Alignment should be as simple as defining the planned goals, making sure everyone understands those goals and motivating people across the organization to get to the same destination. However, adding humans into the mix often creates issues.
To avoid wasted time, overlapping work and lost opportunities, small and midsize businesses (SMBs) must create a solid strategy everyone can follow. So what are the biggest challenges in aligning teams on strategic plans, and how can leadership overcome these issues?
1. Siloed Data
Misalignment happens when different departments pull from separated sets of data. One group might work on an old system, for example. Confusing messages create failed communication. Marketing might have a goal but operations has something completely different. A study showed that 70% of organizations have data silos in over 50% of their business units. Individual teams report statuses on spreadsheets, in slide decks or verbally. This results in ambiguity in priorities, and lack of collective accountability.
Solution: Create a Single Source of Truth
The best fix is building a shared source. Centralize planning and performance data using a business intelligence platform like Tableau or Microsoft Power BI. A standard dashboard provides visibility to all departments. Leaders can see how goals dovetail with company goals. This also allows for more communication and faster decision-making by leaders.
Encourage teams to meet frequently and consider progress across levels so everyone remains in sync and roadblocks can be addressed when they arise, rather than having the overriding strategy forgotten.
2. Operational Demands
The stringent day-to-day activities that keep an organization running often overshadow the long-term companywide calculated goals. Employees must meet deadlines and lack the time to focus on strategy. Teams tend to chase quick wins rather than working the plan.
Solution: Connect Strategy to Daily Work With Monitoring Tools
To keep your strategy alive, you must tie it to the day-to-day actions of the business. Set individual key performance indicators (KPIs), so the results are intuitive. Team leaders should open meetings by discussing a single planned priority and how to apply it to current projects. When the strategy becomes part of regular conversations, results happen.
This is where strategic planning software like AchieveIt becomes critical. By centralizing plans, tracking milestones in real-time, and showing how day-to-day actions align with top-level goals, these platforms make the strategy visible and actionable. Monitoring tools like AchieveIt enhance collaboration and accountability, allowing leaders to spot trends and make swift course corrections.
3. Uneven Leadership
Gaining the buy-in of employees starts with the leadership team. Contradictory messages from senior executives create confusion. CEOs may push for innovation, but department heads might worry over cost-cutting measures. Employees may feel uncertain about who to follow.
Solution: Prioritize Communication
The best solution is to start by coming together and seeing the big picture. Establish priorities during meetings and talk about how you’ll measure success. To ensure consistency, leadership must be on the same page before sharing plans across the company. Integrate leadership alignment workshops quarterly to re-evaluate those planned goals and adjust them as necessary to those market changes.
4. Stagnant Procedures
Another of the biggest challenges teams face in aligning strategic plans is the attitude of, “We’ve always done it this way.” People’s behavior must change to achieve planned alignment, and they may resist change from losing old work habits or being looked at as underperformers due to the transparency. Most cultural resistance quietly derails even the best plans.
Solution: Ensure Employee Involvement
All employees should be involved in the planning process from the very beginning instead of change pushed from the top down. Use an employee experience platform like Culture Amp or Qualtrics to systematically solicit input on goals, run pulse surveys on new initiatives, and create feedback loops. People buy in more when they see their input helps the company succeed.
Managing change includes more than communication. It requires open dialogue, recognition of small wins, celebration of successes and closure of feedback loops. Over time, the organization feels confident in adopting new approaches.
5. Incorrect Measurement
It is impossible without metrics to know whether strategies are working. Many SMBs still rely on annual reports, lagging indicators and react after the fact upon issues arising as a result.
Solution: Define Initiative Success
The solution involves defining KPIs early and monitoring them. Define success for each initiative by increasing revenue, adding new customers, increasing retention or reducing delivery time. Make sure everyone agrees about milestones. Modern analytics tools and dashboards, like Google Analytics or more specialized platforms, present metrics in real time, letting the group view the effect of their work and maintain momentum.
6. Poor Communication
All the issues with aligning a team can impact how people share information. When communication fails, so do your goals. A 2024 Grammarly survey uncovered that 96% of business leaders believe communication is vital to good results. But the reality is often frustrating. Marketing says one thing. Human Resources shares another. Customer service thinks something different. The internal message becomes fractured. Employees and customers know it.
Solution: Create High-Quality Communication Channels
Strategic alignment isn’t just about data. Employees want to know what your company is trying to do and why it matters, beyond spreadsheets. Have a concise internal “strategy statement” teams can use and repeat to guide themselves. Multiple tools can lead to technology burnout and muddy the discussion. Use all-in-one tools like Slack or Microsoft Teams to keep everyone in the loop between meetings and centralize messaging.
Investigate if tools are redundant, or connections can be formed between systems. Consider if you can move everything to a single planning platform. Goal-oriented software can be used as a bridge to improve decision-making by synchronizing goals and updates, reducing noise and increasing understanding. Fewer tools doing the same work can encourage employees to use them more frequently and move toward goals together.
Use onboarding and town halls to repeat messaging. Repetition gives everyone a chance to ask pertinent questions and absorb the ideas. Staff can feel out of the loop if one of your leaders fails to communicate effectively – train management to be clear in their statements and distribute company-wide updates.
Turning Alignment Into Momentum
Now that you have a clearer picture of what are the biggest challenges in aligning teams on strategic plans, you likely realize a strategic plan is not about checklists or technology. It’s about people going in the same direction with clarity and commitment. With clear messaging, momentum builds and your organization can leverage open communication and transparent tracking for swifter adaptation. A shared sense of purpose builds stronger teams and makes everyone a part of the company’s future success.