Three steps to involve front line staff in open strategy

Strategy is a game that is often played with an inadequate understanding of the challenges we face and what we can actually achieve.

The Battle of Buena Vista is a prime example. On paper the Mexican troops seemed well placed to secure victory. They outnumbered the invading American army more than four to one and their general, Antonio López de Santa Anna, knew the terrain better than his enemy.

The problem was that many of the troops Santa Anna was ordering around the battlefield only existed on paper.

Thousands of his inexperienced and poorly equipped soldiers had starved or deserted during the harsh winter, or had not arrived in time after days of brutal forced marches.

After two days of fighting, both sides claimed victory. But it was the Mexicans who withdrew, leaving the battlefield to the American army.

The battle may have been fought in 1847 during the Mexican-American War, but the lessons for strategists remain relevant today.

Why strategy often fails

In business – as in war – wishful thinking often trumps an accurate understanding of the situation.

The problem lies in the separation between those who create strategy and those who are supposed to implement it.

Fortunately, there is a simple solution. Open up your strategy to include those on the front line who have to make things work.

This is less dramatic than it sounds. It is certainly not a call for corporate democracy. In many cases a few simple steps revolving around a two-day strategy workshop should suffice.

Here are three steps to make open strategy work for your organisation.

Step 1: Pre-workshop

When an organisation is interested in opening up their strategy, I usually start with 10 to 15 interviews with a mixture of top and middle managers.

In these interviews I ask about the current challenges, what the company does well and not so well, and the competitive environment.

Having this mixture between top and middle managers provides me with a useful first impression of whether everyone is on the same page.

It also helps me to draft a survey about major trends that may be affecting the organisation.

This survey goes out to a wide set of staff members, asking them whether a particular trend that I identified is likely to materialise, whether the company is ready for it, and how big an impact that trend would have in their industry. The results can be mapped out in a trend radar.

Step 2: The workshop

This is when the most crucial interactions take place, so decide who should be in the room.

In some organisations it makes sense to run it with middle managers first, then take the output to a second session with the top-level management. In others, everyone is in the same room throughout.

The workshop is usually divided into four parts. In part one we discuss the results from the trend survey.

The data can be sliced in different ways, showing the extent to which different hierarchical levels or business units see the world differently from others.

In the second part we map out the competencies of the organisation. You won’t be surprised that it often takes some time to find common ground.

Based on the work up to this point, we can then tackle strategic priorities. Most organisations have a list already and often this list is too long. So which ones should move to the fore?

To identify those that are important, consider which are in sync with the expected trends and can be addressed using the existing competencies and resources within the organisation.

The final part of the workshop is discussing actions. This should be seen as a preliminary discussion but is important to start getting buy-in. Actually, the main benefit of the whole process is that possible obstacles are spotted early on and people start working in sync.

Step 3: Post-workshop

After the workshop it is time to summarise the insights. I am a big fan of keeping it simple as complexity is a huge obstacle to execution.

At this stage there will be substantial back and forth between the different parties who need to get things moving.

Once everything has been suggested and the strategy has board approval, it’s good to get together again to work on the implementation plan. By now, people should have built rapport.

In an organisation that keeps middle and top managers separate in the first workshop, I notice that many opt to bring everyone together in the same room at the same time for this phase.

The process is not rocket science. Neither is the reason why it provides you with an edge.

According to a survey of 8,000 managers from 250 companies, only 16 per cent of frontline supervisors and team leaders have a clear sense of how major priorities fit together.

Perhaps more surprising is that only half of C-suite executives do.

The process I have described above provides the opportunity to develop a shared understanding of what really matters and how everyone has to contribute.

That’s a massive advantage, especially when you consider that 90 per cent of executives say that they fail to achieve all their strategic goals because they are not well implemented.

It makes sure that, unlike General Santa Anna, you know which troops you can move around. It also ensures that these troops understand where they have to be and what they need to do.

Further reading:

Overcome three barriers to successful strategy

Back to the Future: Strategy lessons from the 1990s

Three steps for firms to achieve strategic agility

Why imitating innovation can be a successful strategy

Christian Stadler is Professor of Strategic Management at Warwick Business School. He teaches Strategic Advantage and Strategy and Practice for the Executive MBA, Executive MBA London, Global Online MBA, Global Online MBA, and the Accelerator MBA.

Learn more about Open Strategy and how to help your company thrive in a complex world with the four-day programme The Strategic Mindset of Leadership at WBS London at The Shard.

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