Strategy is about influencing behaviour and managing change

If strategy is about change, and measured by results, strategic communication is measured by changes in actions and behaviours.

Chapter four explores how change occurs. It describes the mindsets, motivations and typical reactions that you get when new strategies and change programmes are announced. Much of this book is about making sure the strategy is communicated so people understand and are engaged with it. However, there is also aspect to communication that is no nonsense discipline. At some point, when people are not complying, you will have to get serious and potentially get rid of people. This chapter also explores some of the aspects of communication
that go behind the message to show you are serious. This is ‘The discipline of change’.

Chapter five considers ‘What is in it for me?’ from the perspective of the various players. You can explore ‘what’s in it for them?’ from different people’s perspectives so you can build an even richer understanding of the various players involved.

Phil Jones
Author

Communicating Strategy

Performance leadership and management

It is a cliché that “People do not like change”. It is also wrong. It is not that people do not like change, they do. What they dislike is change where they have no control over their destiny or influence over the direction.

The problems of measure mania and tyranny of targets come as much from the effects of diktat and imposed targets as the effects of too many unrelated measures and targets.

In contrast, my objective, and I hope your objective, is to have a team of people who understand what they need to achieve and also why they need to achieve it; a team who have helped develop and refine the strategy, who understand its purpose, the timing, its importance and the level of ambition required, and who that are engaged in the process so they are thinking about how they can help, contribute and make a difference.

These are aspects of a culture of performance. It is management’s responsibility to lead and create this environment. I call this performance leadership.

Making sure it happens is performance management.

Learning from this as you implement and monitor your strategy, so you can refine, develop and re-communicate the refinements to your strategy, is called strategic learning.

I use these expressions a lot when talking with clients as theyare distinctions that help clarify how strategy is communicated.

You can read more on the excitant website about creating a culture of performance.

Phil Jones
Excitant Ltd