Creating a strategic plan is quite an undertaking for a business. Not only are you often hiring outside firms for facilitating the process but you are using an enormous amount of internal resources for gathering data converting it to meaningful information and sorting that data over 3 to 5 days of meetings of your key players. What is fascinating is how often this effort fails not in determining the path forward for the business but in disseminating the information broadly and effectively to all the members of the organization that were not part of the decision making team.
A great strategy should have focus and clarity around vision, mission, objectives, strategies and actions. In order to elevate engagement and participation a communication plan needs to provide great simplicity, clarity focus without ambiguity in your communication strategy.
1) Call an all company meeting around the communicating the strategic plan. If you have any thoughts that information from your senior team will leak beforehand use email or text message to get out in front of your messaging.
2) Who’s coming to the party – Review in detail who will be present and what level of detail they will need to give to create comfort around any changes that will affect them. Think through the negative as well as positive aspects of the plan. When it has to do with change people will imagine the worst so get it all out at once.
3) Provide conceptual tools – During meeting describe the basic principles of strategic planning. Explain any new terms or definition of terms. For example if you discuss EBITDA (Earnings before interest tax and depreciation) don’t assume that all your employees will understand what you mean. If you use a Balance Scorecard model take employees through the basics so that they can understand the meaning behind what you are about to explain to them.
4) Tell and retell the history – Provide broader base around the history of the organization to create the context of how strategy plays a part in the growth of the company. You can provide the key elements of what has led to your growth and challenges in the past and how that has informed your future direction.
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