This is a true story. We were asked by the country-head of a company to help his team formulate their strategy and once done, to prepare the strategy document and the corresponding slide deck that would be presented to the country-head's CEO at a later date. All of which we did.
The slide presentation to the CEO was eventually given (by the country-head) and the strategic document handed over. The CEO loved what he saw and the country-head was applauded for his insight and given an additional number of countries to look after (no kidding). And that was to be the end of the story until one of the country-head's management team asked 'what now?' It was a question that the country-head was not expecting, nor one that he was prepared for. 'What do you mean?' he asked of his team member. 'Well, how do we make this document, these slides - in fact the strategy - come alive? How do we make this strategy mean something to the rest of the organization?' she replied. Scratching his head his response was simply to mumble 'I don't know! You do it!' And so the task of making the country's strategy come alive was left to her.
The sad thing is that all too often country-heads or MD's develop strategies and use them simply for their window dressing capabilities (i.e., to show how good the management/leader is). There is never an intention to go the next and most difficult step of making the strategy 'come alive'. If you can not bring your strategy alive and get it to mean something to your employees, it will not happen. If that is the intention - so be it but please call it for what it is - 'fluff'. Making strategies 'come alive' is not easy, but it is essential. Fortunately for the hero in our story - she has us to fall back on.
Yours in execution,
ian
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