Given the current pace of business and market transformation, leaders' and managers' roles in aligning organizational efforts with business goals are some of their most important responsibilities. Effective leadership ensures that strategic objectives are first in sync with business aims and subsequently clearly communicated and understood throughout the organization. Leaders and managers set the direction, inspire, and guide their teams to stay focused on evolving business goals.

The essential leadership activities in achieving this include prioritizing high-value and urgent activities, measuring impact using outcome metrics, and demonstrating value in driving business results. Leaders also need to be adept at strategic planning, regular monitoring, and the ability to pivot when necessary. Examining the most impactful advice from experienced leaders who have successfully aligned their teams with organizational objectives reveals capabilities essential for driving alignment and achieving sustained success.

Perspectives from Thought Leaders on How to Align with Business Goals

To provide actionable insights on this crucial topic, we have gathered perspectives from thought leaders who have successfully led their organizations through the process of aligning with business goals. Their advice highlights the essential strategies and approaches leaders and managers can employ to ensure their teams are aligned with the overarching business objectives.

Graham Peelle
Global Operations, People, & Talent Leader at Endeavor Strategic

Human Resources working WITH the business is how the organization gets stronger. Not fighting it or giving into it. Working alongside the business. Your role in any organizational support function is to support the business. Does that mean taking orders and just doing what the business leaders want? No, it means positioning yourself as a:

• Consultant
• Thought Leader
• Executive Leader
• Executive Partner
• Subject Matter Expert (SME)
• Innovator 
• Culture Keeper
• People Representative
• Company Representative
  
  

If you’re the head of HR or report to an HR leader, your role is to be the best advisor, executor, and sounding board. Your influence and expertise are essential to growing the company’s business, and HR leadership provides process, risk mitigation, and support. You bring significant value, which must be recognized and operationalized for an organization to achieve greatness or even “good” status. This means business alignment runs through you. You have the power and must have the motivation and know-how to shape the company for the better. 

I see the core alignment with business and how to best advise leaders and managers like this:

• Business Lens: Consider everything from the business lens, too. Think like a CEO/COO/CFO—what do they want and need from their seat? Your value as a partner grows tenfold when you truly understand their perspective and objectives. Don’t fight this—embrace it.
  
  
• Expertise: Talk with other professionals, attend conferences, read, study, conduct professional research, be the expert and leader, or find those who can bring that to your group. Operate with the mindset that unless it’s extremely technical or niche, you don’t need an outside consultant because you and your team serve that purpose.
  
  
• Partnership: To have influence and position yourself from a seat that has value, you must build a relationship to develop a true partnership. Partnerships don’t happen by accident, and sometimes not naturally, but they must be cultivated. Do your part to find the connection and be the executive partner everyone goes to.
  
  
• Ease to Work With: Be easy to work with—don’t set up artificial blocks, stages, steps, or people in your way to keep collaboration or idea flow going. Blocks stop collaboration or at least delay it, so choose your blockers wisely. Key executive leaders should have easy ways to work with you, communicate with you, and involve you.
  
  
• Effective: Be effective by getting the job done. Take the reins, take action, update accordingly, and make it happen. Don’t make excuses; make results. The bottom line comes down to how you impact business results, and your performance in your role will be judged by how you help grow, protect, and support the business.
  
  
• Growth: Be the company's number one salesperson. You represent the brand, the business, and your company’s value—show it. Shout from the mountain tops, represent positively, and help develop culture internally and brand externally by voicing and showing your support for the business. You can grow your company through your confidence and commitment.
  
  

Leaders and managers can think of themselves as the spark or ignitor in the business framework—lighting up the organization from their HR seats with perspective, feedback, and innovation. Settling for the status quo isn’t adding value; it’s empowering mediocrity. Never settle for what you know isn’t the best realistic way to drive the business forward.

Your power sits with your confidence to align with the business from the SME seat, not a “yes-person” chair. Innovate, create, and change the course for company growth and a meaningful organizational future.

Mindy Honcoop
Fractional Chief People Officer & Advisor at Agile in HR

Achieving alignment between HR initiatives and business goals is an engine of long-term organizational success. Here are some impactful strategies to do this effectively:

• Strategic People Management: Begin by aligning talent management with business goals. This includes every aspect of the employee lifecycle, from global hiring practices to onboarding and compensation to benefits. Each stage should support the overarching business goals.
  
