Communicating strategy clearly increases the chances of an organization “winning” by helping people decide where to focus their attention, energy, resources, and capabilities. Unclear communication results in wasted effort from lack of alignment and confusion, which leads to inertia.
David Lancefield
Takeaways of Note:
5 tips to effectively communicating strategy:
Communicate comprehensively – combine the right message with the audience using the most effective medium; listen to responses & refine the communication (or aspects of the strategy)
Make it personal – (1) implement the strategy yourself, (2) describe the new activities, capabilities, & behaviors, (3) tackle nostalgia, fears, or frictions that might hold people back, (4) help people upskill.
Match the message to the moment – series of engaging, dynamic exercises with brevity & clarity: (1) map out the critical or “imprintable” moments, (2) decide messages to emphasize, (3) select tools/assets that best work for the people, moment, & message.
Empower people through transparency – (1) share as much of the strategy as possible and provide information in one place so team can access what they’re interested in, (2) describe how decisions enable the strategy, (3)
communicate progress honestly; share progress & challenges; invite team to contribute ideas, (4) hold back details wisely – only if potential to overwhelm or confuse or to undermine commercial activity, (5) create open channels to share ideas, raise challenges, ask questions.Repeat, listen, and refresh – Strategy needs to evolve, communication needs to be systematic & flexible:
bonus nugget:
For too long, communicating strategy has been an afterthought. Executives have shared long, bombastic documents or withheld critical information and expected people to just “get it.” And it hasn’t worked. Greater external uncertainty, collaboration, employee anxiety, and organizational openness demands a change of approach.