“The artificial horizon helps you keep your plane trimmed and oriented to the ground, in other words, aligned for the best flying. AlEx™ is the horizon of organizational alignment and strategic change.”
It is difficult to expect and reinforce accountability when stakeholders don’t understand or even realize each others’ expectations.
The concept appears simple enough, but the manner in which you deal with the complexities of multiple stakeholders’ expectations can be daunting. In fact, in the construction or infrastructure environment, it can frequently result in lost time, strained relationships/conflicts and massive cost overrides.
AlEx™ helps align people, and navigate toward productive working relationships that improve the chances for successful change.
We can facilitate meetings with each of the main groups’ leaders to elicit their perspective on key issues and what they want to be better aligned on with each others’ groups and individuals. The general flow to this initial work can look like this:
- Develop a consensus of components with all Leaders & Stakeholders
- Coach key players in generating expectations for each of the component groups
- Provide analysis and feedback to the leadership team, isolating key initiatives
- Align the process over the project
- Develop sufficient trust and transparency as the means to eliminate profit erosion, conflicts and claims
- Use accountability and evidenced based management as the means to accomplish the initiatives
- Facilitate managers to coach others to reach higher performance standards that meet their expectations
AlEx™, PDS Group’s proprietary software, enables accurate project measurement and accountability over time. This innovative program enables interaction among stakeholder groups by storing and analyzing the data of hundreds or thousands of expectations. It then helps map the progress of a project to ensure that all stakeholders are accountable for their agreed expectations.
The Crispian Advantage specializes in strategic alignment and its successful implementation across North America and now is establishing a presence in EMEA. How?
By making required change objective and personal using a methodology we call AlEx™ Aligning Expectations. We work with leaders to identify key components of successful change. We then help team members and business partners to express their expectations of each other specific to these components, and how they will measure performances when met. Then, through rapid alignment cycles, we use our tracking system to reveal key relationships issues and where expectations have yet to be agreed, discarded, or are unresolved.
Our approach helps clients add millions in sales revenue, achieve fund raising goals, bring large construction projects in on time and within budget, and successfully transition family-owned businesses to the next generation of leadership. We are now exploring new opportunities to apply our approach to business/higher education relationships, HR performance appraisals, mergers and acquisitions, and even marriage and family counseling.
If your organization faces alignment challenges, or your team members struggle with developing productive internal or external relationships, talk with us about AlEx™. Our approach can mean the critical difference between success and failure in tough economic times.