Every leadership team and company goes through it. The company grows, the vision becomes blurry, the strategy becomes less obvious across the organization, they lose sight of their original purpose.
It happens. The question is, what do you do about it?
Most companies think a new corporate slogan, branding campaign or company meeting will do the trick. Others simply choose to ignore it and convince themselves it isn’t negatively impacting business performance. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Clarity is the key to achieving optimal performance. Just look at the top sports teams. Look at the market leaders across different industries. They perform at the highest level because everyone in the organization, from the boardroom to the frontline — have clarity.
Clarity of who they are, where they are going and how they create value.
However, as sports teams and businesses change, clarity can fade.
- Leadership changes
- The players come and go
- The game plan evolves
- What it takes to win changes
As business owners and executives, we all know that you can’t stop time and you can’t avoid change. However, when time passes and things change — you must re-center the business. You must regain clarity in your identity as an organization.
Some say we are in a constant state of change, so what’s the point? To some degree this is true. However, who you are, why you exist and the core value you deliver to customers should not be in constant flux. In fact, these are the cornerstones of your strategy (vision, mission and values) and the essence of your corporate story (promise, value proposition, positioning, etc.). They should serve as the anchor for the entire organization. They should center customer communication and engagement. They should drive employee engagement (not confusion). They should guide strategic decisions and investments by leaders across the organization.
Has your organization gone through change? Does your organization have an identity crisis? Is 2017 the year when you invest the time and energy to clearly redefine who you are, what you do and the value you deliver? Not just in the minds of a select few executives — but up and down your entire organization. Is this the year you will use organizational alignment and clarity as a strategic advantage to drive growth in the marketplace?
In the end, you have two choices. Ignore the lack of clarity that exists in your organization (and the negative impact it is having on business performance) or do something about it.
As a C-suite executive — the choice is yours.
