Why do strategies fail before they even start? The science behind strategy activation

By Gisele Feth and Jesse Vullinghs (PhD)

The first quarter of 2025 is already slipping away. Leadership teams entered the year with bold ambitions��new strategic priorities, aggressive growth targets, and a clear roadmap for success. Yet, as February turns to March, the reality is setting in: execution isn��t keeping pace with expectations.

Despite kick-off meetings, leadership presentations, and company-wide announcements, teams struggle to translate strategy into daily action. Execution slows, alignment weakens, and the momentum from January starts fading.

This isn��t due to poor planning. It��s because most organizations misunderstand what strategy activation actually requires. They assume that once the plan is communicated, execution will follow automatically. They rely on cascading objectives, performance dashboards, and leadership mandates��expecting alignment to happen from the top down.

But strategy doesn��t live in slides, emails, or dashboards. It lives in daily decisions, behaviors, and interactions across the organization. Without the right conditions, even the most well-crafted strategy will stall.

The missing link? Organisational culture and wellbeing.

These aren��t HR buzzwords��they are the scientifically proven levers of execution. Research has shown that companies with a strong, aligned culture and a work environment that fuels focus, resilience, and motivation consistently outperform those that neglect them.

In this article, we unpack the psychology of strategic engagement, revealing how organizations can move beyond strategy as a statement of intent and turn it into an operating system that drives real results.

The science of strategy activation: how culture and wellbeing drive execution

Behavioural science shows that people don��t engage with a strategy simply because they��re told to. Execution happens when:

1. Employees have a clear vision of the ideal future and believe in this as their north star.??
2. Employees feel psychologically safe��enabling them to take ownership of decisions and drive change.
3. Daily work aligns with company goals in a meaningful way��ensuring every action contributes to the bigger picture.
4. People have the energy, focus, and motivation��because no strategy succeeds in an environment of stress, burnout, and disengagement.

For this to happen, two critical enablers must be in place: culture and wellbeing.

Culture, in theory, refers to a shared system of values, norms, and behaviors that guide decision-making and collaboration within an organization. In practice, it reflects how people actually work (together) - ��this is how we do things around here��. It serves as an invisible force that can either enhance or undermine strong performance. Your culture is shaped and developed daily by your employees. The key question is: how intentionally and consciously are you cultivating it to support your strategy rather than hinder it?

Wellbeing in the workplace is the psychosocial foundation that enables employees to sustain focus, adapt to change, and execute strategy effectively. It encompasses physical energy, mental clarity, emotional resilience, and a psychologically safe environment��all of which influence decision-making, collaboration, and engagement. Research consistently shows that stressed, disconnected teams struggle to align with strategic goals, while those with high wellbeing are more agile, innovative, and committed to execution.

Without intentional investment in culture and wellbeing, companies face misalignment, resistance to change, and low engagement��all of which sabotage strategy execution.

The psychology of strategic engagement

Research from cognitive psychology and organizational behaviour provides clear insights into why strategy activation often fails.

• Psychological safety and execution: Studies from Harvard��s Amy Edmondson show that organisations with high psychological safety see better execution because employees feel empowered to take risks, challenge inefficiencies, and adapt strategy as needed.
• Purpose-driven motivation: According to Self-Determination Theory, people engage more deeply when they understand the why behind their work. Without clear cultural alignment, strategic objectives feel disconnected from daily work.
• Cognitive overload and resistance to change: Research demonstrates that the brain is wired to resist change when overwhelmed. Stress and uncertainty��common in fast-moving organizations��trigger defensive behaviours that make execution difficult.

The takeaway? For a strategy to succeed, organizations must create an environment where execution is intuitive, energizing, and culturally embedded.

Why traditional strategy activation falls short

Most companies still rely on outdated methods for rolling out their strategy. Common pitfalls include:

• Top-down communication with no grassroots activation��assuming alignment happens automatically.
• One-off workshops that create short-term engagement but fade quickly��failing to create sustained behavioural shifts.
• KPI-driven execution that focuses on outputs rather than alignment��treating strategy as a measurement exercise rather than an operational transformation.

