Do You Know Where You Are Going? 522 Filed under - Archived Content Stating the bleeding obvious… When I was in my 20s I went on a course.The instructor put up a slide. It looked like this: His point was simple.To be successful create alignment.Make sure everybody is pulling in the same direction. It was such an obvious point that I wondered why on earth we were paying him to make it. Older and wiser 20 years on, I am a little wiser and more underwhelmed by the ways of the world. Most organisations don’t create alignment. They don’t have a unifying purpose. At least not one that anybody with any imagination is going to get behind. Take Barnes & Noble, the US book retailer as an example. Their mission is: To operate the best omni-channel specialty retail business in America, helping both our customers and booksellers reach their aspirations, while being a credit to the communities we serve. How is that for all-encompassing and vague? I bet it scares the guys at Amazon out of their minds… Nature abhors a vacuum Humans seek meaning and purpose. If people don’t have a purpose, they will create one. So: Purchasing want the lowest prices Operations aim to cut costs Sales strive to maximise revenue HR focus on getting the best people Finance try to push up profits These goals all seem sensible at first. And they create huge amounts of energy. That energy powers initiatives. But as none of these aspirations defines where the whole business wants to be, those initiatives shoot off in different directions and at cross-purposes. The net result is zero, the business goes nowhere. Showing now in an organisation near you… Let me suggest a couple of scenarios: A sales force wants to become a “Revenue Centre of Excellence”. The sales director hands out sales targets to all his staff who run off and drum up more and more sales. An operations department aims for “World Class Efficiency”. It reduces its absolute spend and headcount, cutting out people left, right and centre. An HR department aims to be the “Lowest Cost to Serve”. It outsources all its learning and development capability. Each department is pulling in a different direction. Is it a surprise when the conversations become a little fractious? Organisation is the art of coordinating effort If you want to become “World class” a good first step is to agree what want to be “World class” at. What are you about? Making Sustainable Life Commonplace ~ Unilever Helping Britain Prosper ~ Lloyds Banking Group Improving People’s Lives Through Meaningful Innovation ~ Phillips Writing your purpose down is not enough, it’s worthless unless you act on it. But to paraphrase Lewis Carol: If you don’t know where you are going, all roads will get you there ~ Cheshire Cat Author: Jonty Pearce Published On: 23rd Mar 2016 - Last modified: 6th Feb 2019 Read more about - Archived Content Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Get the latest exciting call centre reports, specialist whitepapers and interesting case-studies. Choose the content that you want to receive. Contact Centre Reports, Surveys and White Papers Invites to exclusive Webinars & Events Weekly Newsletter