thoughtLEADERS/Mike Figliuolo: Overcoming Strategy Communication Pitfalls

Leadership, Communications, Strategy, and Operations
Taught by Dynamic Practitioners
thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World

Overcoming Strategy Communication Pitfalls
By Mike Figliuolo  October 30, 2017 No Comments

Books, Communications, Guest Blogger, Leadership, Strategy

AddThis Sharing Buttons
Share to LinkedInShare to TwitterShare to Google+Share to FacebookShare to EmailShare to More

Communicating with Two Tin Cans and a String

Strategy execution is still a relatively new topic in business and leaders struggle how to do it. They face many execution challenges and the top one is communicating the strategy. If you understand the most common pitfalls in communication, hopefully you can avoid them.

Today’s post is by Robin Speculand, author of Excellence in Execution (CLICK HERE to get your copy).

What are your preferences?

    Apple or Galaxy phones?
    Working in the morning or at night?
    Tea or coffee?
    Work alone or in a group?
    Window or aisle seat on the plane?

Just as everyone will answer these questions based on their own preferences, people have their own ways of answering the call to executing a new strategy. Leaders who achieve excellence in execution recognize this as they prepare to communicate a new strategy. They consider how to respond to people’s different preferences and strive to create the right first impression. Consider that you never get a second chance to start a good execution.

As an essential business topic, strategy execution is in its infancy. Yet it’s quickly evolving as leaders demand more knowledge, structure and resources on how to achieve it. When they address how to execute strategy, it’s not always with the same energy, drive and conviction they applied to crafting it. Often, they’re missing the skills and tools needed to excel in their execution efforts.

A leadership team doesn’t walk into a conference room and declare, “Let’s create a bad strategy!” Although they believe they have crafted a winning strategy by the end of the planning, they only know if it’s good once it’s executed.

Each step of your implementation journey creates an opportunity to dramatically improve employee engagement, culture, performance and profits. As a leader, you can seize this phenomenal opportunity by recognizing why execution has previously failed and what needs to happen differently to succeed. You can then lead the organization through the journey, delivering on strategy promises to customers and stakeholders along the way. By crafting a winning strategy and achieving excellence in execution, you have a powerful business differentiator over your competitors and the payoff for everyone is tremendous.

And the number one reason why strategy execution fails, from our recent research, is poor communication.

Given that most employees are unable to explain even the broad strokes of their organization’s strategy, the current communication approach doesn’t work. Here are the most common pitfalls to avoid:

Pitfall #1: Relying on town hall meetings and emails

When leaders perceive the goal in execution is only to notify everyone about the new strategy, then they believe holding a town hall meeting or email will suffice. In one example, a regional manager of a medical supplier delivered eight two-hour 160-slide presentations around his region. But when someone in a session asked him a question afterward, he replied, “I showed you that in the presentation.” In this regional manger’s mind, he had explained the strategy and was done.

Many leaders are guilty of communicating across too few mediums. They provide too little information and their people don’t understand why the organization must transform, so they don’t take any new actions.

The aim is not to launch the strategy but to nurture the communications throughout the implementation journey.

Pitfall #2: “Strategy Speak” – Overcomplicating communication

Leaders sometimes overcomplicate what they’re saying, making it hard for people to understand even the simplest message. They have a bad habit of using “strategy speak”—saying popular expressions and giving long explanations rather than speaking simply and directly.

To be effective, leaders communicate the strategy in a way that enables people to understand what’s changing. They explain why transformation is needed and clearly state what people should do differently. They avoid using ambiguous terms that blur the objectives and leave people confused about what actions to take.

Pitfall #3: Dumbing down the strategy message

Some leaders dumb down the strategy message when sharing it. This is the opposite of Pitfall #2: “Strategy Speak.” Leaders leave out key messages, arguments and persuasion points. As a result, people lack relevant information to understand why changing strategy is important and lack a desire to participate. Keeping the strategy message clear and straightforward is different than dumbing down the message.

Pitfall #4: Not reinforcing awareness with actions

The awareness efforts fail if leaders are saying one thing and doing something else. Their words have to be aligned with actions that are reinforced. People in the organizations have to not only hear about the transformation from their immediate bosses but see them being consistent in their values and actions.

