building a suite of services all designed to create the organizational alignment needed to build that confident attitude in today's business environment.  Are you ready to put some attitude in your culture?  You can use the "Contact Us" tab above to learn more.