a new book from the reputation institute - cipr...

A new book from the Reputation Institute

Dr. Cees B.M. van Riel, Co-founder & Vice Chairman Reputation Institute

Key Points Illustrated in THE ALIGNMENT FACTOR

1. What is Alignment?

2. This implies a shift in attitude for most companies, respecting the necessity to balance

its own interests with the demands of stakeholders that they depend upon

3. Getting employees aligned and involved around strategy requires implementing four

managerial efforts:

Phase I:

Know Before You Go

Phase II:

Revealing

Support & Resistance

Phase III:

Action Plan

Phase IV:

Tracking Progress

Four Steps in Building

Aligned Organisations

Alignment with what?

Who needs to be aligned?

Desired behaviour?

Benefits employees?

Phase I:

Know Before You Go

Phase II:

Revealing


Phase III:

Action Plan

Tracking progress in

supportive employee

behaviour

Inventory of bottlenecks

and opportunities in

achieving aligned

behaviour

Phase IV:

Tracking Progress

Tracking progress in

supportive employee

behavior

Introducing KPIs targets

Increase performance

Build

ing alig

ned O

rganis

ation

Linking Alignment KPI’s to

performance

Hard wired and soft wired

initiatives

Communication support


• What is the core of the corporate strategy?

• Which four building blocks matter most?

• For Telefonica this implies:

Who needs to be aligned?

• Who has to be aligned first? Everybody? Only the Top? One division

specifically?

• To be determined based on nature business problem: which employees

matter most in solving the business challenge?

What is the desired behavior? Firm Perspective versus Employee Perspective

The purple promise

“I will make every FedEx experience outstanding”

What does FedEx want couriers to do?

• What does the Access strategy mean for them?

• Making every FedEx experience outstanding

• How many packages a day?

• 10 instead of 12 if you have to spent

extra time justified by service

• What is acceptable when delivering extra service?

• Explaining mistakes, solving problems caused

by the firm, etc.

• What is not acceptable?

• Reducing the amount of deliveries and still

not providing added value in service

What drives a courier?

• I receive respect for what I am doing from

my firm

• Customers love FedEx and that increases

respect for me too

• I have career opportunties within FedEx if I

encourage customer satisfaction

Desired behaviour at a Utility company (example)

A non-aligned mechanic:

- Considers sustainability to be just

another catch phrase

- Is not willing to take any extra

training

- Continuous working based on

demanded output by his manager

(e.g. number of customer visits per

day)

An aligned mechanic

- Believes in the Sustainability

strategy

- Acknowledges that (s)he needs

training to keep up-to-date with the

latest technologies and ensures

his/her own future by doing so

- Explains sustainable energy to

customers

- Is motivated by customer

satisfaction

Step 1: Know before you go


Alignment with whom?

How to assess desired

behavior?

20% has a negative

perception of the strategy,

they will never support the

strategy

10% has a positive

perception of the strategy,

they fully support the

strategy

70% is indecisive whether

to support the strategy,

they need to be persuaded

Step 2: Revealing Support & Resistance

In general…. employees will have three types of

reactions towards a new strategy…

... however, you have to know who is in which group.

So, measure the facts by using the RepTrak™ Alignment Monitor

- Intranet-based survey among a

stratified sample in the firm.

- Aimed at (1) revealing the degree of

employee support for the strategy.

- Aimed at (2) showcasing what works

and what doesn’t work regarding

informing, motivating and capability

development.

1

2

3

Aligned Behaviour can be expressed on a scale from 0 to 100. Firms scoring above 65 are already winners,

while companies that score below 50 are in serious problems

1

2

The alignment number is impacted by three communication

efforts: informing, motivating and capability development

1

2

3

Are the strategy and/or core values sufficiently communicated by internal media? There

should be consistency in the content of messages (themed messages).

Are the strategy and/or core values sufficiently cascaded through all hierarchical layers? Core

messages should be trickled down using hierarchical layers, e.g. through cascade meetings.

Does management engage in dialogue about the strategy and/or the values? There should

be explicit attention for cross-division dialogue.

Are employees recognized for contributing to the strategy and/or living up to the values? The

strategy should be integrated into individual appraisal & reward systems.

Are employees provided with the right capabilities for contributing to the strategy and/or living

up to the values? Employees should be empowered to do what they need to do.

