Entrepreneurs starting a business typically begin with a small, cohesive group of people, all of whom have a solid grasp of the company's customer value proposition. Because of small size many members of the entrepreneurial organization wear many hats, e.g. CEO/chief technician/head of HR, but since they understand the end-to-end process by which the company creates and enhances value for its customers, the small business tends to remain collectively in sync.

As the business grows and the staff gets progressively busier, demands on the organization tend to elicit reactive responses. Those wearing many hats grow to value new heads on which to park some of those hats. People get hired, and hats get offloaded. As growth continues there is typically a degradation of the intimacy that characterized the startup... the forest enlarges and vision begins to focus on the trees. Responses to stresses and requirements of the business environment take the form of quick fixes. The 'house' grows with many ad hoc additions, but no defined architecture to ensure alignment of component parts.

If we can agree on the notion that organizational alignment does not just happen, and that the org benefits when all of its various parts are working synchronously, then we might agree that it would be worthwhile to make alignment a priority and seek to make it a reality. Read Full Post