Why is Strategic Alignment so important?
Today's world demands organizations face new challenges previously unimaginable every day, challenges caused by a different business environment and a continuous breakdown in the balance of competitive and market scenarios. This new business environment is characterized by rapid changes in: technology, competition, customer needs, the political situation, economic stability and a series of events that threaten stability and the way in which management manages the organizations.
This new business environment has resulted in two new realities for management: (1) organizations seek to differentiate themselves from their competitors through innovations and changes in their business model, which guarantee a unique value proposition for their clients, and (2) seek to focus their full potential, towards differentiation and the search for impact and effectiveness in the use of their scarce resources. Both elements, the differentiation and search for new competitive advantages and the need to optimize scarce resources, are the main drivers of the need to Manage based on Strategy.
In this continuous change of scenarios, we can anticipate that innovation and competitive differentiation and strategic alignment will become central pieces of business management, as well as being the fundamental basis for subsistence and achieving the results expected by the organization.
This continuous change of scenarios and political and economic conditions in today's world make the Strategic Focus and Re-focus, and the Alignment and Re-alignment of the organization towards said changes, an essential part of the new managerial skills.
This concept of strategic alignment is essential, as it allows managers, managers and supervisors at any level of the organization the ability to:
- Synchronize the efforts of the different business units, processes and functional departments, to the vision and strategy of the organization Link the daily work of all employees to the achievement of the key results of the organization Fully oriented towards the needs of customers, shareholders and employees (and in necessary cases: suppliers and community) Integrate the processes of the Human Resources area towards the organization's strategy to develop high-performance people. Continuously improve the performance of units, departments, processes and people
The idea of aligning or integrating various isolated components into a larger system was originally raised by Peter Senge. From Senge's perspective, the relationship between the parts is more important than the individual parts themselves. This means that the performance of an integrated system is more relevant than the performance of the independent parts, or in other words, that to achieve the performance of the system, it is necessary to align (synchronize) the performance of each of the individual components of such a system.
Similarly, the concept of alignment is built on the criterion that to achieve the vision, strategy and results that the organization seeks to achieve, it is necessary to effectively synchronize the efforts of business units, departments and independent processes. This differentiating approach and its subsequent organizational alignment should not be seen as a goal, but rather a continuous process that requires constant and rapid re-focus and re-alignment, which will guarantee us Organizational Excellence.
What is Strategic Alignment?
Once the Strategy has been determined and it has been efficiently transferred to the Command Board, so that both are implemented, it is necessary to link the different business units, functional areas, processes, departments, teams and people towards said strategy, process which is called Strategic Alignment. Despite the importance of the term for modern business administration, there is very little knowledge of the word alignment. According to the dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (www.rae.es), alignment is: “action and effect of aligning and linking others to an ideological, political tendency, etc.”.
In such a way that we can define the concept of alignment as:
“Link the various units and departments to the organization's strategy, reaching in this process, down to the employee level, in order to ensure that all people, at all levels, every day, make decisions, act and they work to achieve the Vision, Objectives and Goals of the Organization ”.
The core philosophy of strategic alignment is that "people do and engage only in what they believe to be correct," for this reason, each of the different employees must be adequately linked and aligned in achieving common goals of the organization, so that they are really personally involved in achieving the results expected by the Organization.
Therefore, it is necessary that all employees participate directly in the definition of the plans and strategies that concern them, in addition to being empowered to implement and execute them, that is, a true “top-down” planning. -down-down ”and vice versa.
In this connection of all people to the strategy, there is a need for two-way communication processes, open dialogue, negotiation, agreements, documentation, teamwork and operational coordination, personal involvement and commitment, empowerment, self-control and improvement, among managers, bosses, supervisors and employees. This process has been called “catchball” by many planning specialists. Strategic Alignment is a continuous “process” of linking the different elements of an organization to the Organization's strategy and search for a common vision and mission to everybody. As a "process", it is capable of being defined, evaluated and consistently improved.
The vision and mission, the strategic plan and performance measurements (KPI's), management tools integrated into the Command Board, make it possible to know when an action is not properly aligned, to eliminate or readjust it in order to seek a better link of this with the strategy of the organization and in this way guarantee optimization of resources. There are several different components of the organization that we must align to the strategy, among which the most important are: objectives, goals, measurements, incentives, projects, resources and budgets, structure, processes, culture, competencies and behaviors, knowledge and skills. and information systems.