Pitfall #5: Not communicating a message that inspires

When leaders are preparing the strategy execution message, what they base their main message on doesn’t typically relate with the majority of people’s inspirations. They often talk about market share, client impact and financial performance. With the exception of investment bankers and a few others, most people don’t come to work in the morning feeling passionate about adding shareholder value. They simply aren’t inspired by this kind of language, so they don’t take the new actions required to execute. Rather, they go back to work and keep doing what they were doing. As a result, the execution fails to gain traction.

Leaders have to identify the factors that encourage their people to participate and then speak directly to those factors.

Pitfall #6: Discussing the medium before the message

Commonly, leaders struggle to agree on how a message should be disseminated before they agree what should be said and why. Should we create a website? How many pages should it have? How about a video? What about an email from the CEO? These questions are thrown around, but they distract leaders from communicating the right messages through the right medium to the right audience. Leaders first need to identify what they want people to hear before they discuss ways to share it.

Excellence in Execution
Robin Speculand, author of Excellence in Execution (CLICK HERE to get your copy), is the founder and CEO of Bridges Business Consultancy and creator of the Implementation Hub – the first portal in the world dedicated to strategy implementation featuring over 500 resources. Bridges has worked with governments, multinational corporations, and local organizations across five continents to execute their strategies. For more information, please visit: www.excellenceinexecutionbook.com.

Did you enjoy this post? If so, I highly encourage you to take about 30 seconds to become a regular subscriber to this blog. It’s free, fun, practical, and only a few emails a week (I promise!). SIGN UP HERE to get the thoughtLEADERS blog conveniently delivered right to your inbox!
Leave a Reply

Name

Email

Website

Message

ABOUT thoughtLEADERS

What's In It For YOU? (WIIFY)

Why read this blog? You'll get:
• Practical & pithy articles on leadership, strategy, career, communications & customer service
• Topics affecting your daily work
• Applicable, relevant career tools
• Real-world stories and examples
• Laughs via snarkiness/sarcasm
Your Host: Mike Figliuolo

My bio

Mike is the Founder and Managing Director of thoughtLEADERS, LLC.
He's also the author of One Piece of Paper: The Simple Approach to Powerful, Personal Leadership
You can reach him via email at info@thoughtleadersllc.com

CLICK HERE to read his full bio
About thoughtLEADERS, LLC

We offer training in leadership, communications, strategy and operations. All our courses are hands-on to help you learn to
apply the methods we teach.

We are practitioners of what we teach. You walk away from our classes with practical tools that make you more efficient and effective in your job.
THE LEADERSHIP MATRIX

Take the Leadership Matrix Assessment

CLICK HERE to assess your team on the Leadership Matrix
THE LEADERSHIP MANIFESTO

ChangeThis Leadership Manifesto

CLICK HERE to get your free ChangeThis Leadership Manifesto
Books You MUST Read

Leading the Leaders
One Piece of Paper by Mike Figliuolo
It's Not Rocket Science by Susan Foster
Hijacked by Your Brain by Jon Wortmann
The Littlest Green Beret by Jan Rutherford
Big PHAT Goals
Moxie by John Baldoni
Lead with a Story by Paul Smith
Mastering Communication at Work by Jon Wortmann
Say it with Charts by Gene Zelazny
Lead With a Story on Audible
Innovative Leadership Fieldbook by Maureen Metcalf
Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi
Lead Inside the Box by Victor Prince and Mike Figliuolo
The Elegant Pitch
Three Commitments of Leadership by Jon Wortmann
The Hollywood MBA
Innovative Leaders Guide to Transforming Organizations
The Speaker's Edge

    The Elegant Pitch
    Big PHAT Goals
    The Speaker’s Edge
    Leading the Leaders
    The Hollywood MBA
    Small Acts of Leadership
    It’s Not Rocket Science
    MOXIE

Announcements
We've reached 6,500 readers &
48,000 twitter followers!
Thanks for your support!

Subscribe to the blog HERE!

Follow thoughtLEADERS on twitter! Circle us on Google+

"Leading the thinking requires seeing beyond current probabilities to create future possibilities." - Mike Figliuolo Click to tweet this quote

"You are not above any work you have the skills to do. Acting like you are earns you nothing but disdain."
- Mike Figliuolo
Click to tweet this quote

Get a FREE unlimited lynda.com training video trial
lynda.com online training tutorials
Other Stuff You Should Read

    Influence PEOPLE
    Metcalf & Associates
    DiscoveredLOGIC
    Leadership Freak
    Kevin Eikenberry
    Tanveer Naseer
    The Science of Success
    Career Advancement Blog
    Next Level
    Aspire-CS
    Keith Ferrazzi
    Strategic Sense
    MIT Sloan Executive Education
    Self Help Zone
    Lead Change Group

7 day free trial
Try audible.com now and get your first 30 days of the AudibleListener® Gold membership plan free, which includes one audiobook credit. After your 30 day trial, your membership will renew each month for just $14.95 per month so you can continue to receive one audiobook credit per month plus members-only discounts on all audio purchases. Choose from over 100,000 titles.
         
