ENLIGNMENT NEWS

For immediate release

Aligning Business Relationships with Agreements
Enlignment, Inc., Launches New Business

Monday, December 21, 2004, Cambrige MA—If you ask most business owners what one of their biggest challenges is, the majority would answer "getting all my people to move in the same direction so we can keep customers satisfied."

In today's hyper-competitive environment, and with the challenges presented by the economy, only the companies who can most effectively manage their intra-company relationships will succeed in keeping and expanding their customer base.

For many organizations, the internal stressors can hinder optimal performance, losing profits in "conflict leaks." There are often both open and hidden conflicts among managers that drain time and resources. People may not be listening, or communicating honestly or effectively, and not following through on commitments. In order to move forward, companies need alignment of people AND their efforts through more direct and constructive relationships. Building stronger and more effective relationships and aligning them with the agreements that people make provide a strong platform for the company to move forward successfully and profitably.

"We founded Enlignment, Inc. to work with leaders in both family businesses and corporations to create environments where relationships and communications are truly aligned with agreements," said Miriam Hawley, CEO of Enlignment.

This is accomplished through Enlignment's 5-step process, which includes: Listening, Assessing, Mapping, Planning, and Coaching. The process takes into account key factors that hinder working relationships. In organizations, people listen predominantly for quick solutions and actions, often missing the whole message and thereby ignoring the implications essential to fully realize decisions and plans. Listening for what people need in a conflict instead of just what to do can often make a profound difference.

The process evaluates the relationships, the acknowledged and unacknowledged power dynamics, and the accountabilities within the organization. The individual issues are distinguished from the organizational issues. The process of mapping the interrelationships between the two types of issues highlights and illustrates the areas that need attention. Then the real disconnects in communication, agreements and behavior can be mapped and leaders can then determine the actions necessary to effectively address them.

The result is an action plan, which includes strategies and priorities, agreements tied to timetables, accountabilities, a feedback cycle and acknowledgements. Each plan's design attends to the specific ways relationships will be either altered or refocused in order to deliver on organizational agreements.

"When all is said and done, research has consistently indicates that organizational problems are most frequently a result of what is and isn't happening between the human beings in a company, rather than operational or product or service issues," said Jeffrey McIntyre, President of Enlignment. "Our mission is to inspire and assist leaders and their teams to build robust relationships that drive the organization's results."

In keeping with the relationship driven approach, the company is also announcing a new workshop to be held on February 12th in Ashland, MA called "The Balancing Act of Executive Couples: Managing Your Relationship, Your Business and Your Life." (For more information go to www.enlignment.com/news.)

This program is an outgrowth of Enlignment's ongoing research on successful business couples. There is a phenomenon, derived from the interplay of numerous social forces throughout the last thirty years, which is recognized as the emergence of co-preneurial (couples partnering in self-employment ventures), co-executive (executive couples who own or work with different companies), and co-professional (professional couples in the same or different professions) couples.

Although co-preneurial couples make up on the fastest growing sector of family businesses, data on these business owners is often difficult to locate. Estimates from late 1990's surveys and the 1997 U.S. Census put the total of couple-owned or couple-managed U.S. businesses at roughly 2 million. The Internal Revenue Service shows a jump in male/female-owned companies from 433,000 to nearly 750,000 from 1986 to 1997. A 1998 Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine article using IRS data on joint male-female owned businesses reported 800,000 co-preneurial couples.

The seminar will focus on helping business couples balance their personal and professional lives in ways that will enhance their success and enjoyment of both. In effect, the program will provide tools and actions to prevent the business portion of their lives from overtaking the personal.

For more information on Enlignment, Inc. and their upcoming programs, please visit www.enlignment.com.