In the search for this desired strategic alignment, there are four identified stages that an organization undergoes one-after-one, before it can efficiently link all the critical components of the organization to the organization's strategy, which are: (1) functional approach, (2) horizontal alignment (synchronization), (3) vertical alignment (cascadeo) and (4) integration.
(1) In this first stage, each of the areas and processes of the organization work in isolation to achieve their own objectives and goals, many of which are directed in completely opposite directions than those required to support the achievement of a vision and mission. common of the organization. Without effective alignment, the work and actions in each area are random and under-optimize performance. Although there are good intentions of the employees of each of the areas, the work lacks a clear direction, each of the decisions and actions of the employees, supervisors and managers, units, departments and areas, are based on achieving their goals personal, those that they believe are important and correct. Everyone "pushes" hard, but not necessarily in the right direction. This creates barriers and fiefs,and in many cases, operational problems, resulting in the performance of one area harming that of another or suboptimizing potential and productivity. This type of business management was what Dr. Edwards Deming called fire-fighting management. This functional approach is mainly caused by the absence of a clear differentiating strategy, the lack of a common vision and mission for all, the absence of horizontal alignment and mainly by the structure, thinking and functional, hierarchical, departmental approach, so widely used by organizations today.Edwards Deming, called fire extinguishing management. This functional approach is mainly caused by the absence of a clear differentiating strategy, the lack of a common vision and mission for all, the absence of horizontal alignment and mainly by the structure, thinking and functional, hierarchical, departmental approach, so widely used by organizations today.Edwards Deming, called fire extinguishing management. This functional approach is mainly caused by the absence of a clear differentiating strategy, the lack of a common vision and mission for all, the absence of horizontal alignment and mainly by the structure, thinking and functional, hierarchical, departmental approach, so widely used by organizations today.
(2) Subsequently, when the organization has already managed to define a clear strategy, a common vision and mission for all people and the different business units, areas and key processes of the value chain have been synchronized, then horizontally the alignment process begins. At this stage, functional thinking has already expired and the organization begins to work as a true team or integrated system, mainly at a high level. Each of the business units, departments and areas, work to achieve common goals or system goals, those that each and every one believes to be the important ones, which support the achievement of the objectives and goals of the Organization and contribute to achieve the expected results. Each area "pushes" hard, but in the right direction,in such a way that a process of optimization of resources begins that contributes to raising performance. This systemic approach is achieved when we start with the process of goal synchronization, teamwork and multifunctional cooperation, in which the objectives of the system are above the individual objectives of the functional areas or departments.
On the other hand, it is also easy to identify those efforts that are not aligned with the direction sought and gradually realign them to guarantee the optimization of business results, since unaligned actions give a false sense of achievement or a sense of short-term success and rarely benefit the performance of the organization. Non-aligned decisions, actions and strategies consume efforts and lead to waste of time and resources of all kinds.
(3) Subsequently, through continuously aligning and realigning the different components of the organization at their different levels, everyone is able to push hard, but in the same direction, this allows the organization to move faster and faster, closer to achieve your vision and mission. Strategic alignment reduces the gap between the voice of the customer, the strategy and direction, the objectives and results of the organization. Being perfectly aligned, we guarantee that any investment, action or work of people, has a direct impact on performance (cause-effect relationship) and in achieving the desired differentiation strategy. To achieve this alignment effect at all levels, it is necessary to link the objectives and goals of managers, bosses, supervisors and employees,through a multilevel “cascadeo” process of the strategy, called deployment. This is the minimum phase or level of alignment we need to achieve Organizational Excellence.
(4) Finally, in many of the Industries it is necessary to take a step forward from the internal alignment, an external alignment. This occurs when they are linked to the organization's strategy, suppliers, distributors, intermediaries and key actors in the supply chain. To take this step, it is necessary not only to coordinate and synchronize internal efforts, but more importantly, outside the organization and to link the plans, objectives, goals, resources and operations of key suppliers and intermediaries with those of the organization., in order to achieve customer preference and a unique competitive advantage. It is at this point of alignment, it is when we maximize the performance of the organization and achieve results never imagined. This level of alignment is achieved through cooperative planning,joint improvement of performance and electronic exchange of information in real time, so that all entities in the supply chain visualize critical performance at each point of the caComo we can see in this process of seeking internal and external alignment, the organization it goes from a “fire extinguisher” approach, to a complete horizontal and vertical alignment and then to integration. However, as a process, alignment is subject to continuous improvement through the use of key performance measurements and learning cycles, both operational, strategic and human. In order for this change to take place, it is first necessary to align the organization both horizontally and vertically. In conclusion, strategic alignment has two essential dimensions:horizontal alignment (which we call synchronization) and vertical alignment (which we call unfolding or cascading).