Sign up for free email updates NOW!
It's the best 5 minutes a week you
can spend on your development.
Enter your email address:

Get new posts FREE via RSS!
Google+ Follow thoughtLEADERS on LinkedIn
follow us in Feedly Follow thoughtLEADERS on twitter
Get Your Copy of Mike's Books

The Elegant Pitch

Get your recommendations approved efficiently and effectively! Write an
Elegant Pitch! Buy your copy now!

Lead Inside the Box

You can be a much more efficient and effective leader. All you have to do is
lead inside the box!
Buy your copy now!

One Piece of Paper

Learn how to articulate your leadership philosophy and define who you are as
a leader... on one piece of paper.
Buy your copy now!

One Piece of Paper on Kindle

Spread the word and tell your friends
about One Piece of Paper!
Tweet to tell others about the book
Get this blog on your Kindle

Get the thoughtLEADERS Blog on Kindle
Stuff We Write About

    About Us (5)
    Balanced Lifestyle (133)
    Books (325)
    Business Toolkit (201)
    Career (265)
    Communications (389)
    Customer Service (60)
    Entrepreneur (202)
    Guest Blogger (361)
    Innovation (107)
    Leadership (792)
    Poll (192)
    Project Management (45)
    Sales (110)
    Social Media (41)
    Strategy (135)
    Training (112)
    Upcoming Events (10)

Featured in Alltop
7-day free trial

Sponsored Links

    High Speed Internet for Business
    Business Process Outsourcing
    Treasurebox One Day Sale

7-day free trial

©Copyright thoughtLEADERS, LLC. All rights reserved. All materials contained on this site are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast in whole or in part without the EXPRESS WRITTEN CONSENT OF thoughtLEADERS, LLC. Content may not be republished, reproduced or distributed in whole or in part without the proper attribution of the work and disclosure of its source including a direct link back to the original content. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content nor can you modify the content in any way. However, you may download material from this website for your personal, noncommercial use only. Links to websites other than those owned by thoughtLEADERS, LLC are offered as a service to readers. thoughtLEADERS, LLC was not involved in their production and is not responsible for their content.

thoughtLEADERS, LLC has worked to ensure the accuracy of the information included herein. thoughtLEADERS, LLC is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional services beyond training, coaching, and consulting. Its reports or articles should not be construed as professional advice on any particular set of facts or circumstances. thoughtLEADERS, LLC is not responsible for any claims or losses that may arise from any errors or omissions in our reports or reliance upon any recommendation or advice provided by thoughtLEADERS, LLC.

thoughtLEADERS, LLC is committed to protecting your privacy. You can read our privacy policy by clicking here.
SERVICES

- Creating YOUR Leadership Maxims
- Structured Thought & Communications
- Structured Thought: Problem Solving
- Deliberate Decision Making
- thoughtLEADERSHIP
- Building Resilience
- Simplified Strategic Planning
- Coaching & Consulting Services
- See all our courses...
- Learn more about us...

PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK

thoughtLEADERS' students are raving...

- "I found the course relevant and helpful. I strongly recommend it."

- "I would have loved to have had this program a year ago! This will make communications with upper management much easier."

- "The course presents a powerful model and the instructor had an exciting presentation style."

- "The instructor had a great sense of humor and great presence. Excellent! Thank you!"

- Hear what else they're saying!
OUR MISSION

thoughtLEADERS' mission is to advance the art of business leadership through hands-on training and coaching led by dynamic businesspeople. We do so by providing high quality instruction, training and coaching to managers, executives, and employees with a focus on filling critical job-related skill gaps.

- Learn more about us...

- Meet our team of instructors...

- See our course offerings...

- Watch our instructors in action...

    Home About Services Team Blog Videos Clients Books Partners Contact

© 2017 thoughtLEADERS, LLC: Leadership Training for the Real World
Adult Work