Submitted by the NAVAIR Command Staff Office

Remember the last time you had your car’s front end aligned? Maybe you winced when you heard the quote from the auto shop manager, or felt a little guilty when the mechanic pointed out the irregular wear on your tires. Lately you’d noticed that the car had been pulling a little to the left (or right) but otherwise seemed to be running fine. You told yourself that an alignment was no big deal, that it wasn’t worth the time or the money, that you could go another 1,000 miles, no sweat. But that little voice of reason you’d been ignoring finally convinced you to take in Old Faithful for a check up. And once the car was back in alignment, you marveled at the smooth, straight and level ride. “Why did I wait so long to get this done?”, you may have asked yourself. Good question.

Just what does it mean for an organization to be aligned? When an organization is aligned, every member understands the mission, or “main thing” that the organization is trying to accomplish. Processes are streamlined to be as cost-efficient, and service-efficient as possible. Performance is rewarded commensurate with clearly defined standards and expectations. Results are measured, and those results are used to refine in-place processes, delete outmoded processes, and innovate new processes – so the machines of your business ride straight and level.

Alignment ties together the four critical components of every organization: People, Strategy, Processes, and Service. When an organization is Vertically Aligned, the People understand the organization-wide goals (Strategy) and their role in achieving them. Every person in the organization can articulate the broader strategy and how his or her work is connected to it. Horizontal Alignment refers to the relationship between the Customer and the Processes the organization uses to satisfy the customer. Customer requirements are linked directly to the way the organization does business. When an organization is Horizontally Aligned, its employees understand the customer’s requirements so that they work on the “right things” – the stuff that matters to the customer. With both vertical and horizontal dimensions aligned, the organization’s strategy and its people are synchronized with customer focus and process capabilities. Alignment is a constant battle, given the many changes every organization endures, and it can only be achieved by the perpetual, committed involvement of leadership.

Vice Admiral Walter Massenburg, Commander of the Naval Air Systems Command, is spearheading an initiative to assess the organizational alignment of NAVAIR. The goal is to establish a baseline assessment of how the many components of NAVAIR function – both independently and interdependently, within the Naval Aviation Enterprise and Navy at large. With this understanding, headquarters and business managers at all levels within NAVAIR will be tasked to streamline their business processes in order to improve performance and save money needed to fund the Naval Aviation Enterprise of tomorrow. The assessment will officially kick-off on in late October and will be distributed electronically (hard copy for those employees without a computer), to all military and civil service NAVAIR employees. Genesys Solutions, an independent business management-consulting firm, has been hired to conduct the assessment for NAVAIR.

Some of the questions on the assessment are similar to those you may have already answered on a separate Quality of Worklife assessment. That’s so NAVAIR can compare your response today to what you said before, to see if progress is being made toward improvement. Remember, this initial Alignment Assessment will be used by NAVAIR to determine the state of the organization as it stands today. Based on the results, action plans will be implemented to start fixing the parts of the NAVAIR machine that are out of alignment. Within a year, another assessment will be conducted to gauge improvement and further refine the action plans already in place.

NAVAIR’s initiative is aligned with the operational strategy of ADM Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations. One of ADM Clark’s imperatives is that the Navy “speak one message with many voices across the entire organization”. With this assessment, NAVAIR begins the process of speaking one voice and moves positively toward a more complete understanding of its own functionality within the Naval Aviation Enterprise and the Navy.

NAVAIR might be pulling a little left or right these days…but that’s okay. No organization is ever in perfect alignment. But the truly great organization is one that takes the time to look at itself with a critical eye, make hard changes, and improve its processes so it can provide the best support to its customers at the least cost. This Alignment Assessment is your chance to make that happen in support of the greatest enterprise since the Wright brothers flew 120 feet in 12 seconds - Navy Air.