Organizational Assessment
The D.I.AL.O.G. Organizational Instrument
Are all your oars in the water and rowing in right direction?
How do you know?
What if you had a way to pinpoint your internal strengths and weaknesses to achieving your strategic plan?
Successful organizations are continually looking for ways and areas to improve in order to gain a competitive advantage. Two critical questions that are often asked by senior management to assess their organization are:
- How do we know that resources are being properly allocated?
- How can we better utilize our limited resources?
Organizational Alignment
These questions moved us to examine the whole issue of what are the critical elements which contribute to organizational success. As a result of this examination, we discovered that when an organization’s systems and departments are aligned, the greater their success. We know that the interrelationships of processes and departments within an organization are an important element in determining overall success. If the marketing and R&D departments are both strong, but they are not working together, the result will be the identification of products or services that no one wants. By the same token if an organization’s structure does not support its strategy, the organization is out of alignment and the strategy will probably not be achieved. Organizations that learn to identify new relationships between what they do and the results they seek can further increase the gap between themselves and their competitors. This is important in today’s business environment. Constant radical change, uncertainty, new rules and regulations, increased customer demands, and alphabet soup programs proliferate our daily business environment. Your ability to manage it and to thrive under these conditions depends upon how well your organization is aligned.
Misalignment vs. Alignment
What is D.I.AL.O.G.?
D.I.AL.O.G. (Data Indicating Alignment of Organizational Goals) is an assessment tool that provides information as to how well organizational critical elements are working together to achieve business and strategic goals. It also identifies which of these critical elements are working against you. Our approach is unique in that we measure the interrelationships of the essential elements, which become predictors, of future strength. We are not concerned with measuring communication for communications sake, but rather how effectively is an organization communicating to its employees. As such our approach is outcome focused, rather than simply measuring non-relevant activities.
The D.I.AL.O.G. Organizational Instrument
Diagnostic Data
Indicating
Alignment of
Organizational
Goals
Gathering Data
Two methods are utilized in gathering the organizational data: Personal Interviews and a questionnaire survey. Personal interviews are conducted by trained facilitators to gain an understanding of the intensity of feelings within the organization. The survey can be administered via the web. It is used to gather the depth of understanding, and the views of the employees, and to determine directional trends.
Key Activities Include:
- Personal Interviews
- Administration of the D.I.AL.O.G. Instrument
- Scoring of the Responses
- Presentation of the Results
- Discussion of Positive and Negative Influences
- Provide “GAP” Analysis and Directional Recommendations
Key Areas of Interest
There are seven critical areas that are measured. After years of research and validation these seven areas have been found to be those with the greatest impact upon the development of organizational effectiveness. They are also the seven areas that have been identified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and make up the Criteria for Performance Excellence as used in the Baldrige National Quality Program.
Who should consider using D.I.AL.O.G.?
Do any of these symptoms apply to your organization?
- Profitability is slipping
- Customers are defecting
- Employee Turnover is High
- Market Share is Eroding
- Internal Conflict is the order of the day.
- You spend more time reacting to the competition.
- Or the best reason, You aspire to greatness.
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