“Look beyond the send button and shift your focus to the receiving end”
The communication of strategy and its execution comes in different shapes and forms: from individual conversations during objective setting over group interactions around the Balanced Scorecard, and from intranet postings to writing a memo regarding a strategy shift. But they all serve one purpose: to get the strategy into the heads, hearts and hands of the people.
Heads, hearts and hands
- Heads: You want everyone to understand the strategy.
- Hearts: You want everyone to be motivated by the strategy.
- Hands: You want everyone to take action to get things done.
A crucial activity
Communication of the strategy and its execution is an essential, ongoing component of your implementation efforts. And although some elements might seem trivial and simplistic on the surface as everyone can communicate to some degree, the reality shows that it demands substantial skill and knowledge to communicate the relevant information to the desired person that results in the required action.
So the question isn’t so much if you communicated but how well. In other words, don’t focus on the question ‘Was my message communicated?’ but rather on ‘Was my message effective?’. Look beyond the send button and shift your focus to the receiving end.
