Copyright 2006-2015 imd international Institute for Management Development

Communicate the “Why”
Alas, just making a strategic choice is not the end of the story: if it is poorly implemented in the 
organization, the strategy is likely to fail. While there are many reasons why even well thought-out 
strategies don’t get implemented, one critical issue is that senior managers fail to bring the rest of 
the organization on board and convince them about the new course of action. The underlying 
problem is that those managers who have not participated in the strategy process around exploring 
options and criteria, and weighing off trade-offs are at some point just confronted with a choice 
that’s been made. In fact, they might not even know the reasoning that led to the choice, but they 
are nonetheless supposed to implement it. 
However, not having gone through this process, they are likely to think differently about the most 
important goals and what the best road forward should be. For instance, instead of looking at the 
long-term sustainability of a strategy, they might emphasize the short-term job security for the teams 
they manage. As a result, they also often prefer options that maintain the status quo over those that 
would lead to profound change, and, in turn, the strategy process gets stuck. 
We are not arguing here that you should be giving in to these pressures, but want to emphasize the 
importance of creating a sense of “fair process”. Research has shown that defendants in court are 
more likely to accept and respect a verdict if they perceive that they have been listened to during a 
trial and that their views and their arguments were taken into account — even if the punishment 
ultimately turns out to be more severe. Similarly, acceptance of a strategic choice and the likelihood 
of its implementation is also likely to be higher, if senior managers can convey that they have 
considered a broad range of options. Those on the receiving end want to know that the pros and 
cons of each option were sincerely debated before the choice was made — in other words, that they 
went through a fair process. While some might still not agree with the course of action, they are 
more likely to walk away knowing that their viewpoint and reasoning were taken into account and 
sincerely discussed. Ultimately, this sense of fair process can have an important impact, especially 
when it comes to implementing difficult choices that place a heavy burden on the employees. 

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THE ESSENCE OF STRATEGY | The what, the why and the how 
IMD – 
www.imd.org

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When communicating strategic choices to your organization, ask yourself the following questions: 
•
In communicating of your strategy to your staff, do you clarify the key objectives that you 
are try to achieve? Are you clear about the inherent tensions between these objectives? 
•
Can your clearly explain the option space that you have explored? Did these alternatives 
considered include different options that different stakeholders in your organization might 
prefer? 
•
Do you understand why some stakeholders might prefer other options than the one you 
have chosen?
•
Can you sincerely explain the trade-offs that you have made that ultimately led you to make 
the choice?