When your goals align with your company’s, it’s not only evidence that you’re in the right place, it’s also confirmation that your business is on the right track and getting after those goals every day. On the flip side, when your goals and those of your organization don’t match up, you can’t reasonably expect the same outcomes.
If, by the end of this post, you determine that your personal manifesto isn’t in sync with your organization’s, something needs to change. Getting your company’s core leaders on the same page is key. Ensure that your offsite efforts lead to time and money well spent: Download Arden’s free guide to the dos and don’ts of strategic offsite meetings.
Let’s get to three exercises that will help you determine whether your goals align with your company’s:
1. Conduct Your Own Third-Party Review
One of the best ways to quickly see if your goals match the organization’s is to evaluate your company’s perceived goals as they are right now. Investigate the collateral that sums up your business across platforms. Take a good, hard look at what’s on your website and what’s hanging on the walls and around the office.
If what you see isn’t familiar or you don’t think it’s an accurate representation of who you or your company is, you have some high-level strategic adjustments to do.
2. Get Feedback on Your Office Space
You can tell a lot about who a company is just by taking a stroll through its workspace. But when you’re someone who lives it every day, it all tends to fade into the background. What you need is an unbiased, fly-on-the-wall observer who’s not connected to the company to give you their direct thoughts and feelings.
Candid feedback from someone who’s not involved with the company can prove to be extremely eye opening. Is what you say you are supported by the commentary from the walkthrough observer?
3. Compare Actions vs. Values
Self-awareness is an important part of identifying whether what we stand for is what our business stands for. But what we say vs. what we do tends to vary. If you had someone come in and video tape your company’s leaders, would the decisions made ring true with the organization’s values?
Actions speak louder than words. Maybe you say that you value community, yet you don’t know your neighbors, volunteer, or give back in any way. If your values (personally or the company’s) can’t be described by what your actions look like, you can confidently say that something’s not seeing eye to eye.
Goal Rewriting Is Hard Work: Seek Help When You Need it
In the grand scheme of things, living the values that encompass your organization’s mission and vison day to day is paramount. But looking inward on a personal or company level is never easy.
Those looking for an avid outside ear, mediator, or facilitator to provide valuable, objective feedback can count on an Arden coach. Get to know more about our executive coaching programs and contact us to discuss your business’ unique needs today.