What are the best ways to get employees excited about a new business strategy?

The best way to get employees excited about a new business strategy is to make sure it is a truly exciting mission. I think the best example is U.S. President John F. Kennedy's stunning announcement that "We plan to put a man on the moon and bring him back safely within 10 years." That was a "moonshot mission" that companies need to be taking, within their own context. It would excite all stakeholders and totally focus the business culture on achieving the goal successfully.

since it is a new business strategy, the first step should be to let your employees know why the new strategy is important for the company and how it shapes with the future company's vision and strategy. This will help them understand the purpose and value of the new strategy, and get them excited about the positive impact it can have on the company and their own careers and connect the dots during implementation, when the clarity of the new strategy smash against the haze of the daily operations, to support its accelerated and successful implementation.

I've always done this in two ways: First, by asking them to be engaged in the process. Let me know what's working, what's not working, and what we can do better or differently. The end users, I've learned, are the best sources of advice. Second, by letting them know that change is going to benefit them personally by building their resilience, allowing them to take an ownership interest, and accepting accountability for their role in the initiative. I find my teams often come ready to "take the hill" on a daily basis as a result.

I am tempted to bring in the golden circles here- The Why The What The How Purpose makes it meaningful Strategy makes it achievable and relevant Action makes it happen ! Having a vision is one thing AND engaging your team in co creating the vision making it an exhilarating experience can be quite another! By all means do explain the purpose and you might just be surprised by what the team comes up with. Its important to set the direction, engaging your team to identify strategic initiatives that will lead to the vision, makes them own it and deliver it. How you communicate, how you show confidence, makes it bigger than the sum of all parts together.

While involving employees in the strategy process is effective, I've discovered an often-overlooked approach: inspiring curiosity about the 'why' behind changes. In my experience leading innovative projects, simply involving staff isn't enough if they don’t grasp the strategy's core purpose. Instead of just assigning tasks, ignite their curiosity by sharing the vision, the challenges it addresses, and how it shapes the future. This method fosters a deeper engagement, as employees become invested in understanding and contributing to the strategy's success, not just executing tasks. It turns strategy implementation into a learning journey, enriching their professional growth and aligning their personal achievements with the company's goals.

Engage Evolve Engage (again) Enhance Empower Execute This 6 step rule ensures that employees are involved in the process, their ideas matter and they are part of building something with a purpose in mind.

Having team members involved in the “How?” is critical. When leadership casts a compelling vision, the next step is to get team members asking the question “How can we make this a reality?” or “How can we optimize our efforts?”. A good flip chart of collaborative brainstorming can be really effective. Make sure the brainstorming storming is greenlight thinking where there aren’t “Wrong answers”. When people have the opportunity to shape the plan, they will be much more likely to support and defend it later. Leadership should be careful not to dismiss the rich insight that can be contributed by those actually in the arena.

I'll add further thoughts to Laetitia Andrac's position. To further get co-workers and employees behind a new strategy, see if you can articulate correlations between what drives/motivates them personally, professionally and financially. In doing so, you are tapping into the core of who they are. Out of unspoken habit and behavior, they will find themselves aligning with the new direction.

Involving is a critical step in communicating the vision. If you don't have buy in from all stakeholders you will not have followers and true believers, that starts with involvement and involvement starts with listening to employees and stakeholder's feedback. This is a must before you begin to formulate and set a strategic plan.

To appreciate and show gratitude for someone's contribution is a key to a positive growing culture. Not only does such an environment help you retain the best talent but it will also help address any brain/talent drain from the organization. This indirectly helps get a better vision for a brighter growing tomorrow!

Rewards play a crucial role in employee motivation. External rewards like bonuses, promotions, and benefits can certainly boost motivation. However, internal rewards such as a sense of accomplishment, personal growth, and job satisfaction often have a deeper, more lasting impact.

