1. ©iStockphoto.com/
Vice President
of Publishing
Marketing
Director
Vice President
of Marketing
Marketing
Director
Public RelationsManager
hic Designer

2. | 59june 2011 workspan
By John K. Moore
Imagine what
it would be like
to work in an
organization that
has the right people
working on the right
things at the right
time in the right
location and at the
right cost.
When an organization is out of
alignment, activities take too long to
perform and cost too much. There
usually is a lot of finger pointing
going on by people who are not
held accountable for expected results.
The needs of internal and external
customers are typically overlooked,
and success in meeting those needs
is not fully understood. Overall, the
organization isn’t functioning very
well. In such cases, it’s critical that
someone take the initiative to identify
what’s at fault, understand the align-
ment process and drive that process
through to completion. HR leaders
are perfectly positioned for this
opportunity. While some companies
sit back and wait for their president
or CEO to do it, human resources
can be the first department in the
company to take the initiative and
realize all the benefits alignment has
to offer. Once their department is
aligned, HR leaders can drive the
same process through the remainder
of their company. This allows human
resources to become more of a
strategic contributor to the overall
direction of their entire organization.
Alignment Defined
Alignment refers to the steps required
to define specific organizational
components and making sure those
components are coordinated. It’s
surprising to note that in most
cases, each of the steps are already
performed by most companies and
departments, regardless of their
size or industry. A properly aligned
organization is one that functions
effectively and has the right people
working on the right things at the
right time in the right location and
at the right cost.
with Organization Alignment
©Veer/OlegKalina;Ljupco

3. 60 | workspan june 2011
Warning Signs
At a high level, if either the HR
department or entire company doesn’t
feel as though it is operating like a
well-oiled machine, there are many
warning signs that are easy to recog-
nize. These warning signs may just
be symptoms or they may represent
the root of much deeper problems
altogether. They can include:
Attraction and retention problems❙❙
Escalating personnel costs without❙❙
an increase in productivity
Expanding legal exposure❙❙
and risk position
Lack of focus on the needs❙❙
of internal and external
customer groups
Fragmented processes that take too❙❙
long and produce poor quality
Lack of accountability, with❙❙
excessive finger-pointing
Excessive reliance on vendors❙❙
and service providers
Poor morale and debilitating rumors.❙❙
12 Steps: Overview
A solid understanding of the orga-
nization’s symptoms and underlying
problems forms a great foundation to
help launch any alignment process.
There are 12 proven steps involved in
this process, and it usually takes no
more than seven weeks to complete
them. The 12 steps, which are catego-
rized as strategic, operational or
wrap-up, are:
Strategic Steps
Strengths and objectives1 |
Culture2 |
Processes3 |
Operational Steps
Organization structure4 |
Support5 |
Equipment and tools6 |
Training7 |
Performance8 |
Skill management9 |
Wrap-Up Steps
Job descriptions and plans10 |
Reward and recognition11 |
Recruiting.12 |
One of the major benefits of align-
ment is the elimination of multiple
and redundant sources of informa-
tion related to each of the 12 steps.
The excessive work involved in
maintaining multiple sources of
information is one reason why cost,
time and quality can be negatively
impacted when an organization is out
of alignment. The alignment process
also includes identifying one person
for each of the 12 steps who can be
held accountable for the ongoing
process of updating and coordinating
their information with the others.
Strategic Steps
Before the alignment process begins,
some organizations need to take
a moment to agree on the types
of customers they actually serve.
These customers include internal
departments, as well as any external
buyers of goods and services. If an
alignment is conducted only for the
HR department, its internal customer
list could include department leaders
and the remaining employee popula-
tion. Its external customer list could
include any outsourced services, as
well as industry groups and other
associations. Once the customer types
are identified, their needs and expec-
tations also need to be documented.
Many organizations are surprised to
find the products and/or services they
provide don’t really align all that well
with the needs of their customers. In
any case, all the above information is
collected or defined before the first
alignment step begins.
Strengths and objectives1 | . The
definition of internal and external
customer types, their needs and
expectations, and the products
and services provided to meet
those needs provides input to the
required strengths and objectives
of the organization conducting
the alignment. Strengths may also
be thought of as core competen-
cies. For HR, strengths might
include ongoing knowledge of
legal trends, optimizing program
costs and ensuring adherence to
performance evaluation standards.
Objectives are the measurable goals
and success criteria associated
with each identified strength. One
way to identify success criteria is
to ask “How should our success
be measured?” or “How will we
know if we’re doing a good job?”
Culture2 | . The culture (e.g., values
and desired behaviors) of an
organization can sometimes
be defined in just one word or
may require a sentence or two.
During alignment, the results
of each prior step are used to
define the next step, and so on.
In regard to culture, knowing the
customer types, customer needs
and expectations, products and
services provided, and strengths
and objectives of the organiza-
tion will help define the type of
culture required. Keep in mind
that multiple cultures may need
to exist across different depart-
ments or company locations.
For example, the definition of
culture for an HR department
could be “proactive, knowledge-
able and trusted advisor” or
“strategic business partner.”
Processes3 | . These are the major
activities necessary to achieve
the objectives of the organiza-
tion. Most of this information is
readily available for free with
a little online research. Some
online sources even offer major
process definitions for different
industries. If an entire company
was performing an alignment, its
major processes might be: develop
strategies, develop and manage
products and services, market and
sell products and services, deliver
products and services, and so on.
If HR was conducting an align-
ment for its department, major
processes might include devel-
oping plans and policies, sourcing
employees, counseling employees
and rewarding employees.
These steps form the strategic foun-
dation and must be completed before
proceeding to the operational steps.
1
2
3

