The IT Alignment Initiative

Our management team at BuildDirect was at a recent 2-day leadership conference called “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits“. I must admit, I was a little skeptical going to that conference. After finishing the conference I can’t say it was anything less that amazing. Our company will definitely be looking back on this as a catalyst that propels us to not only the next level but well beyond that.

I can already see the transformation taking place – both at a senior level, and now being dispersed through the rest of our team. Arguably, our biggest challenge centered around the issue of corporate alignment.

For those people in IT leadership roles in your company, many of you may find yourself floating out there in space somewhere between the various departments. You are trying to juggle priorities and requests from sales, shipping, marketing, finance, and any other department you may have in your company. You may have scarce resources and the idea of more resources may seem like the answer to your problem. It is most likely the easiest solution you see, yet without having IT aligned with the rest of the company, and answer that will simply increase the issues you are facing.

The fact is, no matter how many resources you may have at your disposal, there will always be an IT project queue miles long that seems to get longer every day. So how can you have a meaningful impact in your organization? It all begins with alignment – aligning IT’s goals to the company’s goals. IT needs to support and work towards the same goals and priorities as the rest of the company. Once identified, it becomes much easier to prioritize projects and tasks as they pertain to the overall priorities of the company.