Strategic alignment in continuous process improvement

Strategic alignment is a key component of continuous process improvement. Process work usually aims to improve a key measure such as customer retention, employee satisfaction, productivity and efficiency or revenue growth.

However, undertaking process improvement haphazardly can lead to unintended consequences in other parts of the organization and make it difficult to gain buy-in. To avoid “random acts of improvement” and ensure initiatives gain traction and succeed in their objectives, it’s important to link process improvement with organizational strategy.

What is strategic alignment?

Strategic alignment refers to how well business process management (BPM) is linked to organizational objectives. Both the selection and communication of process efforts focus on how improvement initiatives relate to current strategy.

True alignment requires relevant measures that track progress toward organizational goals and identify where to adjust or make changes. Strategic alignment also necessitates that organizations integrate process improvement into strategic planning from the outset. 

Why is alignment essential?

APQC’s 2024 Best Practices In Process Improvement report revealed that around two-thirds of organizations strategically prioritize their process improvement efforts. Strategic alignment boosts the odds of success on two fronts: buy-in from employees and overall organizational prioritization.

According to the survey, 40 percent of organizations find that connecting process improvement opportunities to organizational strategic objectives affects employee participation and buy-in to a large degree, with another 38 percent experiencing at least some increase (Figure 1).

Strategic alignment boosts participation and buy-in

Strategic alignment has an even more obvious impact on how process improvement projects are received overall, with 89 percent of respondents reporting “somewhat” to “much higher” prioritization on those initiatives that are aligned to organizational strategy (Figure 2). 

Strategic alignment increases prioritization

Join us at All Access: BPM Business Process Management 2025 and learn how to identify and improve key processes

How to align improvement with strategy

Process improvement efforts shouldn’t be undertaken in a vacuum. To create true alignment, APQC recommends following a three-step process:

1. Define success
2. Gather input
3. Set targets

Define success

Determine the “why” before the “what.” In other words, understand the underlying or overarching goals of the organization. APQC’s Seven Tenets of Process Management sets out three major components that define strategic alignment for process management: 

• Alignment refers to the integration between the business, organizational strategy and process management.
• Execution refers to a standardized approach to process initiatives using appropriate project management methodologies.
• Strategy is the plan to achieve a specific end-state, goal or objective.

Gather input

To create alignment across all levels of the enterprise, it’s important to gather input and ensure activities contribute to the organizational objectives identified in step one. Obtaining insights from stakeholders and using their feedback to determine evaluation criteria enables the most pressing improvements to rise to the top of the list of improvement priorities.

While seeking input from executive and senior management is an important first step in identifying the high-level goals of your organization, don’t limit strategic planning to the C-suite. Line managers and employees can play a vital role by identifying mission-critical processes and opportunities for improvement within their business units.

Set targets

Use evaluation criteria from step two to set key performance indicators (KPIs). These can include measures such as improved customer experience, lower costs, increased efficiency, broader skillsets for employees or decreased enterprise risk.

Use a value path (Figure 3) to show the connection between the improved process and the business goal. Simply defined, a value path identifies how input x will affect output y, resulting in outcome z (organizational goal). 

Value path example: Improving delivery times

Register for All Access: OPEX Operational Excellence 2025!

Strategic alignment supports overarching purpose and business cohesion

Strategic alignment means that process improvement efforts have an overarching purpose and cohesiveness with the rest of the enterprise. This in turn helps boost employee engagement and organizational commitment to improvement initiatives.

To maximize alignment:

• Take a top-down approach. Start with your organization’s most important current objectives and determine what process improvements can help meet those objectives. It helps to include BPM at the outset in organizational planning sessions and invite line managers to provide insight from their business units to help inform strategy.
• Gather feedback from key stakeholders and process owners to determine areas that are candidates for process improvement. Use their input to determine the relevant criteria for refining and prioritizing key initiatives.
• Set KPIs that will measure whether the improvements are gaining traction and use these to communicate ongoing progress and success. Regular updates allow everyone to feel ownership and help gain buy-in for future process initiatives.
• Continue to evolve strategy to keep up with changing organizational needs and disruptions in the external environment. Remember that the ultimate goal of BPM is continuous improvement, which allows your organization to stay resilient and competitive in an ever-shifting business landscape.

Professional Process Excellence Certification Provided by Inixia in Partnership with PEX Network

Designed for today’s fast-paced, competitive business landscape, this certification signals a deep capability in operational excellence and innovation. It enables professionals to lead process transformation across functions and industries, and become change agents within their organizations. Whether you're advancing your career or strengthening your team’s performance, the Certified Master of Dynamic Process Transformation provides a forward-thinking, results-driven approach to creating sustainable value and long-term success.

Learn More