Results Overall (an example)

Score differences ≥ 2.3 are significant at a 95% confidence level

Maintain (70)

Room for improvement (50-70)

Immediate action (<50)

Familiarity:

70% of employees

60% of employees

Building Trust 2011

Familiarity 86.6%

Drivers of alignment

Media & Messaging 42.2

Cascading 55.9

Dialogue 44.1

Capability Development 47.6

Recognition & Reward 33.7

Strategic alignment

Aligned behavior Building Trust 58.2

Extra insights: Indicators alignment

Attitude 61.0

Delivering Growth 2011

Familiarity 95.8%



Cascading 66.7

Dialogue 61.0



Strategic alignment

Aligned behavior Delivering growth 62.7


Attitude 62.5

Individual Empowerment 2011

Familiarity 90.6%



Cascading 61.9

Dialogue 52.5



Strategic alignment

Aligned behavior Individual

Empowerment52.8


Attitude 53.1

• Familiarity of the Business Priorities is high.

• Alignment is highest for Increasing Sales, while employees are the least aligned to Individual Empowerment.

• Media & Messaging and Recognition & Reward are both drivers that receive the lowest scores across all three

Business Priorities.

• Overall attitude is lowest towards Individual Empowerment.

Trusted Partner Empowerment Increase sales

………this tool will enable you to reveal support & resistance

at a nuanced level

Are employees aligned with the major goals?

How can Philips improve alignment?

How can Philips reach the employee groups?

Which employee groups are aligned and which are not?

Goals Alignment Employee groups Focus of action Channels

Vision 2010

Low alignment

Moderate awareness,

understanding & attitude

Divisions: All low aligned

except Corporate Center

Job levels: All low aligned

Goal-specific dialogue

Capability development

Local manager

Division manager

Corporate media:

- Intranet division

- Intranet global

- Town meetings

- Internet

Becoming

Market-driven

Moderate alignment

High awareness &

positive attitude

Divisions: Low aligned MS,

IPS, Design, AT-I-PIC-R and

Other.

Job levels: Low aligned at

Operation and at Professional/

Technical level

Goal-specific dialogue

Capability development

Time

Alig

nm

ent

Launching the

Strategy

Implementing

Hard tools

Implementing

Soft tools

Step 3: ACTION PLAN Implementing the right tools at the right moment

Assessing strategic options using the gathered intelligence

Negotiation Confrontation

Consulting

• Presentations and negotiations with Unions

• Presentations and negotiations with Working

Council(s)

Mirroring

• Unavoidable exposure by internal messaging

• Using Corporate Ads to persuade internal

audiences

• Allocating Coaches to key managers aimed at

adjusting role behavior

Consensus

• Town Hall meetings

• Management Meetings

• Jam Sessions

Power Play

• New organisational structures and decision

making procedures

• Appointing new managers in key roles

• Capability development in Internal Training

Programmes

• New appraisal rules

Step 3: Balancing hard and soft wired initiatives

Step 3: Who does what?

Senior Management

Sell their vision it to the rest of the

organisation

Marketing

Expose employees to external

campaigns

Communication & HR

Internal communication Who does

what?

Facilitate vertical and

horizontal communication

Information Technology

Use reporting & appraisals format forcing

alignment

Accounting

Examination of historical performance,

using RepTrak Alignment Monitor over

two to three years (past)

1

2 3

2012 2013 2014

2012 2013 2014

Extrapolating KPI’s on aligned

behavior for the next years (future) Extrapolating key drivers of

alignment for next years (future)

Realized

2011Goal 2012 Goal 2013 Goal 2014

Manager leads by example 55.3 56.9 58.5 60.0

Realized

2011Goal 2012 Goal 2013 Goal 2014

Regular conversations manager 49.6 51.1 52.6 54.1

Realized

2011Goal 2012 Goal 2013 Goal 2014

Sufficient authorization 51.3 52.9 54.5 56.1

Sufficient recognition 55.3 56.9 58.5 60.1

Sufficient rewarded 47.3 48.9 50.5 52.1

KPIs INFORMING

KPIs CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT

KPIs MOTIVATING

Realized

2011Goal 2012 Goal 2013 Goal 2014

Alignment 55.2 56.8 58.4 60.0

KPI EMPLOYEE ALIGNMENT

Step 4: Key Performance Indicators

Introducing KPI’s using RepTrak™Alignment Monitor

Phase I:

Know Before You Go

Phase II:

Revealing


Phase III:

Action Plan

In summary

1. These projects are (mostly) led from internal comms/HR

2. Aligned employees increase performance substantially

3. The Alignment process provides ROI to your efforts – tied up to strategy.

4. Building and maintaining an aligned workforce requires a four step approach

Phase IV:

Tracking Progress

[email protected]

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