The Strategy Imperative – Clarity in Communication
Great leaders make decisions, set priorities, and chart a clear path toward a concrete goal.
I’ve been studying strategy for years, reading about all the latest frameworks for effective business leadership. I’m fascinated by a recurring theme that can stall even the best strategic plan – communication missteps.
In his HBR article, Lean Strategy Making, Michael Mankin outlines a robust framework for standardizing the approach to strategy making. After walking through the early steps of defining ambitions, challenges, strategic priorities, and accountability, he gets to communication, saying, “It’s surprising how often strategy goes off the rails at this juncture.” Why?
“In many companies, it’s difficult to determine precisely what leaders have decided to do – let alone what they have chosen not to do. After a typical board strategy review, answers to key strategic questions often remain unclear, or open to interpretation.”
The link between strategy and performance is communication.
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.“
-Michael Porter
How to effectively translate strategy
Strategy needs to be articulated in a clear, explicit statement of the strategic priorities, including the context in which choices were made, the alternatives considered, and a firm commitment to the choices made.
How to do this in a busy, complex organization?
First, avoid abstraction. It’s tempting for leaders to deliver grand visions for the future. As Mankins notes, “In many companies, strategy resembles an elaborate description of a desired end state, without a clear path for getting there.”
An abstract strategy can’t be translated into action.
“Without a clear sense of where the company is headed and why, lower levels in the organization cannot put in place executable plans. In short, the link between strategy and performance can’t be drawn because the strategy itself is not sufficiently concrete,” notes Mankins.
Vision can be abstract; strategy must be concrete.
At many companies, strategy is a highly abstract concept—often confused with vision or aspiration—and is not something that can be easily communicated or translated into action.
This is the task of leaders – translating the vision into strategy into action.
Define how the vision will be achieved. What actions will be stopped, continued or started? Why? How do the strategic priorities and actions logically connect to a desired future?
Clarity creates alignment
Many leaders think they’ve communicated, but they haven’t really.
Poor communication = poor alignment.
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.”
-George Bernard Shaw
We’ll get to more on the “how” of communicating strategy in the next post.