Employee Alignment with New Objectives in the Recovery

The recession forced many companies to assess the course of their company and adjust their strategic objectives for the new economic reality. But how many of your employees know what those new objectives are? Critically, if they do know the new objectives, do they understand how that change in direction may also affect what and how they should be doing in their everyday work?

As I’ve written before, recent studies show 32% doubt there is even a plan for their business. Only 27% feel they know how to face the challenges of 2010. The cover story of a recent issue of Human Resource Executive addressed this point as well:

“To make matters worse, employees at many organizations are ill-prepared to carry out the new business strategies CEOs and their executive committees are now working so hard to develop. Experts who have studied the situation say that, in recession-altered workplaces, employees are often adrift, without well-defined roles or managers who know exactly how those new strategies should be executed.”

One of the strongest, most positive, and most effective ways of communicating your objectives to all employees is through the work. Reinforce for employees in their daily tasks when they help achieve your strategic objectives while demonstrating your company values. The good news is HR professionals seem to be using this strategy. From People Management:

“Employers are reviewing their reward policies to make them more strategic and performance related in the wake of the recession, the CIPD’s annual Reward Management survey has found. Asked their priorities for the coming year, just over half (52 per cent) of the 800 reward professionals surveyed cited the need to align incentives with corporate strategy.”

The importance of recognition to employees was further highlighted by the Corporate Executive Board (also from the Human Resources Executive article)

“Research by the Corporate Executive Board found that some of the top drivers of employee commitment have shifted significantly. As the recession has limited opportunities for development, workers have come to consider other things more important, particularly individual recognition. According to the study, employee desire for recognition jumped 15 percent from October 2008 to March 2009.”

If employees desire recognition, which is also a powerful means to foster alignment with your strategic objectives, why wouldn’t you pursue strategic recognition to achieve your goals in the recovery?