Presented by:
Yasuhiko Genku Kimura
Vision-In-Action LLC
December 13, 2004
ALIGNMENT BEYOND AGREEMENT™
A CORPORATE PROGRAM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF
A CULTURE OF ALIGNMENT
The Principle of Alignment Beyond Agreement
Alignment is congruence of intention; agreement is congruence of opinion.
Opinion is based on interpreted facts and belief systems, and it often leads to disputes and divisiveness. Alignment, on the other hand, is developed through shared intention and, because it is goal-based, is focused on the future. The practice of alignment is therefore based on a spirit of quest, of accomplishing the goal, which promotes openness to the unknown and a commitment to meeting the future with resolve.
Most companies understand the business advantages associated with a collaborative work environment where creativity flourishes. So acting as an external authority, they try to artificially impose interaction among staff or cooperation across internal lines by assigning team quotas or performance objectives. However, the practice of Alignment Beyond Agreement™ builds an entirely new, self-sustaining, open-ended organization. It creates a deep and multifaceted culture shift.
- Aligned organizations are self-motivated and naturally work together to improve productivity with quantifiable results such as higher revenues, lower cost of sales and significantly less personnel turnover.
- Aligned organizations are more flexible and instinctively self-correcting; they respond to changing market conditions with the intelligence of the group rather than as a single individual reacting out of the moment.
- Aligned organizations adopt a higher level of thinking that intuitively encompasses “the big picture.” Disagreement becomes a positive force that enhances its power and creates synergy.
As a result, the collective intelligence of an aligned organization often produces results beyond the intelligence of any single individual. Greater intelligence and creativity follows alignment of intention and explains the extraordinary excellence of aligned organizations.
CASE STUDY
Alignment Beyond Agreement
Problem:
- High expectation of sales force
- Culture restricts creativity
- No clear or expressed vision to unite behind
- No clear or well-communicated goal
- Limited exchange of ideas restricts potential growth/revenues
- Sales force perceives company as unable to change and is resigned to the status quo
Solution:
Through the practice of Alignment Beyond Agreement, any organization is able to create an environment where financial professionals consistently surpass their own perceived limitations.
G&S has proven the validity of this principle and is an example of its successful implementation. The firm has consistently been a top producer by creating a supportive and empowering environment that allows for, and encourages, the exchange of ideas and information. Consequently, the group becomes more intelligent than any one individual.
Three Tenets for ABA
The three tenets for Alignment Beyond Agreement are:
- Intention
- Synergy
- Intelligence
Intention:
We know our firm grows by providing exceptional value to our clients; this is our shared intention. It flows from the founding principals’ commitment to leadership, personal growth and integrity, and our success reflects the staff’s ability to incorporate these values in their daily efforts.
Consequently, we created the foundation for alignment by focusing on the company’s future as a coherent unit while also considering both the financial and personal growth of the individual. One way this is actualized at G&S is by defining a specific corporate goal that can be partitioned into individual commitments (i.e., $60 million in New Jersey plan sponsored sales). Individuals are rewarded for their participation and also receive a bonus for exceeding their personal goals.
While the financial incentives are important, they would not be effective without the shared understanding that our purpose is to provide value to our clients. The intention to succeed by providing value is the catalyst that drives sales higher, not vice-versa.
Synergy:
The aligned intention within G&S promotes synergy. As a result, individuals consistently cross organizational and professional barriers to support peers’ efforts and help the firm reach its goals. How often do you find highly-competitive financial professionals willing to share their hard-won expertise with colleagues, as you do at G&S? Some common examples:
- A seasoned planner consistently spends time with newer planners, explaining successful marketing ideas incorporated at his school.
- Another experienced planner staged a seminar for newer planners — without any compensation for the effort.
- Planners often share referrals across schools with no remuneration.
Intelligence:
The aligned intention and synergy within G&S has resulted in a group dynamic that is more intelligent than any one individual. Our monthly meetings to discuss our progress and brainstorm creative approaches to surpass our goals always yield specific and measurable results. The group’s investment model — which constantly has outperformed any reportable money manager return — and our marketing programs are clear examples of this collective intelligence.
Our alignment of intention also is reflected in the staff’s willingness to adopt a common set of standards to improve communications with clients. The result is that we have developed effective models to clearly communicate consistent messages to our clients in all our:
- Marketing materials
- Presentation materials
- Investment models
Conclusion:
When G&S discovered the concept of Alignment Beyond Agreement™ developed by Yasuhiko Genku Kimura, we realized it was the codification of the same practices we had intuitively cultivated in our organization as we sought to exceed our goals year after year.
As outlined in this program, the ABA model is fully translatable into the ING organization. It will enable ING to reap the rewards of a culture of alignment and will provide ING with the tools necessary to achieve greater success in the future.
Without a dramatic shift in the current culture, however, we feel the opportunities for solving many of the existing problems within the organization are limited. G&S is committed to the continued success of ING and we will do our part to ensure this success.
“You cannot solve a problem at the same level of thinking that created it.”
– Albert Einstein
PROGRAM OUTLINE
PURPOSE
The purpose and function of the Alignment Beyond Agreement Program™ is to create an organizational culture in which alignment among all segments of the organization is the norm and to develop an organizational culture where collective intelligence is maximally and optimally harnessed.
PROGRAM PHASES
Phase One: Assessment
1. Through a series of confidential interviews with key individuals in different segments of the organization, we identify and assess a set of problems and impediments that are affecting the development of the organization and the growth of business.
2. Based on this assessment, we develop a practical and customized application of the Alignment Beyond Agreement Program to most effectively serve the goals of the organization.
Phase Two: Seminars
1. The first step is to deliver customized Alignment Beyond Agreement Seminars™ to the various segments of the organizations that were identified as a result of the assessment.
2. The second step is to deliver a general Alignment Beyond Agreement Seminar to the whole organization, including all of the participants from the segment-based seminars.
3. At this point, we will meet with the executive manager of each organizational segment to solicit input for a customized Alignment Beyond Agreement Measurement MatrixTM defining recognizable and attitudinal milestones along the road to a new culture and system. This Matrix will be used as a survey and measurement tool in the third phase of the program.
Phase Three: Follow-up Interventions
1. The initial series of customized seminars will be followed by six monthly intervention sessions to continue assessing the progress and to clarify the principles and application of a culture and system of Alignment Beyond Agreement within each of the identified segments.
2. After the monthly sessions, we will conduct three bimonthly reinforcement sessions to assess development and encourage continued progress.
3. This will be followed by two quarterly seminars that underscore the direction of change within the organization, demonstrate how change has created individual wealth or benefit and offer advanced principles to maintain the culture and systems of Alignment Beyond Agreement now developing within the organization.
SEMINAR OUTLINE
Since all seminars are custom-designed, the following is a general guideline and standard.
▪ Seminars are highly interactive and participatory. Seminars are designed to provoke thinking so that the participants will think together with the seminar leader and with one another to achieve full understanding of the concepts and principles of Alignment Beyond Agreement.
▪ In this manner, the participants will come to understand the principles imparted during the seminar, not merely intellectually but also practically.
▪ Program Elements include:
1. Defining and delineating the concept of Alignment Beyond Agreement.
2. Case studies of alignment versus agreement based on the participants’ own experience.
3. Identification of impediments to the achievement of Alignment Beyond Agreement.
4. The nature of intention.
5. The art and science of synergy and collective intelligence.
6. Identifying shared intentions.
7. Developing the organizational practice of Alignment Beyond Agreement.
8. The art and science of continual personal and organizational development.
9. The systems approach to evolutionary problem solving.
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