4. | 61june 2011 workspan
Operational Steps
The results of the strategic steps
are used to help define information
directly associated with the perfor-
mance and success of individual job
functions. The first operational step
begins by defining a bit more detail
around the major process definitions,
as highlighted below.
Organization structure4 | . For an
organization to address frag-
mented job functions, lack of
accountability and other issues,
its structure needs to be aligned
with major and minor processes.
Each of those processes will have
an assigned person responsible for
the success and improvement of
his/her process. In the previous
example, if a company has defined
one of its major processes as
“develop products,” the associ-
ated minor processes could be:
perform research, design and
build products, test and evaluate
products, and prepare products
for production. Remaining work
on organization structure includes
defining specific career levels (such
as manager, director and vice presi-
dent), and optimizing reporting
ratios between career levels. These
reporting ratios reflect how many
subordinates report to each leader.
In some cases a 1:6 reporting
ratio will work, while others may
require something like a 1:10 ratio.
Support5 | . The internal and
external support services
required for each career level
are then defined. Internal
support services may include
technical support, administration
and research. External support
services may include industry
associations, outsourced payroll
processing, and even print shops
for business card production.
Equipment and tools6 | . Step 5
focuses on services, while this
step focuses on all the specific
products required for each
career level. These products
might include laptop or desktop
computers and printers for an
office environment, or drills
and eye wash stations for a
manufacturing environment.
Training7 | . All the information
required to orient and educate
individuals at each career
level and enable them to be
promoted to the next level is
documented in this step. Some
organizations decide to address
this as an internal support
service, but over time it has
been shown that its significant
importance requires this to be
a completely separate step.
Performance8 | . This is where
all the prior work related to
identifying success is used.
Performance may relate to indi-
vidual success (e.g., performance
evaluations), departmental
success (status reports, profit
and loss statements, etc.) or
company success (annual
report, financial reports, etc.)
Skill management9 | . Each of the
career levels requires certain
skills (e.g., programming, design
or coaching) and competencies
to be defined. This establishes
an ongoing process by which
skills can be easily identified
and tracked for every individual
in the organization. This is one
of the ways the costs of external
service providers can be kept
to a minimum. The ability to
locate skills within an organiza-
tion helps minimize the need
to acquire them from outside.
There are many ways to capture and
manage the information associated
with these operational steps. Some
billion-dollar organizations have
found a simple spreadsheet suits them
just fine. Other organizations some-
times decide to use more advanced
database applications. Each organiza-
tion decides what is best for it during
its own alignment process.
Wrap-Up Steps
The final wrap-up steps begin
by using all of the output from
the nine strategic and operational
steps to enhance or create new job
descriptions for each career level.
Information related to the associated
customer types, needs and expecta-
tions for each job is also included.
Job descriptions and plans. The
better the job description, the
easier it is for individuals to know
what’s expected of them, what’s
required to be promoted, how
much that job should pay, and
who should be hired to perform
that job. The plans portion of
this step assigns all the ideas
and opportunities generated
during the alignment process to
individuals who are responsible
for their evaluation and progress.
Rewards and recognition. A
more accurate and complete job
description for each job in each
location will allow for better
alignment of the compensation
related to that job. This step
goes beyond just compensa-
tion to also include some of the
more informal methods avail-
able to reward and recognize
performance and success for
each geographic location. Formal
rewards and recognition include
annual salary, hourly rate of pay
and benefits. Informal rewards
and recognition include assigning
a better parking spot, an article in
the company newsletter or even
a signed thank you card from the
CEO. In consideration of all the
cost cutting many organizations
have conducted, it’s gratifying
for many of them to know there
are many other rewards and
recognition options available.
Recruiting. This provides
recruiters with the aligned job
descriptions and rewards and
recognition information. This
input — as well as other helpful
techniques (critical behavior
interviewing, exit interviewing,
etc.) — allows them to identify
candidates who are a better fit
in the organization, who stay
longer and won’t negatively
impact the productivity of others.
4
7
8
9
10
11
12
5
6

