Unfortunately, we see this all the time.

Issues are discussed at the executive meeting.  Alternatives are debated.  And eventually, a decision about the best course of action is made.

Far too often, what happens next is that executives who did not get their way undermine the decision.  Sometimes, their undermining is overt, blatant, and public such as when executives say, “They made a dumb decision.”

Most of the time, however, the undermining is much more covert.  Whispering at the watercooler.  Backstabbing in the bathroom.  Sniping at Starbucks.

This kind of behavior, especially at executive levels, must never be tolerated.

In contrast, high-performance executive teams debate, decide, and align.  Once a decision is made, everyone aligns behind it, even it if wasn’t their preferred course of action.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Your One Thing defines you, since it reflects your values and worldview.  And it differentiates you, since it captures your uniqueness.

In our experience, in order for something to be an organization’s defining differentiation, it must be something that they can become truly great at delivering.

It is extremely difficult to become great at something.  But it is virtually impossible to become great at multiple things.  In fact, trying to be “all things to all people” is precisely the formula for organizational mediocrity.

Thus, for most organizations, their defining differentiation is indeed just One Thing!

Decide One Thing.  Then invest everything you have in becoming truly great at it.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Like all great campaigns, this was designed to reach both consumers and employees.

Ford had the courage to admit that their cars did indeed have quality problems, and fixing them was Job One.

Ford also knew that they could not fix the quality problems without the help of their employees.  The advertising campaign was designed to help employees understand the magnitude of the problem, solicit their engagement in the process, and highlight those employees who had signed up to be part of the solution.

The campaign worked.  (Remember, Ford was the only American car manufacturer who did not need or take a bailout.)

The question for you to consider is this:  do your customers and employees know exactly what your Job One is?

Providing this kind of specificity requires what Jim Collins calls “piercing clarity.”

Obviously, only One Thing can be Job One.

However, last night I hit two potholes on the way home.  It was dark, and I never even saw them coming.  The force was enough to make me check to see if any of my teeth had been jarred loose!  And it was enough to knock my car out of alignment.

Organizations hit potholes too.  And just like my BMW, some of them are enough to knock the organization out of alignment.  Some of the most notable organizational potholes include:

• The unexpected loss of a key executive, especially the CEO
• The unexpected loss of a major account
• Hiring a senior executive who is competent, but does not share the organization’s values
• Re-organizations, especially ones that are not well planned
• Mergers, which fail to achieve their stated goals 75% of the time
• Failed new initiatives, especially ones that were sold as “essential to our future”

These potholes, while damaging, must be dealt with.  The organization has to go back to the foundational core and once again bring everything – and everyone – back into alignment with the vision, mission, values, and defining differentiation (the One Thing.)

Of course, it is a lot better if you just miss the potholes altogether.  This requires what we call “aligned agility.”

And excellent night vision!

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Why would you throw out the brand new suspension of a BMW and replace it with a new one? Because I was not satisfied with the handling and performance.

The experience provided many interesting lessons for leaders interested in improving the performance of their organizations.

First, a suspension, like an organization, is an integrated system, comprised of dozens of interrelated components. You can’t change one component of the suspension (like the shock absorbers) without impacting all of the other components. Likewise, you can’t change one component of an organization (like compensation) without impacting all of the other components.

Second, a suspension, like an organization, is architected and engineered to accomplish a specific purpose. My BMW is my daily driver, not a race car. Thus, the suspension package I selected was designed to dramatically improve handling and agility while maintaining a reasonable ride quality. Likewise, organizations are architected and engineered to execute a specific strategy. As we always say, strategy precedes structure.

Third, a suspension, like an organization, must be aligned. Interestingly, my brand new BMW was significantly out of alignment. Once the new suspension was installed, the car was re-aligned … and the results were amazing.

The car now performs with what I call, “Aligned Agility.”

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

So, what does that have to do with building high-performance organizations? More than you might think.

Regular readers of this blog know that we are passionate about organizational alignment. However, in today’s turbulent world, it is essential to build an organization that is both aligned and agile.

