Strategic Fail

You and your team work your socks off to produce a fantastic Strategic Plan, but it ends up sitting on the shelf, or languishing in the backwaters of your intranet or worse, in the bottom draw.?

Many organisations struggle with creating strategies in the first place. You invest time, mental effort and plan for great things, but the impact once the launch is over and the everyday work resumes, just is not great. Does this ring true to you? ?Strategies that look great on paper, but fail to deliver results are everywhere.?

The root cause? Well. Of course, all roads ultimately lead back to Leadership, but although it’s true it isn’t a helpful comment..... and there are many steps on the road failure! ?

Strategy is delivered by people and to get them on board you have to navigate the maze of culture and values. Alongside that Strategic actions are delivered through tactics and that’s where your Systems and processes come in. ?

One other thing before I forget, a strategy isn’t just a document; it’s a living guide that shapes how people think, act, and prioritise. At its most valuable, it is something you refer to regularly, it’s your guide to making the ‘right’ decisions and equally importantly what not to do.?

If you can link every decision, you make back to helping deliver the Strategy of the business you will (in theory) be never wrong and ultimately a superstar.?

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The Challenge: Aligning Culture, Communication, and Competence (CCC)?

Without the right culture, supported by systematic communication and skills development, even the best strategies will?stall. People often default to what they’ve always done and how they have done it. Initiatives lose momentum, new shiny initiatives start and lots of activity potentially result in little or slow progress.?

When these CCC elements are misaligned, you get:?

• Teams unsure of how their work connects to strategic goals.?

• Communication breakdowns that lead to silos and misdirection.?

• A lack of the right skills or confidence to execute effectively.?

• Initial enthusiasm turning into initiative overload and then apathy. ?

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Step 1: Connect Strategy to People?

The first step in delivering your strategy is creating a culture where people feel engaged, empowered, and aligned with the vision.?

How to align culture with strategy:?

1 - Communicate relentlessly Help people understand why the strategy matters and how it benefits them. Make it clear how their role contributes to success. Again and again and again. Most strategies fail to make an impact because they get forgotten. People are busy and things move on.?

2 - Develop competence. Invest in training and resources that give teams the skills they need to execute the strategy confidently. If the strategy is wanting change you have to tool people up to deliver it. It’s twee to say but if you want to a business to grow people need to grow with it and a growth mindset really helps!?

3 - Model and reinforce behaviours. Firstly, know what they are, absolutely no more than three behaviours to live by. Say: Courage, Open and Respect. These become the core of your culture. Then live them, celebrate them and call out poor behaviour.?

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Step 2: Connect Strategy to Systems?

A strategy will only succeed when it’s part of how the daily work gets done. These are the tactics for delivery, your strategic initiatives and the power house for Strategic Progress. ?Often processes work actively against Strategic aims. EG. We want to be more innovative but our processes ensure drive risk management and mitigation. Processes will always win because fighting against a process is usually harder than compliance and certainly riskier for the individual who didn’t follow the ‘rules’.?

?How to make strategy part of everyday work:?

1 - Embed it in operating processes. Align strategic goals with team routines, decision-making frameworks, agendas and performance reviews.?

2 - Systematic communication. Build clear channels for sharing progress, clarifying priorities, and solving challenges together. Relate every piece of internal communication back to some aspect of the business Strategy. If you cannot either your strategy is flawed or what you are doing isn’t helping.?

3 - Track and adapt. Use metrics to monitor progress and adjust plans as needed. What gets measured gets done. Use your creative thinking to enable you to measure anything you want to happen...then automate it. Nothing worse than having to spend two days a month on writing reports.?

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What Success Looks Like?

When culture, communication, and competence are aligned with your strategy, you’ll see:?

• Teams consistently working toward strategic objectives.?

• Cross-functional collaboration and reduced duplication of effort.?

• A motivated workforce equipped to deliver results.?

Your strategy becomes more than just a plan, it becomes the way your business thrives.?

??CTA – Get your Strategic Plan out of the draw or up on the screen and think. Firstly, how you can get your people, team or individuals engaged. Then how your systems and processes need to change to not block but drive things forward.?

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Let Couler Help?

At Couler, we specialise in aligning culture, communication, and systems to make your strategy a success. We offer practical tools, clear processes, and expert guidance to help your business move from planning to execution with confidence.?

In the comments, I’ll share a simple checklist to help you start aligning your strategy with your management systems. It’s a practical first step to success.?