Welcome to the May 2014 edition of Pathways to Success. This month's articles focus on the Goal Alignment. The first article is about a recent effort to reach agreement on a set of common goals and objectives; the difficulties that were encountered; and a reflection on what approaches and strategies that might have resulted in a different outcome. The second article is a re-post of a blog article by Elizabeth Lake LeDoux, CEO for vNacelle and a Vistage Chair. She puts into context the relationship between goal alignment and goal agreement and the reason to address both.
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Enjoy reading!
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Goal Aligning
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I was in a recent meeting that was the culmination of five months of effort among multiple stakeholders supported by the efforts of a large staff of a public agency. The objective was to create a document that fully represented the goals of a diverse community of stakeholders and to reach a vote to move forward with the document. However, during the process, one stakeholder group had become disenfranchised. It came down to one meeting. The disenfranchised party was empowered: they voted to stall and possibly derail the process.
Emotions flared. Accusations were made. Frustration was evident. What happened?
The arduous effort to align goals between multiple stakeholders missed the mark. Despite all efforts to reach out and capture input and comment from all parties, something ran aground.
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The Difference between Alignment and Agreement
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 On the surface, the difference seems a little too subtle to be useful. After all, aren't alignment and agreement essentially the same thing? If your employees are in alignment, surely they must be in agreement! Too many entrepreneurs learn-to their dismay-that the difference does mean something. If you're going to create a business team that is fully aligned with your company's goals-and aligned with each other-you're going to need to know exactly what that difference is. Continue reading ... |
