Strategic Story Telling
Why worry about telling stories? Your employees need to hear you say what you mean about that new strategy. When you do say it, say it right, so folks remember, care, and, take action.
Schumpeter makes the point that art should return to the executive suite, not physical art, but personality art (as it were). An interesting point? George Orwell's Why I Write as a useful management text.
Martin suggests a continuum on strategy formulation (in the executive suite) and execution, well, across the company (Martin, 71):
- After the choice has been made, explain it - and it's rationale.
- Recognizing that management made a choice (which they explained in step one), allow the next layer of management to make their own choice. Yes, management might say what they see as the next choice to make, and may even give their advice on which of the alternatives to make. However, the actual choice is made by that next layer of folks, not the management team.
- If choices get all clogged up - or basically remain unmade - management has a role in assisting those choices to be made expeditiously.
- This is the best of all the points: revisit your choices regularly, from the highest levels and their choices, to the local levels and the choices you or your team made there. Admit errors and make changes. Faster is a lot more profitable than later.
References
Guber, Peter. Tell to Win. 2011.
Martin, Roger L. The Execution Trap. Harvard Business Review. July-August 2010. 65.
Schumpeter. The Art of Management. The Economist. 19 February 2011. 76.