The Clifton Review  

The Clifton Review is a tri-weekly column that examines the question of the Clifton project along with the evolution of the war between two billionaires. We covered the start of this war with articles describing the battle over easement rights, the mysterious burning of a home, the blocks to rebuilding, and countless questionable court filings.

While the 2018 series salutes fashion mogul Peter Nygård’s Golden Jubilee detailing his rags to riches story, his incredible business success over these past fifty years and an inside look at how he did it, The Clifton Review will also continue to address current affairs as they relate to the good of The Bahamas.  

“The Best Companies Are the Best Aligned”

By P.J. Malone 

Is this idea of organizational alignment really possible? Yes! It may not be easy to achieve, but it is certainly possible.

If you have taken the Harvard Business Review article’s test that we have been discussing, and your results didn’t fall in any of the other three quadrants of the results matrix we presented, then congratulations! You are likely working with an aligned organization.

Once again, here are the two test questions from the article, “A Simple Way to Test Your Company’s Strategic Alignment” By Jonathan Trevor and Barry Varcoe on hbr.org:

How well does our strategy support the fulfillment of our purpose?

How well does our organization support the achievement of our strategy?

Their results matrix has the x and y scales described as “How aligned is your strategy with your organizational capabilities?” and “How aligned is your strategy with your long-term purpose?” respectively. The fourth result lies in the top right quadrant and is labeled, “Very best chance of winning” reflecting both strategy effectiveness and organizational effectiveness.

Trevor and Varcoe assert that “the best companies are the best aligned.” They explain fourth quadrant results as follows:

Very best chance of winning: Companies that score highly on both scales stand the very best chance of winning in their competitive field. But alignment manifests itself in more than just superior financial performance. It also leads to a more positive work climate, above-average staff engagement, a strong commitment to values and few(er) energy-sapping turf wars and in-fighting. There is a buzz, no matter what the type of business, because people value being part of an [sic] company that is winning.

ARM is possibly one of the best-performing companies you’ve never heard of. Its microprocessors are used in over 95% of the world’s smart devices, including iOS and Android smartphones and tablets. Superior technical innovation is at the heart of its strategy and its organizational design.

ARM organizes purposefully for innovation by maximizing opportunities for knowledge sharing and collaboration throughout its entire ecosystem comprising thousands of external partners. Its core staff of only 3,500 based mostly in Cambridge (UK) share a singular purpose and set of values that supersede functions, occupations, and roles. There are few barriers to spontaneous collaboration among technical teams.

(From “A Simple Way to Test Your Company’s Strategic Alignment” By Jonathan Trevor and Barry Varcoe: hbr.org)

If you have been able to create the magic of aligning all of the various parts of your organization, congratulations! If you have not, here is an analogy from a U.S. Navy SEAL’s perspective on how way to think about organizational alignment.

As Navy SEALs, we operated in an environment that was constantly changing. The situations we faced were never the same and no matter what the next objective was, we needed to face it with five things:

To top it off, we didn’t work alone. We needed to align our efforts and objectives with support teams both internal and external to our command.

The point is, operating at an elite level isn’t solely based on a few stellar performers or even a single high performing team, but on the conditions that align those people and teams to work together.

(“A Simple Flow For Thinking About Organizational Alignment” by Jeff Boss: forbes.com)

We will continue to share business strategies that can help you achieve phenomenal business success like fashion mogul Peter Nygard’s 50 years of business success.