5. 62 | workspan june 2011
Potential Benefits
Imagine what it would be like to work in an organiza-
tion that has the right people working on the right
things at the right time in the right location and at the
right cost. Many organizations begin to realize some
of the benefits even before their alignment is finished,
including:
Improved individual accountability for❙❙
faster, higher-quality results
Enhanced job performance and overall productivity❙❙
Reduced legal exposure❙❙
Ability to quickly scale operations and❙❙
respond to changing conditions
Better teamwork and morale❙❙
Improved customer experience and relationships❙❙
Better leverage of employee ideas and opportunities❙❙
Enhanced reporting of success and performance❙❙
Improved retention of personnel.❙❙
The benefits of an aligned organization easily outweigh
the costs of conducting the alignment itself. These bene-
fits can be categorized as personal, career, departmental,
company, and even community and environmentally
related. One executive said that as long as her aligned
work schedule allowed for attending just one of her
daughter’s soccer games each week, the alignment would
be worth it. Some individuals benefit from better career
advancement opportunities. Many departments often find
their aligned organization allows one or more individuals
to free up and focus on more proactive activities or
address all the improvement ideas (revenue growth, cost
reduction, etc.) generated during the alignment process.
Each of these benefits and those highlighted previously
have a dollar value. That dollar value (and associated
assumptions) can then be compared to the cost of the
alignment to ensure an attractive return on investment.
Depending on the number of locations and timely partic-
ipation by those involved, most alignments can usually
be conducted for $50,000 to $100,000. If an alignment
frees up just one individual, the alignment pays for itself.
The value of all the other possible benefits makes for
quite a compelling reason to begin as soon as possible.
Alignment in Action
A few years ago, the chief information officer of a major
hospitality company was experiencing some real chal-
lenges with his IT department. His department was
spread across the United States with multiple locations,
the result of a combination of acquisitions and organic
growth. Job descriptions for hundreds of his employees
were outdated or nonexistent. IT personnel didn’t know
the type of skills or training necessary to get promoted.
The same performance evaluation forms were used for
all career levels, from administrative assistant through
vice president. Many of his teams and departments
weren’t aware of who their customers were.
I’m worried our
top-performers may
be looking for other
opportunities.
What can I do, without
breaking the budget,
to retain them and keep
them engaged?
WORWORLDALDATWOTWORKRK ONLONLINEINE COCOMMUMMUNITNITYY
connect. share. learn.
YourYour ComCompensensatioation, Bn, Benefenefitsits & Wo& Work-Lrk-Lifeife NetwNetwork.ork.
Join the discussion.
FREE TO JOIN. wwwww.wo.worldrldatwtworkork.ororg/cg/commommuniunity

6. | 63june 2011 workspan
This company, realizing things needed to change, decided
that it was urgent to begin with its IT department since
customers were beginning to be affected. They followed
each of the alignment steps, with particular emphasis on
culture, process, organization structure and job descriptions.
The entire process took seven weeks to complete at a cost of
about $100,000, excluding travel and out-of-pocket expenses.
As a result of alignment, the company not only corrected
its issues, but also freed up three individuals who were
assigned the task of prioritizing and managing all the busi-
ness improvement ideas generated during the alignment.
Additional results included:
Creation of an organization structure that was aligned❙❙
with the seven major processes performed by the
IT department. These processes included managing
the business of IT, managing customer relation-
ships, managing risk and maintaining IT solutions
Improved reporting ratios between management and❙❙
their subordinates for more balanced workloads
Adjustments to personnel costs for each location based on❙❙
updated job descriptions in each geographical location
Improved culture within the IT department❙❙
through collaboration and agreement on values
and desired behaviors for each career level.
Not surprisingly, the company’s HR director requested
that she be taught the alignment process so she could
perform it for her entire department. She went on to
successfully drive the process through the remainder of
the company. She could have begun the alignment process
within her HR department, but the urgency within the IT
department had to be addressed beforehand.
Conclusion
Organization alignment is a proven process with
12 defined steps that produce dramatic business benefits
for individuals, teams, departments and entire companies.
Human resources is well-positioned to take the initiative
and apply this process to its department, then expand
its relationship with other departments by leading them
through their own alignment. There is much to gain for
both the HR leader, who can become an alignment hero,
and the overall organization, whose operation can be
vastly improved.
John K. Moore­ is the author of Align or Resign. He can be reached
through his publisher at www.alignorresign.com or his LinkedIn profile
at www.linkedin.com/in/johnkennethmoore.
I’m worried our
top-performers may
be looking for other
opportunities.
What can I do, without
breaking the budget,
to retain them and keep
them engaged?
WORWORLDALDATWOTWORKRK ONLONLINEINE COCOMMUMMUNITNITYY
connect. share. learn.
YourYour ComCompensensatioation, Bn, Benefenefitsits & Wo& Work-Lrk-Lifeife NetwNetwork.ork.
Join the discussion.
FREE TO JOIN. wwwww.wo.worldrldatwtworkork.ororg/cg/commommuniunity
resources plus
For more information, books and education related to this topic, log
on to www.worldatwork.org and use any or all of these keywords:
Organizational + alignment❙❙
HR strategy❙❙
Business efficiency.❙❙