Psst, Pass It On: Alignment

  Communications Management   Knowledge Management   Lessons Learned   Portfolio Management   Stakeholder Management   Strategy   ProjectsAtWork  

Like the telephone game in which a message changes as it is whispered from one person to another, a lot can get lost as strategic initiatives travel across an organization, from idea to plan to execution. But it’s no secret that transparency is key to keeping priorities aligned.

Here’s how a typical project in a typical company can play out, even with the best of intentions: One group blesses the plan. Another team goes out and figures out timing, cost and resources. Then yet another group is responsible for execution.

“All those things today are disjointed,” says Mark Upson, president of Changepoint, a global business management software provider. “They are all separate groups. It’s like how you tell a secret to one person, then to the next person and the next person, and then by the time it comes around, it’s completely different. That happens in organizations. It’s very hard to keep the organization in alignment as you go from this beautiful plan to the day-to-day, to the people in the trenches. What are they doing to support the plan and how do you keep all that together? It’s a hard process because you are crossing boundaries within organizations and, today, even systems.”

Upson shared these thoughts recently as we chatted about the state of business execution — the rubber-meets-the-road, beating heart of …

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