Strategy + Employee Engagement = Execution

You may have heard the airline story about the pilot who came over the intercom to tell the passengers that he had good news & bad news. The good news was that they were ahead of schedule. But the bad news was that he didn't know where he was going.

Today it's very easy for employees to be working hard - especially after the last couple of years of downsizing - but not clearly understanding:

·        the organization's current strategy

·        the reasons for & significance of that strategy

·        what they need to be doing differently to fulfill their responsibility in executing that strategy

Your leaders, managers & HR professionals have significant & different roles to play in engaging your employees in the execution of your organization's strategy.

A primary reason employees are not more engaged in executing strategy is that employees at different organizational levels view the organization from very different perspectives:

• Leaders at the 35,000 ft level
• Managers at the 15,000 ft         level
• and Frontline Employees at the ground level

Leaders at 35,000 ft:

• can see a significant distance - but not what's happening each day on the ground
• may feel they have developed the appropriate strategy & then take it for granted that everyone understands that strategy as well as they do
• often assume the strategy will be accepted & executed throughout the organization

Managers at 15,000 ft:

• have a narrower perspective than the leadership team but see more of the day-to-day details
• have leaders telling them to implement the strategy - but encounter a challenge helping their employee teams relate to the strategy

Frontline Employees at Ground Level:

• see each day in detail what's happening or not happening on the ground
• can easily feel overwhelmed & confused by the flood of new initiatives & changes
• are so busy fighting fires that they don't think about anything else

Much can & needs to be done to overcome these challenges. We'll briefly address just two of the initiatives we at The Focus Group help our clients implement:

#1 Leaders, managers & HR professionals carrying out their respective roles in implementing strategy

#2 Over-communicating the strategy    

#1 Leaders, Managers & HR Professionals Carrying out Their Respective Roles in Implementing Strategy -

Leaders are responsible for:

• developing a strategy that - considering the current marketplace conditions - defines how the organization needs to change & what it needs to become
• understanding what it will take to implement the strategy at the 15,000 ft. & ground levels

Managers are responsible for:

• insuring their interpretation of the strategy is consistent with that of the leadership team & their colleagues
• creating a 'line of sight' for their teams through goals & metrics which bridge the gap between their front line employees' jobs & the organization's strategic priorities
• meeting their employees' core engagement needs to include making sure employees: understand what is expected of them, have the materials & equipment they need to meet those expectations, feel that their manager cares about them personally, etc.

HR is responsible for:

• identifying the skill development needs associated with employees executing their part of the strategy
• utilizing training events & other HR processes to develop those priority employee talents & capabilities

#2 Over-Communicating the Strategy -

Leaders, managers & HR professionals can jointly focus on:

• creating a shared understanding of the strategy; providing employees an uncomplicated version of where the organization is going & how each of their jobs contribute to that strategy
• communicating, communicating & then - when you think everyone understands - re-communicating the strategy; it's easy to assume others understand the strategy as well as you do
• utilizing every available communication vehicle - town hall & small team meetings, emails, newsletters, intranet postings, question & answer sessions, etc.

Creating a business strategy is the easy part - executing is the challenge. Strategies that fail usually do so due to a lack of execution vs. a poor strategy.

Your leaders, managers & HR professionals carrying out their respective roles & over-communicating your strategy are two steps in moving your organization from Strategy - to Employee Engagement - to Execution.