  
• Internal Communications: Make good plans to communicate with everyone on the team. This will ensure everyone knows the business goals and how they can help reach them. Clear, consistent, and transparent communication fosters a sense of ownership and alignment among employees.
  
  
• Learning and Development: Invest in continuous learning and development opportunities. This improves employee skills and ensures that the workforce evolves in line with business needs. Tailor development programs to meet the strategic needs of the business, thereby directly contributing to its goals.
  
  
• Change Management: Implement effective change management processes. As businesses evolve, leaders must manage transitions smoothly to maintain alignment. This involves preparing the workforce for change, communicating effectively, and making adjustments as necessary.
  
  
• Employee Engagement and Performance Management: Make employees feel involved by recognizing their work and matching their personal and business goals. Performance management systems should assess and motivate staff, linking their achievements to business success.
  
  
• Data-Driven Decisions: Leverage analytics to make informed decisions. Data-driven insights can help identify trends, predict needs, and measure the effectiveness of alignment strategies. This approach ensures that decisions are based on evidence, enhancing the strategic alignment process.
  
  
• Continuous Improvement: Finally, establish a culture of continuous improvement. Regularly review and refine strategies to ensure they remain aligned with changing business goals and market conditions. This proactive approach prevents misalignment and keeps the organization on a path to success.
  
  

This holistic approach allows HR leaders to ensure their teams work together effectively, driving business success while enhancing employee satisfaction and retention.

Puneet Sachdev
Global Leader at The Singularity Lab

In today’s rapidly changing digital economy, I see many organizations struggling to identify and optimize the roles that truly drive value. Often, there’s a lack of clarity about how value is created, leading to ineffective talent management. The reality is that a small number of roles usually account for a significant portion of value creation. Without understanding where and how value is generated, we risk misallocating talent and resources, diminishing efficiency and competitiveness.

To address this, I advocate for a Talent to Value Mapping approach, which I outline in four stages:

1. Establishing the Value Agenda: Engaging with leadership to clearly define how value is created in the business and identify key activities driving it.
   
   
2. Mapping Roles to Value Creation: Categorizing roles as value creators who directly generate revenue or value enablers who support essential functions.
   
   
3. Summarizing Role Impact and Success Criteria: Quantifying the value added by each role while defining its purpose, required skills, and success criteria.
   
   
4. Mapping Talent to Value: Assessing whether we have the right people in critical roles and making necessary changes if not.
   
   

Additionally, I emphasize four key enablers of talent excellence that are crucial for organizations to thrive:

• Allyship: Creating equal opportunities for diverse talent to progress within the organization.
  
  
• Inclusion: Building a sense of belonging where everyone feels free to express themselves fully.
  
  
• Well-Being: Addressing burnout and prioritizing employee health.
  
  
• Quality Leadership: Understanding that poor management can undermine all efforts in talent management.
  
  

Effective talent management is not accidental but requires a disciplined, strategic approach to ensure top talent is placed in roles that drive the most value. This approach is essential for maximizing an organization’s potential in the digital economy.

Other Articles in the Series on How to Align with Business Goals

Gaining impactful advice from leaders and managers is crucial, but it is also essential to consider other aspects of alignment. This includes understanding the lessons learned in aligning with business goals and recognizing the critical cultural elements needed to support this alignment. These perspectives offer a comprehensive framework for organizations aiming to achieve and maintain successful alignment with their business goals.

Enabling Practices and Resources

Advanced HR Strategy Practices to Plan for Delivery of Impactful HR Services and Support.

Advanced HR Strategy is a refined approach to planning long-term HR priorities. It involves increased specificity of plans and goals around key employee groupings and uses detailed workforce data and projections to clarify the needs and trends impacting those groups.

Structuring the HR Organization to Best Meet Business Needs.

The design of an HR organizational model requires considering a number of potential factors - the available HR budget, business organizational structure, business and HR strategic plans, critical workforce segments, and the company's culture.

Designing Process and Information Flows to Efficiently Allocate Organizational Resources and Facilitate Information Sharing.

Effective coordination depends on clarity regarding the tasks to be performed in an organization and the information needed for and generated by work on these tasks.