A few years ago, I worked with a company on the execution of their strategy. Their strategic pillars were broad, including things like pricing excellence and a new technology platform.
The teams expected to deliver the strategy hadn’t been involved in creating it, and they weren’t quite sure what was expected of them. As a result, there were lots of scattered and overlapping activities going on.
I took over the “accountability” workstream, which was tasked with defining each person’s role, their deliverables, and the boundaries between them. But we were doing a downstream fix in the execution, when we needed an upstream fix in the strategy.
Because the company was doing well, there was no real urgency to clarify or embed the strategy. We didn’t get the upstream fix, so the teams muddled along. It was a missed opportunity to create alignment and achieve even better results.
Contrast that with another project. In this case, the company was facing a factory closure unless they could find a new market for the factory’s expertise. The sense of urgency was real. The team were chasing every opportunity they could think of to apply their specialist skills.
I worked with them to assess and prioritise their ideas, and turn them into an action plan. They pulled together, found a new investor and new markets. The factory is still running today. That was the power of involving the team. It didn’t need an accountability workstream to execute its strategy.
Strategies aren’t plans on paper, slogans on a website, or presentations on a screen. They’re the ideas, commitments and motivations of the teams that bring them to life.
If you want to create a good strategy, don’t just think about what’s written. Think about who you involve in creating it.
© Veridia Consulting, 2025
