Management Summary
You want the corporate strategy to be supported by employees and managers. The basic prerequisite for this is that they understand the strategy. Five aspects are fundamental for this to succeed:
- Explain the aim and background of the strategy
- Create space for questions of understanding
- Involving critics
- Repeat the central aspects of the strategy like a mantra
- Linking the strategy to everyday life in terms of communication
The last point is achieved by aligning target, feedback and reward systems with this strategy and continuously making the strategic fit of decisions and measures transparent.
How can you, as a managing director, communicate the corporate strategy in an understandable way?
There are five steps you need to take to ensure that you, as the managing director, communicate your corporate strategy to employees and managers in an understandable way.
- Explain the aim and background of the strategy
- Create space for questions of understanding
- Involving critics
- Repeat the central aspects of the strategy like a mantra
- Linking the strategy to everyday life in terms of communication
Explain the aim and background of the strategy
In order to clarify the what and why of your strategy, various aspects need to be explained. The following key questions will help you do this.
Selected key questions at a glance
- What is to be achieved and by when?
- Why is it important for the company to achieve this goal?
- What would be the risks if the company does not achieve this goal?
- What impact does the strategy have on the individual areas of the company?
- What remains the same? What changes and how?
- In which areas will the company invest?
- In which areas are investments declining?
- What new competences are being developed? How?
How to communicate in a way that is appropriate for the target group
There is an iron rule of persuasive communication: the fish must like the worm, not the angler. What does this mean for you as a managing director if you want to communicate your corporate strategy convincingly?
- Make it clear to whom you are speaking. Managers categorise things differently than employees in production.
- Choose a language that everyone understands.
- Address groups of listeners directly.
Audience analysis | Tips for managing directors
- Knowledge of your audience:
- What do the various employee groups know? You can refer to this.
- What's new? You need to explain that.
- Attitude of your audience:
- What is the attitude of your employees towards you?
- How high is your acceptance among the workforce? How strong is the basis of trust?
- What fears are present in the organisation? How can you overcome them?
- Comprehensibility of communication:
- Avoid complex terms and abstract concepts. Use analogies and media such as PowerPoint or videos to visually support your speech.
- Prepare written material in the respective national languages of the locations and use simultaneous interpreters for town hall meetings or staff meetings if necessary.
- Provide concrete examples from the day-to-day work of the various employees to illustrate the facts. Which of the familiar and proven aspects will remain? What will change?
Creating space for questions of understanding
To find out how comprehensible what has been said is for your employees and managers, create space for comprehension questions. In a town hall meeting, it is a good idea to invite questions. If necessary, use an experienced moderator to guide you through this discussion.
Repeat your key messages several times during this discussion so that employees and managers internalise them.
54 repetitions need messages to reach the consciousness in our media- and information-flooded times.
Involving critics
Critics are a gift. They signal two things to you:
- You have not yet been 100% convincing in your communication.
- Critics want to be heard. They use criticism to make themselves heard and be seen.
How can critics become supporters?
Invite the critics to a small group discussion. Take up the criticism. Use open questions to turn the criticism into constructive impulses. Below you will find some examples of solution-focussed questions:
Selected solution-focussed questions
- How would you proceed?
- What do you think we need to make clearer so that everyone understands it?
- What else do you think is important in order to gain the acceptance of all employees for our strategy?
- What else should I know in order to be able to respond?
- In your opinion, who else should I talk to in order to get valuable input on strategy?
Repeat the central aspects of the strategy like a mantra
As already mentioned, a message needs up to 54 repetitions to really reach the recipient. It is therefore crucial that you keep repeating the central elements of your strategy on different communication channels and at different times.
I will explain how this can be achieved using an example.
How can you raise awareness of the corporate strategy among employees and managers?
The initial situation: Let's assume you want to sell part of the company in order to be able to invest in the company's core business. You have explained the objective and background of your strategy in town hall meetings at the various company locations. You have answered the questions asked at these meetings and invited critics to discussion rounds.
What could happen now?
- You record a video message in which you once again explain the aim and background of your decision, i.e. the what and why.
- You conduct a moderated discussion in which both critics and supporters of the strategy can have their say and ask questions. You answer the questions and, where possible, add one of your key messages, e.g: "All employees will be taken on by the buyer of the new division for the next 3 years. There is a job guarantee for the next three years." You can also record this discussion and make it available via internal company communication channels, e.g. the intranet.
- You invite people to staff meetings. You have these moderated and repeat your key messages at the end of the event.
- They use internal communication channels such as the intranet, employee magazine and e-mail newsletter to answer frequently asked questions and repeat key messages.
- You ask your managers to address questions about the strategy in their team meetings and to repeat the key messages.
How can the strategy be anchored in the everyday lives of employees and managers?
I often experience that the implementation of the strategy is seen as a parallel strand of action to the operational business. "We do the operational side first. The strategy comes on top." Ideally, operations are an elementary component of strategy, as they contribute to the achievement of corporate goals.
What can you as a managing director do to anchor the strategy in your organisation's everyday life?
I recommend that you combine strategy and operational business more closely in terms of communication. How do you achieve this?
Align target, feedback and reward systems with strategy
Feedback and reward systems can help to weave the strategy more closely into the day-to-day lives of employees and managers and encourage the implementation of the strategy. This could include giving recognition or bonuses to employees or teams who contribute to the achievement of strategic goals.
Ensure strategic fit of decisions and projects
Linking decisions and plans to corporate strategy is crucial to ensure that strategy becomes part of everyday life and that the company achieves its strategic goals.
The two central questions are: Why do we do something? Why do we not do something?
How do you proceed?
STRATEGIC FIT OF DECISIONS AND PROJECTS
Align decisions and projects with the strategy to ensure that they support achieving the strategic goals. Emphasize this strategic fit in your communications as well. We have listed a number of phrases for this purpose in the box below.
STRATEGY HELPING TO PRIORITIZE
A clear link to strategy makes it possible to evaluate decisions and projects according to their relevance and importance for achieving the strategic goals. This helps to deploy resources efficiently and to ensure that those projects and measures are prioritized that make the greatest contribution to the strategy.
CONSISTENCY CHECK
If decisions and projects are not in line with the strategy, it is important to make this clear and to justify the rejection of the decision or project. If, as a manager, you do not do this consistency check and instead approve projects that are not in line with the strategy, this can lead to confusion among employees and managers and to inefficiency, as they tie up resources for things that do not contribute to the strategy. You can also read about how to ask for strategic fit in proposals and ideas in the box below.
Communicatively aligning decisions and projects with the strategy
In the following, you will find phrases that will help you to communicatively relate decisions or projects or investments to the strategy:
- The aim of our company is .... / The central aspect of our strategy is ....
- That is why we will ... / have ...
- In concrete terms, this means ...
Ask for strategic fit
You can use the following questions to inquire about the strategic fit of decisions, proposals, and projects:
- How exactly does that pay into our strategy?
- What strategic goal are we getting closer to with this project?
- What part of our strategy is this proposal for?
- …
What benefits do you as a managing director derive from this approach?
A continuous and multi-layered process is necessary to ensure that the corporate strategy is understood by all employees. This takes time, but also offers concrete benefits:
- Your strategy is understood across all hierarchical levels.
- Better understanding reduces resistance.
- This increases the chance that everyone will be involved in implementing the strategy.
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