Have you ever been driving and noticed that your car is pulling slightly to the right or left? Although not for certain, it is most likely your vehicle is out of alignment. Typically, realignment solves the problem and as soon as proper adjustments are made you’re staying in the correct lane with minimal effort.

Local governments can also get out of alignment. There are many reasons why this occurs, and you may even need to bring in a realignment expert to get you back on track. Before it gets to that point however, there are some questions you can ask internally. The answers to those questions may bring your counsel, department, or team back into alignment with your organization’s mission, vision, and values.

Before working through this list, take a few moments to read through your organization’s mission and vision statements. Those along with your core values comprise your business strategy. Based on your business strategy, it is important for managers and supervisors to consistently process questions such as:

–  Do our goals, policies, and actions align with our business strategy?

–  When interviewing and hiring, are we equipping our interviewers to review vision and mission statements and core values as part of job expectations?

–  Do employees wishing to promote demonstrate our vision and mission statements and core values in their behaviors and attitudes?

–  When potential employees are interviewed, are questions posed regarding their ability to align head and heart with our business strategy?

–  Do all employees know the role they play in moving our business strategy forward?

–  Are feedback mechanisms in place for executive leadership to receive timely input regarding business strategy obstacles?

–  Are all departments properly staffed to fulfill our business strategy?

–  Is the existing workforce purposefully equipped to further develop and align knowledge, skills, 
abilities, behaviors, and other characteristics with the business strategy?

These types of questions are designed to keep your organization aligned with why it exists while staying focused on where it is heading. If your local government knows why it exists, then it can identify employee attributes, characteristics, skills, knowledge, and abilities that align with that reason for existence. By consistently processing these types of questions (and others like them) you are positioned to continue heading in the right direction without being pulled away from what matters most.

Happy Training!

Written by:
Greg Anderson
President of Online Learning, Strategic Government Resources
governmentresource.com
@SGRGreg