How to turn strategy into action
In this article, Kate shares how to make sure that your new strategy leads to real change — not just a successful launch.
If you're launching a new company strategy or change initiative, you've probably thought about how to communicate it to your employees.
You might have planned an all-staff event to mark the launch, created an inspiring video about how the company is changing, and developed some beautiful graphics to post on your internal social media channels.
But while these kinds of comms tactics can create excitement about your new direction, I've learned the hard way that they can only go so far.
If they're not followed up with long-term actions to sustain new behaviours, the excitement quickly fades and nothing really changes.
What really works
If you really want your strategy or change initiative to result in real change, you need to change the way your employees actually behave on a day-to-day basis. You need to think about whether your culture is going to support new ways of working, or constantly pull people back to old habits.
And that requires a different approach. Not just a comms plan, but a behaviour change plan. One that focuses on the long-term view, and not just the launch.
Over the years, I've noticed that the organisations that successfully turn strategy into behaviour focus on two things: clarity and context. Clarity about the desired new behaviours and why they're important, and creating the right context in which to deliver change. By that I mean a positive, supportive culture where people feel open to change, safe to speak up, and motivated to turn the strategy into reality.
This approach means that people don't just know about your new strategy, they actually care about it too, and are willing to change the way they work to make it happen.
If you want to turn your strategy into successful change, I've outlined below some of the things that really work in practice.
Creating the right context for change
Involve people early
It sounds obvious, but people will be much more committed to your strategy or change programme if they've been involved from the start, and had genuine opportunities to create it with you. In my experience, you'll also develop much better strategies if you involve your employees early — they are usually best placed to understand what your customers want and what will actually work on the ground.
Create a positive vision for the future
Much research has highlighted how setting a positive vision for the future can help employees feel an emotional connection to change and feel motivated to support it. Storytelling can be a powerful way to do this — for example, painting an image of what the company will look like in the future, and how change will make a positive impact on employees, customers and the outside world. In my experience, this tends to be far more motivating than leading with negative reasons for change, such as the need to cut costs or manage risk.
Create a positive, supportive environment where people feel open to change
If you’re navigating a transition, it’s really worth investing time and effort in leadership visibility, employee listening and building a sense of belonging — all of which make your organisation a more attractive employer, as well as giving your strategic goals the best chance of success. There’s plenty of research to back this up. For example, neuroscience and change expert Hilary Scarlett has highlighted how factors such as social connection, purpose and autonomy create a sense of psychological safety that makes employees more open to change. And in her book The Agile Organization, Linda Holbeche highlights how building trust, increasing employee voice and keeping the customer as your north star all help to create a culture that's genuinely ready for change.
Creating clarity about desired behaviours
Get really clear about the behaviours you want to see
One mistake I've seen many organisations make is being too vague about what kind of behaviours they actually want to see. For example, they talk about "encouraging collaboration", but people don't know exactly what leaders want them to do, or which behaviours will be rewarded. Something more specific, like "we encourage every employee to join a cross-team working group this year", is much more likely to lead to action.
Reward and recognise the right behaviours
As well as being clear about which behaviours leaders want to see, it's important to recognise and reward employees who carry them out. How best to do this varies by context, but options include a staff awards scheme or personal thank you notes from leaders. Employees also watch closely who gets thanked publicly and who gets promoted, so it's worth making sure those decisions consistently reflect the culture you're trying to build.
Leadership: the make-or-break factor
If there's one thing I've seen undermine change more than anything else, it's leadership behaviour.
In the months following a strategy launch, employees are watching leaders closely to see if they're truly committed, even when things get tough. Will leaders make decisions based on what they said was important, or will they take the safe or easy option?
A strategy might talk about creating an inclusive culture where everyone has a fair chance to progress. Then a senior role is created, and it quietly goes to someone known to the executive team, without a transparent process. Even if unintentional, that kind of decision sends a powerful message that leaders aren't as committed to the new strategy as they claimed — and it erodes employee commitment too.
On the other hand, leaders who use the strategy to inform their day-to-day decisions, especially when challenges arise, show that the organisation is serious about change. That's when employees really trust that leaders mean what they say, and feel empowered to make similar decisions themselves.
So if you're introducing a new strategy, by all means make the launch as exciting and engaging as possible. But don't forget that change is a long-term game. Real behaviour change happens when organisations create the right context for success, are clear about what matters and why, and understand the power of leadership for turning ideas into action.
If your organisation is navigating a transition and you want to make sure that change really sticks, I’d love to help. Book a free intro chat or explore how I can help organisations like yours.