I’ve been asking the same question(s) to the leadership teams of a few different groups over the last few weeks.  (It’s actually a two-part question)  The questions are:

When your leadership team sets your strategy, are you succeeding in these two ways:

#1 – Are you listening to the “troops” (everyone in the organization) before and as you set your strategy for the coming months/year(s)?  (Are you actually succeeding at getting and using their input in the process?)

#2 – Are you succeeding in fully communicating your strategy to, and all the way through, your “troops,” so that the average person in the organization is able to articulate the strategy, and “buys-in”/”commits to” full execution of the strategy?

I’ve created a little “grading scale,” with old fashioned College Grades (A-F).  So far, I have not seen a leadership team that has given its own organization a grade above a “D.”

Setting Strategy
After listening to the “Troops”
Then Communicating that Strategy to the point of
Full Buy-in
Thus resulting in successful Execution of the strategy

This is sort of what a good organization does well, don’t you think?  And apparently, a whole lot of organizations are coming up short.

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I came up with this set of understandings and questions after revisiting the excellent book by Richard Rummelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy:  The Difference and Why it Matters.  I strongly encourage you to read the book.  My synopsis of this book, with a comprehensive handout and the audio of my presentation, is available at our companion web site, 15minutebusinessbooks.com.