Horizontal alignment is critical, since it means the synchronization of efforts throughout the “value chain” or the key processes of the organization, which must work together to create value for customers, shareholders and employees. This process can go as far as some organizations, even linking and coordinating with suppliers and key actors in the supply chain, if necessary.
Vertical alignment is also critical, as it means the connection between the organization's value creation strategy and the daily work of employees, who day after day work to achieve the results sought by the strategy, from each of their jobs, making the "strategy a job for everyone" and not a few. The key piece of the alignment, both horizontal and vertical, is the definition of key performance indicators, called in English “key performance indicators (KPI's)” and the adequate integration of goals, plans and programs, to achieve the results that the organization seeks to achieve.
To better understand the two types of alignment, horizontal (synchronization) and vertical (deployment), we will analyze the forces, causes and actions involved in controlling an airplane flight. When a Southwest Airlines pilot flies from one point to another, he has to worry about multiple variables such as: height, wind speed, turbulence, balancing the weight of the plane, etc. In order to respond quickly to these multiple variables that act in many cases simultaneously, deviating it from its originally planned plan, many aircraft and airports use an electronic device that helps to align and re-align the course of the plane, especially when visibility conditions are difficult, which is called ILS (instrument landing system).
The ILS helps align and re-align the aircraft in flight, by focusing its course on a coordinated axis system, which tells the pilot when the aircraft is too high or too low, or too far to the left or right, providing the deviation from the planned route, allowing you with this information to correct, in flight, the misalignment angle of the ship, to stay on the previously planned course.
The ILS provides electronic information in real time, to align and re-align the flight of the ship, both horizontally and vertically, when necessary.
In the example, we see that in the first case, the pilot will have to correct his course to the right and lower the ship a little, in the second, the pilot will have to turn his course to the left and raise the height of the ship and the last, the pilot must stay on course. In a similar way, this aircraft electronic device is the alignment process of the organization, which faces multiple external and internal variables (competition, market, customer needs, technology, political forces, structure, performance of processes, behavior of employees, etc.) trying to get them off the planned path (focus or direction of the business) having to, through an information system based on measurements and deviations from the goals and the proposed direction,align or re-align the organization in flight (in execution) both horizontally and vertically, to guarantee the expected results.
What is Horizontal Alignment or Synchronization?
Aligning to become a high-performance company requires overcoming various problems that create "inertia" within the organization, among which one of the most critical is the outdated culture of viewing organizational functioning as a functional hierarchical structure, the which creates fiefs and barriers of coordination and operation between departments. There is a commonly accepted theory, called the “conspiracy” theory, in which it is described that there is a “subversive force” that works against us, some kind of enemy, we even sometimes believe that a competitor is responsible for confusion, inefficiency and poor results. In our experience, it is true that this enemy exists, and the name is misalignment of efforts, caused by myopia or paradigms of managers,to see the organization as a fragmented structure, that is, that the traditional structure of organizations is the real problem, so the conclusion that we can reach is that the enemy is "ourselves".
For hundreds of years, managers have recognized only one way to do work, which is to structure it into different components isolated from each other. The belief is that the more parts it has, the stronger the company is. The only way to control these independent parts is through building a functional hierarchical control structure. This focus on fragmentation of work in functional specialties has made each department isolate itself from each other.
Horizontal alignment means synchronizing all processes in the value chain of an organization, towards the achievement of the strategy and value proposition for customers, employees and shareholders.
The key word is to “synchronize the operation” of all the organization's processes to achieve the goals set and thus ensure that the needs of all the different business stakeholders are met. This means that we have to synchronize processes as diverse in the value chain as: marketing, sales, warehousing, distribution, production, engineering and design, accounting, IT, human resources, etc.
However, this “subversive force”, the way we have organized work, turns against ourselves. The operation of the different departments focuses on discussions on minute points of view and eminently operational details, which causes communication and operational problems that create an “us against them” syndrome.
This functional approach has the ultimate goal of structuring work vertically, which creates poor horizontal coordination flows, consuming enormous amounts of time, resources and effort, so that the results are: amounts of work waiting in line, handling Inadequate materials, excessive inventories, mismanagement of orders, invoices not dispatched correctly and on time, poor communication between departments and endless problems that ultimately lead to customer dissatisfaction and poor financial results.
