How to keep strategy alive? Make your story physical, visual & visible

Tell me about your strategy. Where is your company going? Give me an elevator pitch! If you are one of the developers of that strategy, you probably will be able to. But can all your teammates????

We tend to put down strategies into long written documents, we PDF them and we post them in a shared folder, in the cloud. “That way, everybody will have access to it." But, will they??

The other day I went to this workshop. During the break time, Alwin Bakker, Business Manager at Louwman & Parqui, and I sat in the sun on an outside terrace. There he shared something that made him wonder. After introducing and implementing a new strategy, he felt the challenge was to keep it top of mind for all parties involved. It was centrally documented and accessible for every employee, but “still I think it gradually loses attention” he said.?

“It also pops up when onboarding new people.?“How to get the message across in such a way that it is easy to understand”

That was not the first time I heard it. The "strategy document" has a problem: what people really want to say, what the strategy really means, is written between the lines. And sharing a strategy is key. When we share a strategy, we all focus on the same goal and work on the same route to get there as one team. ??

What people really want to say, what the strategy really means, is written between the lines.

Sometimes, storing a strategy as a document on a cloud makes it get lost. It is reduced to a year event, blurred into each person’s interpretation, and used only by the people who created it.?

But what if we could keep that strategy alive, get everybody to share the same story, and infect new people so we all use it? Well, that’s possible, and here is how:

Step 1 - Forget about the PDF.?

Have the directors set the boundaries and the framework to remind us all of what is important. Then involve everybody to create that path and that sense of direction. ??

Step 2 - Create a visible result. ???

Strategy is something you should touch. You can share thoughts and explanations, but that text disappears the moment you stop talking. But if you make it visible and physical, something you can touch, it becomes real, palpable, reachable; something you can actually work with.

Strategy is something you should touch.

Step 3 - Hang it up!?

Hang up this physical result for everybody to see. If it is in everyone’s sight, it becomes a constant reminder. Also, it makes new people curious and gives the chance to those who know to share about it. That works really really well on an informal level (a.k.a. successful organic onboarding!). ????

Find your story and make it physical, visual & visible to keep strategy alive. Share THE route, engage your people and smoothly onboard new team members! ??

Don't know where to start? Let us help!

We can do this FOR you. ?? Contact us at?[email protected] or +31630418873.

Or learn how to do it! ?????? We have an excellent training called Extreme Clarity Communication Course. Join our free workshop and come experience this yourself!

Did you know that we also give training in-company? ?? Judith is here to give you more info! ?????[email protected] or +31630418873.