In an ideal world, you’d be able to have a cup of tea with everyone in your organisation and talk to them about the big stuff. You could explain your long term-vision and strategic plan, breaking it all down into digestible, relevant, and inspiring information. But our world is far from ideal, and large organisations in particular, struggle to reach every employee.

The best communications inspire your people and make them feel part of something bigger than themselves. At Engage Me, we can help turn your organisation’s vision for the future into reality.

Bringing your strategy to life

Studies show that when employees clearly understand the organisation’s goals and their roles in achieving these, 91% will work towards this success. This number plummets to just 23% when communication isn’t clear. It’s important for every employee to know where your organisation is headed and most importantly, how they can contribute to your collective vision for success.

There are often several challenges to overcome. For example, if employees aren’t involved in the early stages of developing your strategy, they may feel it was developed with the organisation or management in mind, and not them, thereby reducing overall buy-in and support. Strategy can also feel complicated and overwhelming – often managers themselves battle to explain it to their teams. This is where an expertly devised communication strategy is vital.

Top tips for success

Be inclusive

You don’t want employees to feel like strategy is a top-down directive where they have no input: engage with employees during the strategic planning process, creating dialogue where everyone from leaders to employees can share their point of view, questions and concerns.

Ensure that dialogue remains open throughout the rollout of the strategy – if problems or hold-ups are identified early, they can be dealt with effectively.

Simplify

Employees tend to glaze over at the mere mention of the words ‘Corporate Strategy’. They’ve probably been exposed to lengthy PowerPoint presentations where the real meaning and intent are obscured by overly technical jargon and impenetrable corporate speak.

That’s why it is vital to let the strategy shine by keeping any communication simple to read and easy to understand and share. You can always go into more detail with individuals or smaller teams during specially designed workshops.

Be clear

Clarify strategic objectives – decide what needs to be known by whom, and by when. Employees must understand the relevance of your strategy and how it applies at an organisational, departmental and induvial level. Make messages easily identifiable to the target audience, tailoring messages as needed.

Get visual

There are so many tools that you can use to communicate with employees: embrace them! Don’t over-rely on emails that often go unread. Instead, incorporate visual forms of communication such as graphics, cartoons/illustrations, visual strategy maps and videos. Inspire and educate by bringing your strategy to life for those who are going to live it.

On the topic of visual strategy maps, we can’t rave about these enough at Engage Me. A well-illustrated strategy map offers a clear vision for success that everyone, from top management to the newest employee, can understand. Maps are incredibly effective at transcending cultural, language and literacy barriers.

Equip and educate

Training is key in equipping employees to bring the strategy to life. Highly interactive workshops, using gamification, are a great way to drive true engagement, whilst ensuring everyone has fun. Workshops are also effective at breaking down silos and the in-person format provides an opportunity for employees to ask questions and get comfortable with the content.

Strategy toolkits can also be used throughout the entire process and are designed to equip managers and employees with the tools and capabilities needed to effectively implement your strategy on a daily basis.

Be organised

Planning and aligning your communication efforts to a well-thought-through framework is invaluable. For example, using an Inspire/Educate/Reinforce framework will focus your communications in a prioritised, logical sequence that is easy to understand.

Contact the experts

The Engage Group has extensive experience communicating corporate strategy across the region. In addition to our communication experts and creative team, we have in-house business strategists, psychologists, and engagement specialists. All under one roof!

If you need help communicating your organisation’s vision for the future, speak to the experts. Say hello@engagemeconsulting.com for more information.  

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