This vertical flow of job structuring emphasizes "control, power and command" never creating value for clients. Due to this change in emphasis, from control, power and command, towards the creation of value for clients, it is necessary to change the focus of seeing the operation of the organization as a horizontal flow of work, instead of the traditional vision of a flow. vertical work.
The net result of this functional approach, in that organizations spend only about 10-20% of their typical work time adding value and the rest of the time, is wasted repairing the problems caused by the functional or departmental approach. This results in high costs, lost time and poor competitiveness in the market.
This vertical "cascadeo" effect is the main barrier by which the strategy implementation process and the Command Board fail to deliver to the organization the results promised in the plans.
One of the most popularized processes in the implementation of the Dashboard is the so-called "cascade", which implies that the different functional areas of the organization design their specific Dashboards, aligned or linked with the organization's Dashboard However, always following a vertical flow of deployment, which indicates that at no time does the “cascadeo” integrate in a horizontal way or synchronize the different objectives, goals, indicators, inductors and projects of the different areas or processes of the organization, thus suboptimizing the results of the organization and the use of scarce resources.
This horizontal operation, in which the performance of all areas or departments is synchronized to create the value that customers seek, whether in time, cost, innovation, quality, etc.
In this type of operation, it is not only necessary for the work to be carried out in a synchronized manner through a continuous flow that horizontally crosses the entire structure of the organization, which means “doing things correctly”, but on the other hand, understanding what the strategy demands, what are the needs of customers, employees and shareholders, to really create the value they expect, which is "doing the right things".
Two critical points to achieve horizontal alignment are, on the one hand, seeing the organization as a continuous flow of events or processes that work together to create value (value chain) and then, seeing the interfaces or borders of said processes as a chain of customer-supplier relationships, where each step or link in the chain is a customer with specific needs to satisfy, so that at the end of that chain, we can meet the needs of the end customer (customer-supplier chain or external and internal customer).
In such a way that the keys are "flow and synchronization". Horizontal alignment means:
- Understand and translate what customers, employees, shareholders, and strategy demand as value requirements, and then ensure that the organization's internal (value chain) and external (supply chain) processes chain works synchronously to through a continuous flow of indicators, goals and linked initiatives, to consistently deliver (all the time) said expected value.
The horizontal alignment then guarantees, on the one hand, that the organization's strategy (objectives, goals, indicators, initiatives, etc.) and the requirements of customers, employees and shareholders, are translated into value requirements, for each of the units. operational, processes and functional departments, and on the other hand, that these value strategies are synchronized with each other.
The horizontal alignment can be taken to all levels of the organization, managerial level (2nd level), middle management level (3rd level), supervision level (4th level), etc., however, for the proper implementation of the Dashboard Command horizontal alignment is critical and vital to coordinate the work of the value chain, at the level of processes or functional areas, that is, at the managerial level or 2nd organizational level. On the other hand, sometimes and taking into account the type of organization that is implementing its strategy and aligning its company, it is necessary to synchronize not only the internal processes of the organization (value chain) but also the key external actors, such as the main suppliers, intermediaries and key customers (actors in the entire supply chain). From this perspective,strategies, plans, objectives, goals and incentives must be synchronized throughout the entire Supply Chain, not just the internal value chain.
For the proper implementation of the Command Board, horizontal alignment is critical and vital to coordinate the work of the value chain, at the level of processes or functional areas, that is, at the managerial level or 2nd organizational level.
As we see, the horizontal alignment breaks with the barriers of the departments, through synchronizing the strategy and work throughout the processes of the Value Chain and eliminating the borders of the Supply Chain, through synchronizing plans and strategies with the key players in this chain, with the sole purpose that "everyone pulls in the desired direction" and proactively contribute to achieving the goals and goals of value creation in order to gain competitive advantage in the market. As Michael Porter well contributed, companies do not compete, but chains or value systems.
What is Vertical Alignment or Deployment?
Once that horizontal synchronization is achieved, then it is possible to quickly deploy the Command Boards of each of the processes or functional departments to the different employees at all levels and functions of the organization, to ensure that their daily work contributes to the achievement of said strategy. This linking of all people to the organization's strategy must guarantee that the strategy becomes a fundamental part of the daily work of all people, thus complying with the principle that the strategy to be implemented and achieved must be "a Everyone's work, in all areas, at all levels, every day. ”
This deployment process makes a cause and effect link between the objectives, goals and means of the managers, with the objectives, goals and means of the middle managers and then, with the objectives, goals and means of the employees, thus ensuring that all follow the same direction and connecting the managers who develop the plans, with the employees who achieve the goals.