These approaches fail because they do not engage employees on a behavioural and psychological level. Alignment is not a memo��it is a process that requires constant reinforcement, cultural adaptation, and employee-driven activation. It demands intentionality.?

The proven formula: aligning wellbeing, culture, and strategy execution

Organizations that successfully activate their strategy do three things differently:

1. Transforming strategic goals into daily team behaviors

A strategy is only as strong as the behaviors it drives. Companies need structured processes to ensure that strategic priorities become embedded in daily decision-making. This means:

• Clarifying how each role contributes to the strategy so employees can see their direct impact.
• Creating rituals and norms that reinforce strategic behaviors (e.g., feedback loops, structured problem-solving sessions, and real-time coaching).
• Enabling middle managers to act as catalysts��because execution happens at the team level, not the C-suite.

2. Creating psychological safety and engagement

A strategy that requires employees to "just comply" is doomed to fail. Execution improves when teams:

• Feel safe to question, iterate, and adapt the plan without fear of blame.
• Have structured opportunities to provide feedback��ensuring alignment between strategic intent and operational reality.
• Experience an inclusive culture where they are empowered to lead change rather than being passive recipients of directives.

3. Embedding wellbeing as a performance driver

Companies often treat wellbeing as a separate initiative from business performance. But data shows that high-performing teams are also high-wellbeing teams. Sustainable strategy execution requires:

• Balancing performance expectations with energy management��ensuring that employees have the focus and resilience to deliver.
• Eliminating friction points that create burnout and disengagement��such as unclear priorities, information overload, and lack of support structures.
• Integrating wellbeing into leadership and team dynamics��When managers and their teams prioritize wellbeing through supportive leadership, workload balance, and open communication, employees build resilience and sustain high performance.?

4. Aligning culture with strategy to drive behavior

A well-defined Culture Strategy specifies the expected behaviors, attitudes, and dos and don��ts required to bridge strategy and execution. Companies excel when they:

• Align culture with strategy, ensuring that managers and team members follow the same one North-Star vision.
• Provide a behavioral framework that empowers teams to act consistently toward strategic goals.
• Use culture as a powerful tool to drive accountability, collaboration, and sustained success.

Technology-enabled, human-driven: How Dimpr & CultureCode make it happen

Many organizations lack the systems and tools necessary to track, reinforce, and adapt strategy activation in real-time. This is where Dimpr & CultureCode come into play.

From our experience, we know that even the best strategies can fail if the environment isn't conducive to nurturing them. We facilitate the co-design of journeys where teams and leadership collaborate to map out and define the ideal culture and work experience needed to bring the strategic vision to life.

Dimpr & CultureCode provide a science-backed and data-driven approach that moves beyond static strategy rollouts by:

• Conducting co-design workshops that ensure teams aren't just following a guide but are actively engaged as co-creators, holding themselves accountable for implementation.
• Using real-time data to track cultural alignment and engagement��ensuring that the intangible aspects of culture and wellbeing are measurable and set to drive strategy execution.
• Transforming strategy into team-level behaviours and decision-making frameworks��bridging the gap between vision and action.
• Ensuring continuous activation��creating structured reinforcement mechanisms rather than relying on one-time interventions.

By blending behavioural science with technology, organizations can close the gap between strategy and execution��ensuring that 2025 goals translate into real results.

2025 is here - will your strategy be successfully activated?

Most strategies fail not because they were poorly designed, but because they were never truly activated. Success requires more than vision��it demands an operating environment where alignment is natural, engagement is high, and execution is seamless.

This year, don��t just set goals; embed them into the DNA of your organization.

Dimpr and CultureCode can be your partner to turn strategic intent into reality. Let��s make 2025 the year your strategy delivers.

Let��s activate it.