By Seun Onakoya, Lead Coach, The Seun Onakoya Company

The retreat went well. The leadership team agreed the priorities, the consultants produced a handsome document and everyone left energised. Six months later, little has changed. The strategy sits in a folder, and the organisation runs the way it always has.

This pattern is common in business and in government. In most cases the plan itself is sound. The trouble lies in the handover from plan to action. In my experience, four causes come up again and again.

Nobody owns it

A priority that belongs to everyone belongs to no one. Each priority needs a named owner with the authority and the time to drive it. If the owner is already fully committed to running the day-to-day, the strategy will lose.

It was never translated

A strategy written at board level means little to a supervisor until someone explains what it changes about their work this month. Translation is the job of every layer of management. Each manager should be able to say, in plain words, what the strategy asks of their team.

There is no rhythm

Strategies stall when they are reviewed once a year. They move when progress is checked regularly, in short meetings that look at a few measures and ask one question: what is in the way? A steady rhythm of review keeps the strategy alive between retreats.

The culture pulls the other way

If people are rewarded for the old behaviour, they will keep doing it, whatever the strategy says. Leaders need to look honestly at what gets praised, promoted and tolerated, and ask whether it supports the direction they have chosen.

What leaders can do

This takes discipline more than a new framework. Name an owner for each priority. Ask every manager to translate the strategy for their team. Set a regular review rhythm and keep it. Make sure what you reward matches what you say.

A good strategy deserves to be carried out. That work starts the week after the retreat.

Leadership Development