How internal communication underpins strategic alignment

In this short article, I explore what we mean by strategic alignment and how internal communication is essential to it.

The term strategic alignment has been around since the 1960s and there is now a substantial body of academic and practitioner research that informs the thinking.

In a nutshell, strategic alignment is about the ways that an organisation’s strategy is firstly in alignment with external stakeholder expectations. And then secondly how employees, resources, systems, and processes are aligned to the achievement of the organisation’s stated strategy.

There are further dimensions, such as intrafunctional and cross-functional alignment, management–strategy–activities alignment, and process–structure–culture–people alignment.[1] However, for the purposes of this brief overview and discussion, I am focusing on Jonathan Trevor’s four alignment assumptions from his recent book Re:Align. These are an organisation’s purpose, the people required to fulfil the purpose, the organisation and co-operation of those people, and the way that those people unite behind the purpose and work with commitment and loyalty.[2] Alignment is important as it enables organisations to be sensitive to customers, productive, resilient, and engaging.[3]

Much of the research behind strategic alignment emphasises the linkages between business strategy, organisational capability, organisational architecture, and management systems. What Trevor also emphasises is that an organisation’s business strategy is inextricably linked to purpose and vision.

Internal communication is about generating commitment and loyalty. However, there can be a misunderstanding that leaders simply have to broadcast purpose and strategy messages via multiple channels for alignment to be achieved. To paraphrase a quote often attributed to George Bernard Shaw, one of the problems with internal communication is the illusion it has been accomplished.

As Anne Gregory and Paul Willis highlight in their book Strategic Public Relations Leadership, ‘An organisation’s reputation is determined not by expert publicity programmes, but the alignment of declared and enacted values as judged by those with whom it has a relationship’.[4] This perspective prioritises relationships with stakeholders over publicity programmes and the importance of actions which, in the case of internal communication, relates to the behaviours of managers and leaders.

There is general agreement about the importance of employee understanding of an organisation’s strategy. Many internal communication practitioners and authors stress ‘high-level alignment of communication strategies with business objectives and plans’[5] and academics note that ‘consensus about strategy becomes an important factor’.[6] So, how is consensus achieved?

The key here is to include a listening approach to internal communication. Recent research in the US found that ‘Leaders cannot simply announce a strategy and assume it has permeated the rest of the organization. Instead, they must proactively solicit input and feedback from across the org chart, truly listening to lower-level employees and engaging in meaningful dialogue. After all, top-down communication from leaders to frontline workers may drive perceptions of strategic alignment, but it won’t improve real consensus’.[7] As I found in my research with colleagues Mike Pounsford and Howard Krais, ‘true’ listening is grounded in openness, empathy and responsiveness.[8] Leaders have to believe in the value of listening, be open to challenges and commit to responses and actions.

In addition to consensus of employee understanding of, and belief in, organisational strategy there is also the challenge of bringing it constantly to life. This is often best achieved through local team level internal communication. However, that depends on line managers and supervisors ‘translating’ high level strategy into meaningful connections that resonate with employees. This is not always straightforward and it is not about broadcasting pre-prepared messages. In my PhD research with employees, many told me that they appreciate it most when their line manager or supervisor explains business strategy in ways that connect with what they do in their team.[9] Effectively ‘Joining the Dots’ – but in a natural way when the discussion best provides opportunities for it.

Strategic alignment communication that leads to employee consensus is vital if the benefits of alignment are to be secured. To do this effectively, organisations have to move beyond a broadcast only approach and incorporate listening on an ongoing basis. Force feeding messages about business strategy through top-level marketing-like cascade communication is likely to be counter-productive.

• Listening to employees is a core element of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Internal Communication qualifications delivered by PR Academy. More information here.
• Leading the Listening Organisation: Creating Organisations that Flourish by Mike Pounsford, Kevin Ruck and Howard Krais is due for publication by Routledge later this year and is available to pre-order here.

References

[1] Volk, S.C, and, Zerfass, A. 2020. Alignment: Explicating a Key Concept in Strategic Communication. In Nothhaft, H., Werder, K.P., Verčič, D. and Zerfass, A. (Eds). Future Directions of Strategic Communication. Routledge.

[2] Trevor, J. 2022. Re:Align: A leadership blueprint for overcoming disruption and improving performance. London: Bloomsbury

[3] Trevor, J. 2022. Re:Align: A leadership blueprint for overcoming disruption and improving performance. London: Bloomsbury

[4] Gregory, A and Willis, P. 2022. Strategic Public Relations Leadership. Second Edition. London: Routledge.

[5] Quirke, B. 2008. Making the Connections: Using Internal Communication to Turn Strategy into Action. Second edition. Aldershot: Gower.

[6] Zanon, C.J., Filho, A.G.A., Jabbour, C.J.C. and Jabbour, A.B.L.D. 2013. Alignment of operations strategy: exploring the marketing interface, Industrial Management and Data Systems, Vol. 113 No. 2, pp. 207-233.

[7] Mittal, V., Piazza, A., Malshe, A. 2023. Is Your Company as Strategically Aligned as You Think It Is? Harvard Business Review. Available at: https://hbr.org/2023/05/is-your-company-as-strategically-aligned-as-you-think-it-is

[8] Pounsford, M., Ruck, K., Krais, H. 2023. (In Print, due for publication in December 2023). Leading the Listening Organisation: Creating Organisations that Flourish. London: Routledge.

[9] Ruck, K. 2020. The AVID framework for good and ethical practice, in Ruck. K. (Ed), Exploring Internal Communication: Towards Informed Employee Voice, 4^th Edition. London: Routledge.