Streamline Business Performance With Software That Makes Habits Stick
Many factors play a role in business success, from funding and cash flow management to strategic planning and execution. Though some factors are external and difficult to influence, one of the most important facets of success is something that’s within your control – habits.
Strong performance starts with adopting good habits. Habits are essentially the key to maximizing business growth by turning strategy into execution. Believe it or not, long-term growth is mostly driven by small but impactful adjustments in our day-to-day behavior.
Align is a software that helps businesses adopt productive habits from the get-go that will drive success at a faster rate by combining best practices of goal setting and tracking, execution, and performance management all in one place. It allows you to create an actionable plan for your organization and provides you with the tools to execute it like a pro.
Here are just a few ways that effective habits can help move the needle toward your organization’s biggest goals.
1) Goal Setting
Laying out an effective business plan starts with setting clear, measurable goals for the organization. Effective goal setting improves business performance by ensuring that your responsibilities and priorities are in line with your ultimate objectives, providing a clear purpose and expected outcome for your work.
The Align software helps you ensure that your business goals are aligned with your vision, purpose, and values while equipping you with the capabilities to bring those goals to life. Align’s built-in One Page Strategic Plan template is a great place to start framing and building out your high-level goals. Then you can dive into what habits your team needs to practice to achieve those goals.
2) Planning
High-level goals help illustrate a vision, but a vision is all it will be unless you develop and follow a clear plan that will make it a reality. This is where you break down your biggest goals in your strategic plan into smaller, manageable tasks.
Align’s tools enable you to easily map out and define tasks, identify who’s responsible for what, and create a timeline for deliverables.
While goal setting and planning require a lot of leg work, the next phase is where most businesses struggle. 90 percent of businesses fail to achieve their goals due to ineffective implementation. Proper strategic execution requires an in-depth understanding of the business’s goals, functions, resources, and capabilities.
3) Execution
Once you’ve made your plan more granular, it’s time to determine how to effectively execute that plan. This is where those exceptional business habits really shine, as most of the execution phase is habit-driven. Execution includes collecting and documenting data, having regular meetings to communicate progress and challenges, and consistently reevaluating goals to ensure your plan does not become obsolete.
Align provides tools for reporting and updating metrics and KPIs (key performance indicators), including customizable dashboards that illustrate across-the-board visibility of the various data points.
The software also includes templates for meetings so you can create, run, and debrief on various types of meetings including all-hands huddles, 1:1s, and target check-ins. You can also pull data from the software to create a dashboard of targets in each meeting for easy reference and to ensure everyone has access to the critical information for that meeting.
These tools help ensure your meetings follow a productive structure and do not waste time.
4) Goal Tracking
Goal tracking is arguably the most important part of strategic execution. Without accurate data, there is no way to know how your business is performing. This comprehension of performance allows you to see which aspects of your business are meeting expectations, spot lagging indicators early, and course-correct as needed.
In addition to providing a place to report on metrics and KPIs, Align’s software provides the ability to take a close look into the historical data of these metrics, so that you can accurately track how they are progressing over time.
Align also integrates with other software systems including HubSpot, Salesforce, and Zapier, allowing users to pull data from other sources to save time and ensure accuracy. These integrations enable Align to be a one-stop shop for all levels of goal tracking.
5) Culture
You’ve probably heard of NPS (Net Promoter Score), a benchmark that gauges the satisfaction of your customers with your product or service. But how do you measure satisfaction and motivation on an internal level?
Several businesses use eNPS (Employer Net Promoter Score) as a benchmark to gauge employee satisfaction and check the pulse of their organization’s culture. Having an accurate read on your culture helps build an understanding of your team dynamic and allows you to take steps to ensure team members are happy and motivated.
Align’s eNPS tool allows you to easily create and send a recurring one-question survey to all employees. The software then takes the anonymous responses and turns them into your overall score, your eNPS.
These surveys and other culture tools are great ways to build habits surrounding employee feedback, prompting stronger relationships between management and their teams, promoting honest communication, and creating a culture of transparency.
Time to make your business vision a reality
Good habits are critical for the success of any organization when it comes to building momentum and facilitating a culture of excellence and continuous improvement. When your team is focused on building good habits, you’re more likely to achieve your goals and create a high-performance culture.
Once you start building these habits, across-the-board improvement will follow. If you’re ready to get started, book a demo to learn how Align can help you achieve your high-level goals.
