Communicating strategy

Strategy. Just because it’s an overused word, doesn’t mean it’s an over rated virtue. Alvin Toffler summed it up nicely, when he said, “You’ve got to think about big things while you’re doing small things, so that all the small things go in the right direction.” But it’s not easy to think about the big things when people want to see action and they want to see it now. And they probably don’t care too much what the action is if they’re honest. Just look busy.

Two cases in point from the last week spring to mind. First, Kay Sheldon, Board Member of the Care Quality Commission, went on the Today programme to discuss a critical report on her organisation from the Public Accounts Committee. The regulator needs someone at the top who, “…knows how to lead, set a coherent strategy, develop a business plan and develop and inspire the workforce,” said Sheldon. Sadly, this was too, “Wishy washy,” for interviewer Justin Webb who wanted to hear about more staff on the ground or more money to be invested. Well done to Sheldon for talking about the real issues. But we all need to remember the media’s need for quick fire reportable numbers. They’re a must if you want to encourage some decent headlines. At least in the short term…

In my view, chasing short term plaudits played a big role in the demise of the Regional Development Agencies, which finally closed this week. I should know – I chased a few as head of communications there. The RDAs were meant to be strategic bodies, set up to take a long term view, encourage a wide range of public and private sector partners to work together and leave the delivery to other organisations closer to the ground. They were pretty good at it. But it’s not a role that’s easy to communicate and it’s not a route to quick results. So they fell into the trap of the short term win, chasing headlines for the amount of cash invested in project x or y and talking about the number of jobs created each year (supposedly). What a different public sector world; where spending more money was supposed to suggest high performance. Government found RDAs to be a useful dumping ground for Whitehall inspired wheezes and they were soon subject to a range of additional responsibilities and powers without being resourced to deliver. Before too long, RDAs were doing too many things, not doing them well enough, and exacerbating the hostility from some in local government who felt they should have been awarded the funding directly. Not a strong position from which to welcome an incoming government.

So how do you strike the right communications balance between a strategy that seems too highfalutin and just looking busy so no-one notices the big gap where the strategy should be? First keep it simple. The core of your strategy needs to be something your people can explain in a moment or two without referring to a dusty tome on the bookshelf. Second, only do things that contribute to the strategy and keep talking about the way in which they do. Third, remember that communication only serves a purpose if it helps deliver against the strategy itself. Don’t fall into the trap of expressing long term strategic goals in short term sound bites and numbers. Yes, you’ll get some headlines, but you’ll also set yourself up for a fall further down the line.

There’s a lot being written at the moment about tactics as the new strategy. Just get on with the day to day and let tomorrow take care of itself. There’s some truth in the need for flexibility, as long as your audiences buy into the core values you express. But without a big idea to hang it all on you end up like the political parties at the moment – at the mercy of events and widely misunderstood. As Sun Tzu said: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”


Jon Bennett
Director
jon@linstockcommunications.com