When the strategy is vertically deployed, employees at all levels understand what not only are the main objectives, goals and means that the organization seeks, but also its role in achieving those plans. The basic principle is that to get people involved towards the achievement of common value goals. We need to make them direct participants in the strategy, since "people only do what they think is right."
In other words, this vertical alignment process occurs after the different processes in the value chain are adequately synchronized through the objectives, goals and initiatives of each of the processes and departments. Therefore, we need to quickly lower said strategy. functional towards the different organizational levels: managers, middle managers and employees, through a cascade process of cause-effect deployment from level to level. Direct participation of all levels and people This process of linking cascade or vertical alignment, guarantees: involvement at all levels, personal commitment to the goals of the organization, linkage between the goals of the organization, departments, areas and people,provide guidance and direction to the process of defining objectives and goals at all levels and guarantees that there will be an efficient process of optimization of performance and personal contribution, so that the effort and work of all, in a synergistic effect, manages to achieve the goals of the organization.
Cascading or vertical alignment, requires more than just meetings, workshops, training, memos, slogan, etc., requires a true process of linking each other's work towards the strategy, which is known in the processes of planning of Japanese companies with the name of “catchball” or in Spanish “grab the ball”.
This process of vertical alignment or catchball, beyond a simple process of communication of the strategy and the vision of the organization, means the participation in the elaboration of the plans, of the people who will execute them, through: communication in double track, negotiation, agreements and documentation between managers, middle managers and employees, teamwork and operational coordination, involvement, personal commitment and top-down planning and vice versa.
Vertical alignment ensures that all levels of the organization are involved in achieving the company's objectives. The vertical alignment focuses and links the work, objectives and goals of employees at all levels, which allows for adequate personal commitment to achieving the goals of the organization. The key to vertical deployment is that each employee is correctly linked to the differentiation and added value strategy for clients, that is, that they clearly understand how their daily work directly supports the achievement of the organization's strategic goals and that, also, as its actions are clearly linked to the direction sought by the organization.
The process of linking objectives, goals and initiatives is through an “alignment cascade”, which allows connecting all employees with the high-level strategy. In this process of cascadeo, the objectives, goals and initiatives of a higher level, becomes direction (the what) of the lower level, so that this level develops its own objectives, goals and incentives (the how) to support the achievement of the objectives and goals of the higher level, and so on, until the process is deployed at the level of teams and people. This cascade process refers to the development of definition and cause-effect linkage of the strategy at all levels of the organization.
The ultimate “test” of strategy deployment efficiency is when employees' work, performance, actions, and behaviors (competencies) are clearly linked to achieving the vision and when the strategic business objectives and when the decisions of all employees, of all levels, every day support the achievement of the strategy.
The owners or managers of a higher level take their objectives, goals and initiatives as a direction to get support and involvement from the next level. The next level, together with the higher level, must then define how you will support the achievement of said objectives and goals, for which you must answer the following questions: what key objectives should you achieve to contribute to achieving the objectives of the Upper level? What goal should they achieve to support higher level goals? What initiatives should be developed to achieve those objectives and goals set?
From the 1st level or level of the Company, the process of rolling out and aligning the strategy begins, from an organizational level to the next level (management, middle management, supervision and employees), however, upon reaching the 2nd level or level Management or departments, and before continuing the deployment process, the activities, objectives and goals of the value chain and / or supply chain processes must be horizontally synchronized, to guarantee optimal horizontal operation and operational coordination to all level.
Subsequently, the deployment and alignment cascade process continues until reaching the 5th level or the Employee level. The horizontal alignment process is vital to develop at the second level or Management level, however, it can be developed at any level of the organization. This process of cascadeo of the strategy, guarantees integrity and alignment, both horizontally and vertically, of the objectives, goals and initiatives at all levels of the Organization.
The key to developing the horizontal and vertical alignment process is the definition of performance measurements of all kinds: quantitative, qualitative, result and driving force for results, financial and non-financial, etc. And for them is that one of the critical elements of Organizational Excellence is the Command Board, a strategic planning and performance measurement system, which is used by various world-class organizations. The negotiation, agreements, involvement and direct participation of all the actors are important factors for both horizontal and vertical alignment, allowing both multi-functional and multi-level communication and coordination.