At first, these may seem like contradictory objectives.

You might think that agility requires loose, unstructured, self directed units. However, while this approach can allow a small percentage of the organization to react, over time, it creates a loose federation of disconnected silos.

In contrast, organizations who build the discipline of alignment into their culture are actually more agile than their unstructured counterparts. When new opportunities or threats arise, highly aligned organizations can redirect the entire organization to respond in force. They can reprioritize goals, reallocate resources, and reap the rewards of market domination.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

How do you create a high performing organization? It’s a question leaders face day-in and day-out, and all too frequently fall short when it comes to execution. Dave Ramos, Founder and CEO of The Dashboard Group, believes lack of alignment frequently lies at the core of underperformance. While the concept of alignment may seem simple, achieving it is not.

“You have to deal with the elephant in the room,” observes Ramos. “Even in organizations that recognize there’s a problem, fixing it can be painful. For example, it might require you to deal with long-standing dysfunctional interpersonal relationships that have penetrated the organizational culture.”

Misalignment stems from systemic problems that cut across functions, divisions or systems. For example, the CEO says employees are the company’s most valuable resource… but the organization lacks systems to grow talent or reward outstanding performance. Or perhaps the sales, marketing, and product development teams view the world differently and strive to achieve excellence—but not from the same context.

You can read the rest of the article here: http://www.moderndcbusiness.com/the-dashboard-group-aligns-companies-for-high-performance.html

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

In case you don’t have a degree in automotive engineering, let me explain how a turbocharger works.

In a normal engine, gasoline is mixed with air and is then ignited by the spark plug to produce power. The hot gasses left over from this process simply flow out the exhaust pipes into the environment.

A turbocharger is a small device that looks like a fan. It “recycles” the hot exhaust gasses from the engine and forces them back into the engine. It turns what would otherwise be wasted into additional horsepower.

In many ways, this is what organizational alignment does. It takes energy from an organization that might otherwise be wasted and turns it into power to accelerate growth and improve profitability.

Alignment is a hidden and often overlooked source of power. In fact, most organizations are not even aware of how misaligned they really are.

However, once you start the alignment process, results begin to flow. Policies become aligned with priorities. People become aligned with the strategy. Pricing becomes aligned with the market. Behaviors become aligned with the culture. And the cumulative effect of this alignment is an adrenaline-producing rush.

Which is exactly what happens when I “step on it” in my BMW.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

Peter Drucker says, “The task of leadership is to create an alignment of strengths, making our weaknesses irrelevant.”

Jim Collins shares this sentiment, “There is a big difference between being an organization with a vision statement and becoming a truly visionary organization. The difference lies in creating alignment – alignment to preserve an organization’s core values, to reinforce its purpose, and to stimulate continued progress towards its aspirations.”

But the fact is, aligning an organization is really hard work. It takes unbelievable management discipline and commitment. It takes an unselfish team willing to put “we before me.”

Over thirty years of research has shown that, quite simply, aligned organizations out perform their competitors by every major financial measure.

The most interesting concept is the relationship between alignment and growth. More on that next week.

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking … Accelerate Your Results.

We see this issue over and over.

The organization’s words don’t align with their actions. Their policies don’t align with their values. Their people aren’t aligned with the strategy. The executive team isn’t aligned with each other. The sales team isn’t aligned with the marketing team. The pricing model isn’t aligned with the customer’s buying preference.

So, if you had to summarize Dashboard in One Word, it would be alignment. It is our goal to “own” that word.

The question for you is, “if you had to summarize your organization in One Word, what would it be?”

Is there One Word that you can own? One Word that you can burn into your brand promise? One Word that you can use as your guiding north star?

According to Webster, there are about a million words in the English vocabulary. Surely you can find One Word that you can uniquely own.

Just don’t choose alignment. That one is taken!

The Shift Points blog is designed for Fast Lane leaders who want to leave their competitors in the dust.

Shift Your Thinking…Accelerate Your Results.