Corporate Strategy at Every Level – What Role do You Play?

We talk often about how the C-suite and business leaders can help steer corporate strategy, and with good reason. The vision and goals for a company start at the top, and creating strategy to meet those goals is an important part of leadership. Strategy forms the foundation for the company’s growth and development, for its products and initiatives, and for its future.

While strategy may begin with the C-suite, it is only successful when the rest of the organization gets involved. Whether your role is a manager, a team lead or new employee, how can you help contribute to your organization’s vision and goals?

See the big picture

No matter your department or role, it is easy to get pigeon-holed in your day to day workload and forget that many of your tasks and responsibilities feed a much broader purpose. To be successful in the long term requires an understanding of where the company has been and where it wants to go. Keeping sight of market conditions, competitive landscape and general trends among your customers is a must if you are going to understand what your company needs to do now and in the future.

The leaders within the company have a clear responsibility to keep everyone connected to the bigger picture. This requires transparency and strong communication. If your company is stuck in silos, where leaders only communicate with a handful of people and that information does not trickle down, now is the time to speak up! Ask questions about your tasks and find out how they make sense with the bigger picture. It’s easy to get frustrated when you feel as though your work doesn’t make sense or doesn’t matter.

The opposite applies as well. Leaders, talk to your employees. Explain the thinking behind certain initiatives and enlist their support in making them happen. Also, take time to listen. Those who are involved in the trenches of the work often see things you cannot. If they feel frustrated by a lack of understanding it may be harder for them to achieve their goals. Active listening ensures everyone is on the same page.

Create a culture of support

This is another area that requires the efforts of everyone within the organization. No one can succeed for any space of time inside of a vacuum. Team support and feedback is necessary to achieve goals.

This starts at the very beginning, with a strong hiring practice that adequately onboards new employees and helps them to understand the company’s vision, how their role fits into it, who they work with, who they report to and why. It includes ongoing training and access to the tools and insights necessary to do the job well.

For employees, it means strong communication both upward, downward and peer to peer. It requires an attitude of support rather than competition, including listening to others and working to incorporate different perspectives. Nearly 40% of employees report they don’t feel appreciated at work, and 98% will disengage without feedback. Conversely, 78% say being recognized in the workplace is motivating, and 69% say they work harder when they are. 

Simply put, support breeds better results – for you, your fellow employees and the company as a whole.

Track your progress

No matter what role you play in your organization, your results matter. It can be easy to assume that others are tracking progress or that your work is being seen, but that is often not the case. This is why StrategyBlocks was designed to be highly visual – making it easier for everyone to see and understand how progress is being made. 

Tracking progress can be highly motivating for every member of the team and it can also help to quickly reroute activity that isn’t creating results. Hold regular meetings where team members can discuss their progress and make sure to delineate how individual efforts are contributing to the greater goals. This is also the perfect time to agree on near term and long term milestones, to ensure everyone stays on the same page. 

Acknowledge your wins!

Believe it or not, we often have to remind companies to do this. We can all be susceptible to tunnel vision when there is a bigger picture goal ahead of us. But as anyone who has accomplished something great will tell you, it takes a lot of mini-wins to make it to the big ultimate win. It also takes many failures or missteps along the way.

That is why taking the time to celebrate and acknowledge all the wins along the way is so important. It is a wonderful morale booster, but it also helps to unite the team and to provide encouragement when challenges arise. It offers closure on a part of the process and shifts everyone’s perspective to the next milestone ahead.

The good news about celebration is that it doesn’t have to come from the top down. No matter your role in the organization, celebrate your co-workers, your leaders and yourself. Be encouraging and point out the wins along the way. Notice a coworker who hasn’t had positive feedback in a while? Find a way to bolster their efforts by pointing out success. The most obvious wins are often accomplished by a myriad of not-so-obvious efforts done in the background. Be the person who calls out those efforts and recognizes every part of an accomplishment.

Successfully executing a corporate strategy requires effort from every member of the team. If you are feeling disconnected from your organization’s bigger goals, take a moment to reflect on how your position impacts the broader vision of the company. If you need help figuring out how to map your activities to the bigger strategy, contact StrategyBlocks today and we can assist you to ensure each member of your team is working together to accomplish every goal, big and small.