Why strategies often fail?

In typical corporate strategy communication session people are brought together, either into a live or virtual session via remote connections. In the session presenter, often CEO, unit head or similar, goes through bunch of slides and at the same time gives a speech which often tends to be longish. Also typical closing for the session is: Do you have any questions? After the session people go back to their desks and continue doing the same tasks in the same way as they have been doing earlier.

What do you think – will the strategy fly or fall in this case?

The presenter expects that after strategy communication session listeners would go, apply and live the strategy and also communicate it to their subordinates, just like that. Often presenter has done the strategy him/herself or at least has been closely involved in making it. Naturally it already is in the DNA of the presenter. Yet, it is a mistake for the presenter to expect that a communication session is enough to make the strategy crystal clear to listeners.

What then usually happens on lower levels of an organization is that a person, typically middle manager or team leader, goes with his/her team through the same slides as the presenter showed. This person may not have fully understood the strategy, let alone he/she has internalized the strategy. It is very unlikely that he/she is able to explain the message behind titles and abbreviations mentioned in the strategy material.

Much too often after communicating strategy on high level people are left alone – there is nobody who would translate the high level strategy to people on practical level, like telling them what does the strategy mean for me and us in practice. This translation needs to happen on every level and in every single department and team within the organization. Any missing link in communication chain from the strategy originator to every receiver in the organization may cause failure in strategy execution.

If translation does not happen and strategy is not made concrete and practical, most probably it will never come to life. People most probably are thinking and interpreting strategy in their own ways. These interpretations may not be fully correct or they may even be totally wrong. In the worst case individuals, teams and even whole departments are going to different directions, like every rower on a boat is rowing in different direction instead of putting all their effort together to make the boat move to the same direction.

It is possible and actually even quite common that concrete actions derived from the strategy are different for each department, team, even individual. If strategy translation is done well, all of them are taking the boat to the same direction – towards the goal of the strategy.