As a young manager in multinational businesses in the first decade of my own career, I witnessed many senior leadership presentations about strategy. These might be about changes in strategy, or 'strategic change', or about the need for 'transformation', or about this year's results and how we would set about achieving audacious financial goals. I am sure you are all familiar with the territory, whether you are at an early stage in your career, or if you are a senior leader who has to deliver these presentations, or if you are an HR leader who has to somehow disseminate the strategic narrative throughout a large organization.
Strategy and business planning can be quite cerebral, and it is analytical. People who work on strategies tend towards being analytically strong. That is desirable. There is a need for financial and operational rigor when it comes to developing plans for the future of any organization. However, the thinking about communicating and implementing strategy can sometimes be slightly linear. I once asked a VP of strategy in a global business what 'implementing strategy' meant to her and her reply was, 'everyone just doing everything that's in the spreadsheet'. This is a very reasonable attitude, albeit a little presumptuous and mechanistic.
When leaders communicate these plans to people, what can sometimes be missing is, first of all, a shared understanding of exactly what these plans really mean in practice, and, secondly, compelling ways of putting business strategies or plans across which resonate with people, and inspire them to take action. Numbers - especially big numbers - can be inspiring to people, sure. This is more likely if they have some very direct personal incentives to achieve audacious and quantifiable targets.
Even then, many people need help to read between the lines of numbers, financial projections, product roadmaps, strategic plans and so on. They may need to get a felt-sense of what these things all mean to them personally, to their own leaders, to the organization, even to the world. This may be especially true given the existential challenges the world appears to face. Doubling your revenue by a given (often arbitrary) date is potentially exciting, if you believe it also contributes to a better, happier future, at the very least for you, if not also the communities that you live and work in.
It is generally helpful for leaders and managers at every level of an organization not just to know the strategy, or its key pillars. It also really helps if they know what it really means to them and their own teams, and if they can articulate this in their own words, unaided, in a way that has both practical substance, and an emotional impact.
The ability to use story-telling skills to bring strategy to life is not something organizations should take for granted. I have lost count of the number of times I have asked groups of managers and leaders what their organization's strategy is, only to be met with a) prolonged silence (which can reflect a degree of apathy) followed by surreptitious online searches, or b) debate and disagreement, or c) just some parroting of something they saw in some slides in a townhall meeting, or just d) total confusion.
Teaching people in a safe and non-judgmental environment how to turn the organization's strategic priorities into a meaningful story is relatively quick and simple, and it can have very significant benefits. For a start, unless everyone understands why certain choices are being made, in terms of products being developed, or markets being prioritized, it seems unlikely that there will total commitment to executing these choices well. It is also fair to say that unless people feel that strategy does somehow affect them, emotionally as well as as practically, it will remain at the level of intent, and it may not seep into the everyday rhymes and rhythms of the business.
Much of the work that needs to be done with leaders and managers in this regard is about letting go of the usual approach to business communication, which can be understandably dry. Even the Ted talk style can end up seeming more like a stage-managed pitch than genuine and heartfelt translation of strategy into everyday language. Many executives just need time, guidance, and space to try out more personal and creative ways to communicate about strategy, and receive feedback from their peers. This is where they also get to practice an important aspect of that elusive and mysterious-sounding feature of leadership, called 'executive presence'.
Developing a teachable, and flexible, leadership point of view, which is anchored in a shared view of the organization's strategy, is a critical step towards achieving ambitious goals, and fulfilling corporate purpose. If your leaders do not find this easy or natural, then it may be time to give them an opportunity to develop this skill. The overarching question all of your managers and leaders should have a compelling, concise, non-scripted, PowerPoint-free, personal yet consistent enough answer to, for their own teams, is, 'What's our company's strategy and how can we contribute to its success?'.
PROGRAMME OUTLINE - CUSTOMISABLE FOR WORKSHOPS IN PERSON OR VIRTUAL
DEVELOPING A LEADERSHIP POINT OF VIEW: ACTIVATING STRATEGY WITH EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP COMMUNICATION
For future leaders, middle managers, and senior leaders.
Targeted business outcomes: faster and more powerful strategy execution and alignment, improved employee engagement and retention.
- Create a leadership point of view which is personal and authentic, while also reflecting
the strategic priorities of the business.
- Go beyond ordinary ways of communicating strategies and plans to teams.
- Engage head and heart through use of metaphor, imagery, and examples.
- Create stories which can be used in different settings to inspire results and motivate
teams.
- Build a shared vision within teams and whole organizations.
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