The Art of Alignment | Art Johnson

Organizational alignment is not accidental. Leaders define their organization’s mission and vision and are responsible for creating the roadmaps to get there. Attaining alignment is dependent on the leader’s ability to inspire his or her followers to pursue a common purpose with energy and zeal. It’s up to the leaders to help employees see the vision clearly. Leaders need to develop their skills to include a variety of ways to communicate, encourage teamwork, and drive accountability. They need to set clear and ethical goals for themselves and others. And they need to give honest and timely feedback with the objective of enabling individuals to increase their own performance levels — not criticize or lay blame when plans fail. When leaders have done their work of alignment well, the organization runs like a well-oiled machine and there’s little need for the leader to be in the trenches. Instead, leaders remain accessible and allow the work to flow.  

Art serves as CEO of Orgametrics and works with clients across the country. Art has a long history with large corporations, with leadership stints at IBM, USWest (CenturyLink) and Medtronic. Art has also served as an Adjunct Professor with the Hamline University School of Business teaching their MBA candidates in Strategic Management.

Topics

During this interview Art and I discuss the following topics:

• How alignment will help leaders achieve peak performance
• How culture helps us achieve alignment
• The 9 pillars of cultural alignment
• Where organizations become misaligned most often 
• How messaging is communicated through aligned organizations
• Why humility is so important
• How to use empowerment effectively
• How to prioritize which areas to focus on when “fixing” an organization

For the complete show notes be sure to check out our website:

https://movingforwardleadership.com/186