Connecting People to Strategy
By Ron Cox, CEO, Tailwind
Excellence in execution has been the number one issue put forth by CEO’s worldwide for several years running. People execute strategy,
yet many companies struggle with connecting their people to their strategy. Is it just me, or is there a strong correlation here?
In a recent article, we identified four key barriers to connecting your people to your strategy and made recommendations for how to overcome them. The four barriers we identified are:
1) The strategy is not clear, focused and “connectable”
2) There is a lack of consensus across senior management
3) Strategy is not translated at the individual level
4) The organization is not completely aligned around the strategy.
These four go hand in hand, but the long pole in the tent is number 3, translating strategy at the individual level. It is the key enabler for connecting people to the strategy. It is also the bridge between the strategic intent at the top and the alignment in the rest of the organization.
The interesting thing about translating strategy at the individual level is that your people will do it, with or without your help. In some cases I’ve heard senior executives refer to this as, “…doing their own version of God’s work,” where their people are nowhere near being on the same page.
Translating strategy is a process that can be planned and managed to consistently deliver quality results. Done well, it enables executives and managers at all levels of the organization to convert the strategy into their own plans that are both clear and focused. Our experience has been that, with the right tools and support, managers at any level in the organization can do a great job of translating the company’s strategy so that they can connect to it, personally own it, and drive its execution.