Complexity - the Enemy of Strategy

In many organizations today, strategy has become increasing sophisticated as companies struggle with the complexities and variables in the market.  The reasons for this are many, but I believe one of the most fundamental flaws of most strategies I’ve seen is that they have been rendered irrelevant because company actions don’t align with vision and intent.  Strategy is hard, but not for the reasons most think.  It’s simplicity that makes strategy difficult to formulate and execute, not complexity.  In fact, the more complex and detailed a strategy is, the more likely it will fail to ignite the kind of action that delivers results.

Many of the leaders and executives I work with voice a consistent and persistent concern that they can’t seem to get employees engaged in, excited, and supporting the organization’s strategy.  The results on the front line are completely disconnected with what the front office believes is important.  Then in spite of numerous attempts to communicate the strategy to the workforce, it seems that things just don’t change.  Much of the problem in my experience is that the strategy itself isn’t easily understood or comprehended nor is it consistent or relevant to the work of individual contributors; therefore, the message is largely ignored.  In some cases where the strategy is so detailed, regimented, and metricized, it actually stifles creativity and limits agility even in the face of obvious market forces.  When results don’t come (or you get the wrong results), it’s often easy to blame the strategy instead of examining the way it’s being communicated.  Too many companies abandon a viable strategy too quickly when execution falters instead of assessing why the organization isn’t embracing it.

The real task of a strategist then isn’t in developing a masterpiece with intricate details and multiple threads, but to simplify it into a short, easily understood mental image that guides decisions and actions throughout the workforce.  When employees can quickly assess a situation by asking a question such as “how would this change impact our ability to be the lowest cost widget supplier?” then the actions they take are more likely to be consistent with the direction and intent of the company.  I worked with a client recently where we boiled down their strategy to three simple dimensions.  From there, we were able to easily translate how any individual in the company could contribute results around one or more of those three elements.  It made ignition so much easier and the workforce experienced higher ‘connection’ with the strategy. 

If employees need a decision tree or are forced to navigate a convoluted path of values, objectives, metrics, and plans, they’ll likely resort to the way they’ve always done things rather than embracing and championing the strategy.  The results then will be ‘more of the same’ instead of the change in direction or velocity that was intended.  So keep your strategy simple and your message will be more likely embraced and acted on in the way you intended.

Duane Grove is founder of Connect2Action, a strategy execution specialist at the intersection of employee engagement and executive leadership igniting innovation as a lever to accelerate your growth.  Follow Duane on Twitter @connect2action.