Does Your Team Know Your Strategy?

To give you the best chance of achieving your ambition, everyone on your team, from the top down, should understand the “what” as well as the “why”. With this understanding, team members can connect their individual contributions to the bigger picture. This understanding ignites motivation and increases confidence in the company. 

Despite the importance of understanding your company strategy, a 2015 study by McKinsey consultants found that only 34% of Directors admitted to fully understanding theirs. And compared with the rest of the company, Directors are doing well. According to Harvard Professors Kaplan and Norton only 5% of total employees understand their company strategy. That is largely because, while it is pretty easy to share a strategy – a quick mention in a townhall or company-wide email isn’t enough. Ensuring everybody actually understands it takes work.

On the other hand, and in the case of the 66% of Directors in the McKinsey study, failing to understand the strategy comes with unwanted challenges. James Schoen, co-founder of Trumbug, has seen this firsthand in some of his previous corporate roles, noting that a lack of common understanding “causes frustration and inefficiency. It’s crucial to have clear priorities and a well-understood strategy to avoid these issues.”

So if our north star is that everyone understands the strategy, how do we do it? Here are some ideas:

Townhalls and company meetings are a good starting point, but they are the bare minimum. They are a great way to bring everyone together and introduce the strategy in a clear and personal way. Leaders must share the “what” and “why”, and make the session exciting and memorable. A lack of passion and good storytelling at this stage will kill off any chances to get your organization aligned.

Your people need to see your strategy often, so make sure it is always visible. You can use posters, screensavers, or even display it on screens in common areas like the cafeteria. The idea is that people should see the strategy often enough that it becomes second nature. In fact, a “lack of repetition” is the “number one challenge that people that created good strategy have,” according to Stukent founder Stu Draper. He continues “If you have key initiatives for your strategy, those key initiatives need to be on the wall in every department’s office.” Just like repeating a favorite song helps you remember the lyrics, seeing the strategy regularly will help everyone keep it in mind as they go about their daily work. Remember, repetition doesn’t spoil the prayer!

Keep the conversation going by having leaders talk about the strategy regularly. This means giving updates on how things are progressing and what steps are being taken to achieve the strategic ambition. Share what is going well, where the team is struggling, celebrate recent initiative wins together. When leaders consistently communicate about the strategy, it shows that it’s a living part of the organization, not just a one-time announcement. This ongoing dialogue helps keep everyone informed and engaged, enabling the strategy to remain on track and actually make a difference.

Use stratuma to develop a ready-to-share strategy on a page, and to facilitate constant progress updates to ensure you can bring your ambition to life.