Leadership in any company has the unique responsibility of converting strategic vision into workplace actions. Too often, however, there’s an enormous gap between an executive’s vision and the day-to-day realities. Typically, the source of such discrepancy can be traced to ineffective or inadequate communication.

Leaders of high-performance organizations clearly recognize this challenge and work diligently to ensure a synchronization of understandings at all levels. While they may not always be the ones in the communication trenches, they make certain that key messages are being reinforced and that a strategic alignment throughout the organization remains securely in place.

Establishing strategic alignment

Verifying that strategy is shared and understood by all is the first step to ensuring its ultimate achievement. It’s estimated that only 5 percent of the typical workforce understands their companies’ strategies, and only 15 percent of executive teams spend more than one hour a week discussing them.

One way to evaluate the level of alignment within an organization is to start with key managers. Ask them to list the top five strategies that are critical to the company’s success. If each person is unable to list five items, or if the responses are inconsistent both within the management team and between management and owners, then there’s clearly work to be done.

Multiple perspectives regarding an organization’s strategy will result in activities that are out of sync with the actual activities considered necessary for success. Certainly there may be “islands of excellence” within the company—departments or operations that seemingly produce or perform—but if the work is unconnected to the overriding strategy, such performance becomes irrelevant to the company’s ultimate success.

Another method of assessing alignment is to look for examples of how strategic intentions are communicated within the organization. Two areas of importance are employee performance appraisal systems and budgets. Performance systems should be set up to reinforce the company’s strategic intentions, like having incentives tied to strategy, while budgets should also be strongly linked to strategy.

Overall, the lack of strategic alignment and understanding is a significant barrier to an organization’s operational effectiveness. Some studies show that as much as 50 percent of a company’s efforts are “off strategy.” Obviously, without an effective alignment, valuable time and resources are, by and large, simply wasted.

From intention to traction

Getting an entire workforce to share a common focus demands leadership that’s committed to executing the very basics of communication—not always an easy task for many busy executives or those with dominant personalities. Leaders are accustomed to high-level thinking and can become impatient with details or bored with the cause-and-effect logic that’s essential for employee understanding. As a result, strategy isn’t perceived as a priority by anyone.

But consistent dialogue about the organization’s strategy is crucial, and leaders who are too busy or too uncomfortable with the responsibility should designate it to someone with both the time and the talent. A strategically misaligned organization must be radically changed, and that requires a concentrated commitment to change the way the organization thinks and build daily habits that will promote positive improvements. After all, changed perspectives result in changed thinking. And changed thinking results in changed behaviors, precisely the traction an organization needs for success.

Narrow the communication gap

Pronouncing and posting the company’s strategy for all employees to view falls inexcusably short of effective communication—just because employees can recite the overall strategy, doesn’t mean they’re able to tell what it requires in terms of their jobs. And that means, they won’t know how to deliver strategically appropriate performances.  

True strategy defines how a company will create value and it identifies the processes that will drive that strategy. Ultimately, those truths and objectives must be translated into everyday language and daily expectations that each employee can understand and adopt. For instance, your corporate strategy may be to create a better return on assets, but to the floor operator, that strategy must be translated into language like, doing things right the first time. The more specific you are in translating the strategy, the better their chances for achievement. 

Remember, what’s important to managers typically falls within about a one-year line of vision, while front-line employees generally deal with realities one day at a time. Leaders must adjust their apertures and discussions accordingly.

The power of organizational leverage

It stands to reason that an organization with only three senior managers who fully understand the company strategy can’t possibly outperform a company with all 100 employees demonstrating an active understanding of the strategy. Effective communication is a competitive advantage. The more people within an organization that understand the strategy, the quicker goals can be attained.