The human side of Strategy Activation

A central theme in much of the work we do at Workz is Strategy activation. Strategy activation is about bringing a strategy to life and, therefore, about ensuring that top management, leaders, and employees alike are aligned on what needs to be done for the strategy’s goals to come to fruition. Change doesn’t happen by itself, and a people-centred approach to implementing changes is key for strategy activation to be successful.

When it comes to handling the human side of change, it is all about how top management and leaders communicate and cascade their messages and how the target group interprets them. Strategy activation is not an easy feat, and it is usually accompanied by a fair number of obstacles. In the following, we have selected two key challenges to highlight and what we believe are good ways to approach these challenges.

Ensuring ongoing communication

Although it would be easy, a plenary presentation about the new strategy is not enough for it and its implications to sink in with the audience. It takes a lot of communication efforts – often through different types of media – for employees to really grasp why a new strategy is necessary, what is at stake, and what is expected of them. For the strategy to take root in the organisation, it’s important not only to create awareness but also to maintain it. Successful strategy activation is and should be an ongoing conversation throughout the organisation where leaders create room for dialogue and employee input. Employees at all levels of an organisation are crucial for the strategy to succeed, and their leaders must prioritise empowering them and guide them to take ownership of the changes that a new strategy entails. In the guidance that top management provides, the pressure is on to provide clear expectations that employees find meaningful but realistic expectations to live up to.

Getting employee buy-in

Motivating employee buy-in doesn’t happen on its own. Employees don’t automatically absorb and accept everything top management communicates – and even if they did, would we want them to?

Often, employees have concerns about what strategic changes mean for them and their tasks and plans, both long- and short-term. Leaders need to take these concerns and doubts seriously and approach them seriously and openly for the employees to know and feel like they are part of the journey. Resistance doesn’t go away by being ignored or pushed to the side, so handling pushback professionally is key in getting employees on board for a new strategy.

Another approach that often fails to generate the necessary buy-in is overlooking employees’ roles in determining how to achieve strategic goals. Top management can benefit from asking employees for input on how they prefer to do their jobs to highlight where more alignment is needed. There’s a lot of wisdom among employees, and not leveraging it wastes their experience and knowledge.

There is a lot to consider when thinking about strategy activation, and how teams and leaders work together is vital to their success in how strategy is rolled out. Workz can help with that by ensuring that it is communicated well and that employees are involved in adapting it to local actions, behaviours, and more.