Pay people for the impact they deliver. If you aren't investing real dollars behind your team, you don't really value their work.

ser justo en la toma de decisiones y tomar decisiones es lo mínimo que se le puede exigir a cualquier directivo. Y en base a eso, reconocer y recompensar los esfuerzos de tus colaboradores de manera justa es clave para generar una cultura de arraigo y evitar la fuga de talento.

I think it's important to involve others in the process because when I do, my vision becomes "our" vision. Getting others involved by allowing them to share their voice, concerns, hesitations, and excitement are all vital to everyone understanding the importance of their individual piece of the overall puzzle. It also helps to create vision ambassadors that will galvanize the team in ways I may not be able to do as their leader. In my opinion, the best leaders are the ones who know how to share their vision and get out of the way so the rest of the team can grow and execute on what has been set before them. This requires leaders to trust in the people they have in place and not micromanage the process from start to finish.

The section rightly emphasizes the importance of training and support in implementing a new business strategy. However, it's also crucial to consider the use of innovative tools such as virtual reality for immersive learning experiences, or AI-powered platforms for personalized learning paths. Additionally, fostering a culture of continuous learning can help employees adapt to changes more efficiently.

It works even better when training programs not only communicate the complexity of the new business strategy but also emphasize the potential for employee personal and professional advancement. In essence, when it is communicated to the employees that the new business strategy, despite its perceived complexity and challenges, is beneficial not only for the organization but personally for each involved employee, the likelihood of enthusiastic acceptance and embrace of changes significantly increases. Employees are more inclined to view the new strategy as a pathway that fosters their career growth and development.

Knowledge empowers; support emboldens. When companies invest in employee growth, they cultivate fearless innovators. Training isn't just about skills—it's about confidence. By equipping teams with tools and guidance, leaders transform uncertainty into opportunity. Each learning experience becomes a stepping stone to mastery, turning strategy from a daunting challenge into an exhilarating journey of personal and collective growth. In this nurturing environment, excitement for the future becomes contagious.

Communicating a new strategy should be an invitation for people to want to be part of it and to understand that the journey will be full of challenges and learning. An innovative strategy can take people into unknown areas and, therefore, the feeling of uncertainty can create obstacles to their active and protagonist participation. It's not enough to offer generic training; it's crucial to understand what is preventing the company from achieving the desired scenario and to identify the skills needed to do so, in order to then offer support and training in these specific areas. The big mistake in training and developing people is that, more often than not, they are only focused on local improvement and not on a global perspective.

Skill Development: Offer training programs to help employees develop the necessary skills to thrive under the new strategy. This demonstrates an investment in their growth and adapts their skills to the company's future needs. Career Advancement: Show how the new strategy creates opportunities for career advancement. Employees are more likely to be excited about changes that can positively impact their professional growth.

No se puede mejorar lo que no se mide. Esta frase, que se repite como un mantra en el ecosistema empresarial (y que es absolutamente cierta), puede ser potenciada con una práctica sencilla pero poderosa: visibilizando los resultados y los responsables. La medición y valoración de los resultados no puede quedarse al interior de un comité directivo; debe llegar de manera efectiva a todos los miembros del equipo. Los buenos resultados deben ser motivo de orgullo y los malos deben servir para tomar decisiones de forma oportuna y lograr fortalecer el compromiso de los equipos con el resultado. Todos los miembros del equipo tienen parte de la responsabilidad en el logro de los resultados; naturalmente, deben conocer el avance y los resultados.

One of the tools I've found highly useful in engaging employees in strategy is using an OGSM approach. The OGSM stands for Objectives, Goals, Strategies and Measures. These are created at the highest organisational level and shared with business units and/or heads of function. This next level then creates their OGSM as the Strategies & Measures from the higher level become the Objectives & Goals for them and they create the next level of Strategies and Measures. This cascade ensures that every part of the business is aligned to the overall objective and it means the strategy can be translated down to an individual level in the form of OKRs or business objectives. This creates a clear connection and every employee can see how they contribute

Execution of strategy requires KPIs. They help to stay on track and provide evidence that it works. Or give an opportunity to adjust implementation when something goes off and how fast the corrective actions make impact. Regular updates are important for employees to keep their commitment and trust that the efforts they make are contributing to company results. At every update they should be encouraged to share feedback and contribute with ideas. Group experience at multiple levels of organization and honest feedback during execution are augmenting the view of top leader(s) who designed the original strategy and vision.

