Change and strategy are inextricably linked because implementing a solid strategy inevitably requires organisational change and successful change management needs strategic direction and alignment.
Strategy is about mapping out where your organisation or your client’s organisation wants to be in the future and figuring out how to get there. Implementing strategy generally means changing things – processes, structures, systems, behaviours, and sometimes even your organisational culture – to align with your desired goals.
Many strategic change programs fail; John Kotter suggested 30%, and McKinsey found an even more significant disparity, stating that 70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals. There are many potential points of failure, but common causes can be taking a top-down approach, poor communication, and a lack of engagement. These blockers of change are not always visible or proactively considered.
Aligned to Achieve (A2A) has been created to achieve strategic alignment and identify blockers, thus improving chances of success. The big difference is strategy development is now an engaging, interactive experience through gamification.
Why does A2A improve the success of strategic change? With A2A:
- Strategy development is focused on key business and team goals.
- Is a fun, engaging, interactive experience that brings strategy to life.
- Provides visibility of alignment and misalignment to the strategy.
- Facilitates effective collaboration and communication and gains buy-in.
- Proactively identifies blockers that will derail strategy or change.
- Provides scenario planning and impact analysis.
- Fosters and encourages creativity.
There are many areas in which an organisation should consider using A2A. These include:
- Vision and values alignment – Provides direction and purpose that are critical for strategic success. A2A can facilitate workshops, communicate, and align every department and team.
- Sales and marketing alignment – Misalignment between sales and marketing can lead to inefficiencies and lost sales. A2A can encourage collaborative business goal setting, highlight blockers and align strategies, actions and set metrics
- Operations and IT alignment – A2A facilitates cross-departmental workshops to understand operational needs and how IT can support these goals. It can also develop a shared roadmap that aligns IT projects with operational priorities.
- Finance and strategic planning alignment – A2A can facilitate alignment by involving finance teams in the strategic planning process, ensuring that budgets and financial plans align with strategic goals.
- HR and talent management alignment – Ensuring HR strategies are aligned with organisational goals helps attract, retain, and develop the right talent. A2A integrates top-down strategic vision with bottom-up insights, ensuring HR policies and talent management programs are tailored to support business objectives.
Aligned to Achieve (A2A) is best understood by trialling it on a real business problem. This will help you grasp its capabilities. We invite you to discuss your strategic business objectives and try A2A.