I know what you’re thinking! Strategy isn’t a story, it’s a roadmap. OK, you’re not wrong, but it can be, and should be, both.

Communicating a strategy isn’t a newscast, it’s a rallying cry.

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“Culture eats strategy for breakfast”* so sharing the strategy should be aimed at reinforcing the culture by getting enthusiastic buy-in, overcoming scepticism, and most importantly, outlining the parts everyone can play in achieving success. People love to be part of a collective effort to create positive change. Harness that energy!

Refer back to the organisation’s purpose, mission or vision. Launching a strategy is a great opportunity to reinforce these shared foundations and show how the organisation can move towards its ultimate goals. Certainly, at some stage, some levels of the team will need to understand the measurability of the indicators, but first secure everyone’s buy-in to the bigger picture and make it real by sharing what will be achieved, not in terms of metrics, but in terms of mission.

This little thought is based on a couple of contributions I made to an article on LinkedIn entitled How do you tell your team about your strategy?

*Apparently mis-attributed to Peter Drucker (probably, more than once, by me!).