Strategic alignment and the challenge of visionary leadership
By: Dr. Begüm Bilgin, Prof. Dr. Daan van Knippenberg , Associate Prof. Inga Hoever, Dr. Jing Wu and Dr. Marco de Haas.
Organizations benefit from a strategic vision only if it is actually acted upon. But building alignment around a strategic vision poses a challenge. Our research “Visionary Leadership and the Pursuit of Organizational Visions” identifies a fundamental cause for this. Because while visionary leadership is essential for building alignment among employees throughout the organization, it is less effective when carried out by leaders at lower levels.
The hierarchical challenge of visionary leadership
Although the vision typically comes from the CEO and top management team, spreading the vision throughout all levels of the organization is crucial to unite everyone around a common goal. Visionary leadership to support the strategic vision throughout the organization is thus important. This relies on a collective effort by management at all levels. However, our research reveals an important challenge: the impact of visionary leadership on strategic alignment and thus strategy implementation diminishes the lower one gets in the hierarchy of the organization.
The study, conducted at a European company with more than 1,400 employees across 136 teams based on survey data from The Better Company, found that the effectiveness of visionary leadership is lower the lower down the organizational hierarchy it is. Management at lower levels may be as committed to visionary leadership to support the strategic vision as leaders at higher levels, but their efforts are not as effective as those of managers at higher levels. This difference arises because managers at higher levels are seen as more credible sources of the strategic vision, making their vision communications more impactful.
The role of strategic alignment
Strategic alignment refers to the shared understanding and agreement among team members about the organization’s strategic vision. The study showed that visionary leadership higher in the organization’s hierarchy resulted more strongly in a higher degree of alignment with the CEO’s vision, which then led to a stronger focus on strategy implementation. Conversely, managers at lower levels struggled to achieve the same level of alignment even when they were equally committed to visionary leadership. Their ability to inspire and align teams with the overarching strategic vision is limited by their hierarchical position.
This is partly rooted in human psychology. Visionary leadership is seen as a responsibility of top management. When lower-level managers engage in visionary leadership, it clashes with employees’ perceptions of how leadership should be expressed at different levels.
Addressing the hierarchical divide
The finding that visionary leadership is more effective at higher levels points to a clear solution: senior management must actively support the efforts of lower-level leaders. There is a widespread tendency in organizations for senior management to develop the strategic vision and then turn it over to middle management for implementation. Our research identifies a fundamental reason why this is a mistake. Lower-level leaders need the approval and support of senior management to legitimize their communication efforts around the strategic vision.
Moreover, it is essential not to assume that alignment to the vision and implementation of the vision will happen naturally. Therefore, it is important to actively measure this alignment on a regular basis. Regular reviews and feedback mechanisms can provide valuable insights into how well the strategic vision is understood, embraced and implemented at all levels. By measuring alignment and implementation, organizations can identify gaps and quickly take corrective action so that the strategic vision is effectively integrated into daily operations at all levels within the organizational hierarchy.
Conclusion
Visionary leadership remains a powerful tool for implementing the strategic vision, but its effectiveness is affected by the hierarchical position of the leader in question. Organizations must recognize this dynamic fact and take proactive steps to empower leaders at all levels. By promoting strategic alignment and measuring its implementation, companies can ensure that their strategic vision sticks throughout the organization, stimulating collective action toward the shared vision.
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