You're rolling out a new strategy. How do you ensure all team members grasp the long-term vision?

Rolling out a new strategy requires clear communication and a compelling vision. To ensure your team understands and embraces the long-term goals, break down the overarching vision into specific, actionable objectives. Avoid jargon and use straightforward language to make the vision relatable. It’s essential that the strategy resonates emotionally, connecting with individual aspirations. When team members see how their roles contribute to the larger mission, they’re more likely to engage fully and drive the strategy’s success. Remember, a shared vision not only clarifies goals but also inspires collective commitment.

A shared vision is the key—if you don’t know what success looks like, it’s just luck if you find it. That isn’t strategic planning or critical thinking. Therefore, your vision should be short and memorable, and easy for anyone to understand immediately. If the team doesn’t get it, reassess your vision. Think short, sweet, and clear! Some examples of a good vision that anyone can grasp are: - “Quality first.” - “Delivered in 30 min or less.” - “#1 Cybersecurity Source.” - “Best aircraft in the world.” - “On time, on target!” (One of favorites…) If you can’t remember it, your have a lot of punctuation, or try to capture everything—they won’t remember it, understand it, or accomplish it. Simple, clear, memorable. Then they’ll get it.

When communicating vision, it's so important to have well-chosen words and images to help convey the idea. Only after understanding the "what" of your vision, can your team start to understand the why, who, when, and how. Also, vision setting is not always a one-time exercise. You may have learnings along the way that cause you to refine your vision, prompting a need to realign your team to it.

Strategy cannot and should not be developed in a vacuum. By involving others, you will get perspectives on potential blockers, challenges, or even benefits that you may not have expected yourself. It's better to know these up front than to discover them months in. Ensure that you have adequate representation from all parties who are interested in or impacted by your strategy (e.g. using a RACI matrix).

It's difficult to imagine any situation where a strategy would be rolled out without the full previous involvement of the team. Any strategy should involve relevant stakeholders and the team to ensure buy-in from the start

🧠 Strategize on how to communicate your strategy! ✏️ Write down a structured plan of what you'll communicate, to whom, and when. 💬 Provide mechanisms for recipients to learn more, ask questions, and engage in dialogue. ✅ Check for people's understanding every chance you get. Do they get it? Is it working? What changes might you need?

Es importante remarcar que tanto la ciencia sin experiencia como la experiencia sin ciencia están destinadas al fracaso. Un trabajo en equipo permite aunar ambos perfiles en uno, aprendiendo los téoricos que puedan estar mejor formados de los prácticos que estarán mejor experimentados y esto creo que es la esencia del mensaje. Aunque sea puro y duro sentido común, a menudo conviene recordar que las cosas no pasan porque sí.