Strategy Cascadeo, the biggest mistake made in the implementation of the Dashboard:
Throughout the Implementation of the Dashboard, the experts use the “cascadeo” process, as the key tool in linking the different areas and processes of the organization with the strategy and the 1st Level Dashboard. However, this vertical “cascadeo” process is the main barrier by which the implementation of the strategy and the Command Board, fail to deliver to the Organization, the results promised in the plans, as it continues with the disaggregation of the different areas or departments, following the old approach of creating barriers, silos and fiefs in organizational functioning:
As we mentioned before, the "cascadeo" of the strategy continues with a functional suboptimization approach, since it has as its ultimate goal the structuring and alignment of the strategy vertically, which creates poor horizontal coordination flows, consuming enormous amounts of time, resources and effort, so that the results are: amounts of work waiting in line, inadequate material handling, excessive inventories, mishandling of orders, invoices not dispatched correctly and on time, poor communication between departments and an endless number of problems that in the end, they result in customer dissatisfaction and poor financial results.
Contrary to the widely spread vertical "cascadeo" process of the strategy, horizontal alignment or synchronization emerges as a solution. The key point of horizontal alignment is that "it sees the organization as a process or as a chain of interrelated events, which generates value for customers, which crosses horizontally to the structure, through a multifunctional workflow", which we call horizontal operation or also known as multifunctional or process work approach.
This horizontal operation allows the efforts of all the necessary areas and processes to be synchronized to achieve the goals of the organization. For example, to achieve the organization's goal of "on-time delivery", it is necessary for logistics, warehouses, production, sales, marketing and dispatch to synchronize their plans, objectives and goals, and beyond that, they also require information and resources. Human beings support them to achieve this goal; additionally, they need that suppliers and distributors also join the effort. We call this process of synchronization of plans and efforts "Horizontal Alignment":
The controversy between functional or process organization has a long history since the very beginning of scientific administration and the organizational structure, driven by such characters as: Adam Smith, Frederick Taylor, Henri Fayol, Henry Gantt, Henry Ford and others, however, increasingly with the use of the Command Board and mainly with the Horizontal Alignment process, this controversy begins to disappear. The substance of this controversy between functional and process structure, between cascadeo and horizontal alignment, is simply a different approach to seeing the business, belief or paradigm:
FUNCTIONAL STRUCTURE (CASCADEO)
- He divides the whole into parts, understands each one separately and tries to understand the whole, as the aggregate of the parts. That is, the belief that the performance of the organization results from the effort to maximize the individual parts
OPERATION BY PROCESS (HORIZONTAL ALIGNMENT)
- To optimize a system, it must be understood as an integrated entity. The whole is understood by the interrelationships of the individual parts. That is, the belief that the performance of the organization results from optimizing the whole, not the parts
However, the horizontal alignment of the strategy simulates a multifunctional or process operation (and this is the key word: simulation / horizontal operation), by synchronizing the objectives, goals and plans between the different components of the system, the value chain or the supply chain without necessarily having to make radical changes in the structure. Then, the Command Board and Alignment will perhaps be the key drivers of strategy and competitiveness in the 21st century.
Conclusions:
The current business environment has resulted in two new realities for management: (1) organizations seek DIFFERENTIATION from their competitors by providing a unique value proposition for their clients, and (2) seek to ALIGN their full potential, towards achieving this differentiation, while ensuring impact and effectiveness in the use of its scarce resources.
The key lies in the process of linking the various units and departments to the organization's strategy, reaching in this linking process, down to the level of the employee. The aircraft use a system called ILS, which helps align and re-align the aircraft in flight, by focusing its course on a coordinated axis system. Similar to this electronic aircraft apparatus, is the alignment process of the organization, since it faces various forces that try to get it out of the planned direction (focus or direction of the business) having, through an information system based on measurements and deviations from the goals and the proposed direction, align or re-align the organization in flight (in execution) both horizontally and vertically, to guarantee the expected results.Herein lies the importance of horizontal and vertical alignment, control and adjustment of strategy execution, to achieve the organization's results.
One of the major problems in the process of implementing the strategy and the Command Board is the use of the process called vertical “cascadeo”, since this process leaves aside the process of multifunctional integration, horizontal alignment or synchronization of all the areas and processes of the organization, thus causing functional barriers and poor operational coordination, which prevents the achievement of the promised results in the plan. Therefore, only after the horizontal alignment is developed, then it is possible to display the Command Boards of each department, down to the employee level, to ensure that all people of all levels, from all areas, every day they act, work and make decisions based on the achievement of the strategy and the expected results of the Organization.
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