Issue 03: Are your people aligned to your larger strategy?

Closing the Strategy-Execution Gap

Recently, Illumine conducted a Cognitive Ethnography Study with leaders across industries. The study mapped challenges that leaders face in closing the strategy-execution gap in their organizations.

A set of levers were identified. In this issue we explore the first lever: Creating an organization-wide alignment to strategy.

Why does alignment repeatedly fail? Illumine’s research highlights the factors that hamper alignment. Here is a quick map of the 4 factors with illustrative examples:

1: Disconnect with the ‘why’ of the strategy

It is the ‘why’ that gives meaning and purpose to work. It creates ownership. It also improves collaboration and inter-team engagement. Aligning with the ‘why’ is a magic elixir for leaders, especially those driving large systems.

2: Strategic vision gets reduced to targets

In the FMCG sector, a boardroom strategy to increase sachet distribution based on complex market data is translated for a delivery person as simply ‘sell these 5 boxes’. Without the strategic logic, the employee lacks buy-in and performs the task only because ‘the boss said so’.

3: Short-term vs. long-term misalignment to business goals

Leadership prioritizes quarterly wins, like showing low production costs. A manager mines only the high-grade limestone to hit immediate targets, but the plant’s long-term viability suffers.

4: Macro vision doesn’t fractalize into role visions

In large banks, a Managing Director discusses billions in profits over a quarterly call. For a local teller, this macro vision is meaningless. This information has no relevance to the teller because the macro vision has not been translated into logic that is understandable in the context of their specific role.

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The Illumine experience:

Alignment can be done at any level of scale. For example, Illumine successfully completed one of the largest alignment exercises undertaken by a Government, where it enabled 1 million central government employees across 500 institutions align with the larger strategy of Viksit Bharat 2047. This was the Rashtriya Karmayogi Jan Seva Program, organized by the Capacity Building Commission of India. Illumine was the Knowledge Partner for this intervention.

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