Visible progress ignites collective passion. When teams see their efforts translating into tangible results, motivation soars. Tracking and sharing progress transforms abstract strategy into a living, breathing story of shared success. Each milestone becomes a rallying point, each metric a source of pride. By making impact visible, leaders turn strategy from a distant goal into an unfolding adventure where every team member plays a crucial role. This transparency breeds excitement, fueling a cycle of engagement and innovation that propels the entire organization forward.

One way I have found particularly useful is by implementing OKR to track and share progress of a new business strategy. It stands out as an effective method to engage employees with a new business strategy. Primarily because it centres on setting clear, measurable goals that connect individual contributions to the company's broader ambitions. By tracking and openly sharing progress through OKRs, employees not only witness the tangible impact of their efforts in real-time but are also encouraged to see how their day-to-day work aligns with and advances strategic objectives.

Connection of this new business strategy to consistent rudders of mission and vision helps employees to manage change accordingly within context- it’s the how that is shifting rather than the purpose of the organization. Defining success measures including timelines are critical for teams to participate in and also instills objectivity and openness to adaptation of new business strategies as needed.

One of the biggest hurdles and often overlooked is not only the why of a strategic change, but how it will impact the team. The understanding as to the why helps them to engage in their role in the implementation of the strategy. But knowing how this will impact them individually can make all the difference in their go forward engagement. This critical aspect if managed appropriately can make or break any new strategic change being implemented.

Aligning employees with the purpose of the organization is pivotal; echoing the words of Simon Sinek, "People don't buy what you do; they buy why you do it." When employees grasp and embrace the organizational purpose, it becomes a powerful motivator. They connect their work to a higher meaning, fostering dedication and passion. This shared purpose cultivates a cohesive team, driving collective efforts toward common goals. Ultimately, an organization with aligned and supportive employees not only achieves strategic objectives but also establishes a resilient and purpose-driven culture that stands the test of time.

Explain the “why” Your staff need to understand why your strategic plan—and their role in it —matters. Spend time explaining/revisiting the “why” behind the work, and building excitement for outcomes, and you’ll be in good shape to build an engaged, high-performing team and to successfully implement your strategic plan.

People want to be a positive contributor to any worthwhile project or program. As long as there is an end goal that has real meaning and value, employees or volunteers will be willing to contribute. When completed, say "Thank you for ____________" and acknowledge effort.

Role clarity in the context of the new Business Strategy. Executing a new business strategy typically involves some turbulence in the setup. Therefore, it's crucial that every employee is absolutely clear on their job descriptions, with regular communication about roles and contributions, offering training and development opportunities, and providing ongoing feedback and support to promptly address any concerns or confusion. By ensuring employees understand their unique role and the deliverables expected of them, they will feel valued and engaged, leading to better decision-making, effective collaboration, and ultimately contributing to the success of the new strategy.

By focusing on human first. Leaders often make the mistake of sharing their vision and strategy from their organizational perspective and people just don’t think that way. We have to consider what matters most to people and connect it with the strategy aligned to learning and growth opportunities for our people.

One of the best ways to engage people is to make them part of the strategy. Involve them in ideation process. Once they believe that it is their own strategy, they will whole heartedly support it.

Treat People Like Your Partners: Instead of just pitching the change, focus on building alignment over time. Be transparent about higher-level operations, teach them the business strategy, and instill the vision of your company or team. Explain not only what’s happening but also why it benefits them.

Truly said that Clarity about roles and expected deliverables is very important aspect for business strategy. Regular congratulation on short terms and long terms objectives with derived actions is helpful to keep team engaged. Fixed and firm execution plan without much more changes is essential element to achieve objective faster.