For internal communications professionals, the New Year marks a critical moment for one of your most important objectives: aligning employees with company-wide strategy and goals. This pivotal time offers an opportunity to set the tone for the year ahead and ensure everyone is moving in the same direction.
Goal alignment is at the heart of successful internal communication. When employees understand how their individual contributions support the company’s broader objectives, they become more engaged, motivated, and productive. However, achieving this alignment — particularly in a global, distributed workforce — requires a strategic approach rooted in clear, consistent communication.
By following a structured plan, you can unite your team around a shared vision, creating a strong foundation for success in the year ahead.
Here’s a four-step process to ensure goal alignment across your organization:
Simplify and clarify the strategy
An easily understood company strategy is the foundation of goal alignment. Collaborate with executives to distill the strategy into 3-5 memorable categories or themes that resonate with employees. These themes should act as guideposts for their work throughout the year.
Create a visual representation of these goals that can be used consistently across town halls and communications throughout the year. This visual ensures everyone stays aligned and maintains focus on the company’s priorities.
Communicate the goals effectively
Once the strategy is simplified, focus on sharing it across the organization. Kick off the year with a town hall where leadership can present the company’s strategy and goals. This live setting allows employees to hear directly from executives, ask questions, and emotionally connect with the vision.
After the town hall, follow up with a comprehensive communication plan. Share a recap that includes visuals, key points, and video snippets of executives presenting the strategy.
Next, cascade the strategy to departments. Create videos of department leaders explaining their specific goals and how they contribute to the company’s overall objectives. This step helps employees see how their roles are directly connected to organizational success. Ensure these materials are easily accessible on your intranet, mobile platforms, or other centralized resources.
Equip managers with clear instructions and resources to help them communicate and reinforce goals with their teams. Include performance-focused guidance to ensure employees understand how their efforts contribute to the strategy.
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Reinforce goals year-round
Goal alignment isn’t achieved through a single meeting or memo — it requires ongoing effort. Build regular updates into existing communication channels like newsletters, team meetings, and employee recognition programs.
Celebrate success stories that demonstrate how employees are contributing to the strategy. These stories make the goals relatable and inspire pride and ownership. Regular reminders and progress updates ensure the goals remain top of mind, helping employees stay focused and aligned.
Also, don’t overlook your middle managers — they are essential to effective strategy communication. As key links between leadership and employees, they translate overarching strategies into actionable team and individual goals. To support their success, ensure they are aligned with the broader vision and equipped to guide their teams through regular check-ins. By providing clarity, addressing concerns, and fostering alignment, middle managers play a critical role in keeping teams focused, engaged, and on track.
Use omni-channel communication
Desk-based employees are inundated with messages daily, making it easy for critical updates, like an email or town hall mention of the annual strategy, to get lost in the shuffle. Meanwhile, over 80% of the workforce — often deskless — may not receive these updates at all due to limited access to traditional communication channels.
Yet, aligning employees with your company’s strategy is vital to achieving goals, fostering engagement, and giving individuals a clear sense of purpose. To bridge this gap, adopting an omni-channel approach ensures your strategy reaches every employee, no matter where or how they work.
Start by introducing goals during a town hall — streaming it on mobile devices and digital signage to ensure accessibility. Follow up using an intelligent communication platform like Firstup to distribute updates across multiple channels: email, mobile, and integrations with tools like Microsoft Teams or Salesforce. This approach ensures your message cuts through the noise and reaches employees wherever they spend the most time.
“The functionality of the Firstup platform offers Sheppard Pratt the opportunity to target employees by role and location, and to be able to serve up our content, systems, and resources in a way that’s truly meant for each individual employee personally.”
–Tamara Chumley, Strategic & Operational Commmunications, Sheppard Pratt
Why alignment matters
When employees feel connected to the company’s strategy, they understand their purpose and role within the organization. This clarity drives engagement, enhances performance, and creates a unified workforce committed to shared success.
By simplifying the strategy, communicating it effectively, and reinforcing it year-round, your organization can achieve meaningful alignment that delivers results. Remember, goal alignment isn’t a one-time task — it’s a continuous effort that strengthens your company’s foundation for success.
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