What do we mean by Goal Alignment?

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Goal alignment, refers to the process where every department, function and process is designed to support the higher objective in the business structure. This would mean that from the corporate strategy, a supporting business strategy would be formulated, in turn supported by functional strategies. These functional strategies would be supported by operational and functional tactics.

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All in all, the efforts at each level support a higher objective. If the overall corporate strategy was done correctly, the company will move towards its intended state, whether it be growth, sustainability, costs efficiency, international impact etc.

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However, this is often not the case. The real scenario faced by companies, is that KPA and KPI are developed and approved per department. These KPI are achieved and people are paid bonuses and incentives, but looking at the bottom line, the company overall did not achieve its intended objective. Why is this? The reason, is misalignment of goals. It means, that even though the KPI was achieved for each department, the work done did not contribute or support the overall objective. It would be like a department washing a car while the company actually wanted it to go faster. While a clean car is admirable and might even support company values, it did not contribute to the main focus at the time.

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The above scenario can take a profitable company to cash conservation mode in as little as 2 - 5 years.