Benefits of pulling together

Sharing business objectives with staff helps them better understand their role.

The culture of yesteryear was to keep a management team and the rest of the operation’s employees separate. Important information, like communicating company performance and future objectives, were often not shared with the greater worker base.

But things have changed, with business leaders seeing the value in full business alignment.

“Sharing your business objectives with your team is a crucial aspect of success,” says Rogan Jansen, co-founder and creative director at the Cape Town-based design studio DashDigital.

“Whether you’re running a multinational brand or a small design studio like me, its paramount your team knows what [the business is] working towards because ultimately, this will help them better understand their role in contributing to this success.”

Team motivation

Understanding their place in the bigger picture is also motivating for employees.

There is power in uniting your team behind a shared vision.

Employees feel more invested in their work which leads to increased job satisfaction and engagement.

And driven, connected and collaborative employees are the best recipe for boosting productivity.

“Motivation by instilling a sense of unity is a powerful tool and we do this at DashDigital by aligning with a set of values that we hold each other to,” says Jansen. “Things like, do what you say you’re going to do, prioritise differing opinions and find new ways to learn and grow are just a few of the values we align with.

“But this can quickly fall flat if you don’t trust your team with your vision and give them the correct tools to make it happen.

“Great unified teams aren’t created overnight, nor do they stay unified without everyone involved putting in the work.”

Clarity of purpose

Just like great teams aren’t built in weeks, full business alignment doesn’t either. Communicating your goals with employees needs to begin when they enter the business, and continue.

“Clarity on business goals and objectives isn’t something that should be said once like a tick-box exercise,” says Jansen. “Communication of this kind should be built into your company culture, so team members can use these goals to help guide them when making big or hard decisions.

“I’ve seen how clarity of purpose improves a team member’s ability to execute, their ability to bravely change direction and truly learn to love what they do.”

Dangers of misalignment

No business, no strategy and no team is perfect.

“Particularly in a small business, misalignment can make a noticeable negative impact.”

Jansen recommends a refresh and reanalysis of the business’ shared vision, working to ensure the common purpose is strong, that your culture is collaborative and everyone feels involved in setting and reviewing goals.