Winning Ways To Communicate Your Strategy

In the absence of communications there is no strategy. Then why do so many organizations spend an inordinate amount of time, energy and resources on creating a strategy and forget to consider how it’s communicated, internalized and acted upon?

A great strategy is transformational. It invokes change when people understand it and believe in it. Simply having a communications plan, cascaded throughout the organization using PowerPoint, isn’t enough. Real communication of a strategic plan happens through thoughtful conversation and dialogue.

Consider these 5 winning ways to communicate, and ultimately drive adoption of, your organizational strategy: 

  1. Is there urgency in the communication of your strategy? Why change now? Strategy is often perceived as strategy de jour if there’s no immediacy driving the need to change.
  2. Follow-through on communicating strategy. Often, there’s a lot of hype on the front-end with little consistency throughout execution on promoting performance against goals. 
  3. Champion wins during the transformational journey. Merchandising successes drives engagement, ownership and accountability.
  4. What’s the personal win for department and individual contributors? Leadership and strategic management require having a thoughtful dialogue that answers the question, “what’s in it for me?”
  5. Avoid communication that’s flat and two-dimensional. Add color and context to your organizational strategy using visuals. Exploit all communication channels, including direct, indirect, social and video.

Watch this video on designing a communication strategy that’s built around unique audiences.


A focus on your future success and communicating where you’re at on the path toward achieving it is a continuous process. It extends beyond senior leadership to mid-level management and supervisors. It’s a story shared with staff, employees and key stakeholders.

What role does communication have in the adoption of your strategy?

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