What if every aspect of your business was aligned?
Consider your company’s main aim: where do you want to go? This is your driving ‘why,’ the reason you are in business, the reason you get out of bed every day and tolerate that commute. Losing sight of this vision can be easy amongst the day-to-day challenges; you’re still working towards it, just without the spirit and direction you once had. Taking time to realign with this purpose is vital to motivate yourself and to propel your company forward.
Your most important values, should be foregrounded in every aspect of your business. It is your job as leader to make sure, your organisation is communicating these consistently. To align your employees with them, make sure they memorise your company purpose, word-for-word as you want it. To achieve this, make your mantra visible, print it on mugs, display it on their desktop backgrounds, even paint it on the walls. You should be able to select any employee at random to recite it perfectly.
Now you’re all facing the right direction, it’s time to head that way, like a well-drilled military unit. Establish templates, frameworks and manuals that align the execution and delivery of your processes. This consistency can be backed up by using data, ensuring that performance is measured objectively. By transforming your operations in this way, you will drastically improve their efficiency. This is an initial investment in time that will certainly pay-off in the long-run.
Once you’ve completed the steps above and you have a business running like finely tuned engine, it’s time to choose who your company engages with. Make ideal personas for each of your key stakeholder groups: clients, employees, and partners/suppliers. This will not only improve your future onboarding process for these groups, but also force you to consider the suitability of your current people. There are difficult decisions to make, but stakeholder relationships that are unproductive should stimulate a frank conversation at least, or even be left behind.
On a personal level, you must make sure your professional and personal lives are also aligned. This means being engaged by your work, seeing it as a stimulus rather than a chore. If you dread your time in the office, this is an unhealthy mindset, which will inhibit your efficacy and the wider performance of your organisation. Don’t spend all evening at your workplace, because you are overloaded. Find the balance between being an influential leader and having time to relax.
If you can align every aspect of your business, so you are pushing in one unified direction you can achieve fulfilment and true, sustainable success.