Ever crafted what you thought was a masterpiece of corporate strategy only to find it collecting digital dust in your team's shared drive? You know, like that exercise bike you bought with the best intentions that's now primarily functioning as an expensive clothes hanger?
If you're nodding along (perhaps while glancing guiltily at an unused piece of exercise equipment), you're experiencing the most common executive communication pitfall I see in my work: talking strategy, missing impact.
I recently worked with a healthcare tech company where this played out like a textbook case. Their CEO had crafted this supposedly groundbreaking digital transformation strategy. The board was impressed! The leadership team was nodding enthusiastically! The PowerPoint had gorgeous gradient backgrounds!
Six months later? Crickets. Implementation timelines were slipping faster than New Year's resolutions in February. Adoption rates for the fancy new tools were abysmal. And everywhere the CEO went, she kept hearing variations of: "So... what does this actually mean for my job?"
It was like she'd written a brilliant screenplay in French, but her entire organization only spoke Spanish. And no, Google Translate wasn't going to fix this one.
Here's where many executives make a critical mistake: they assume their directors and VPs can automatically translate strategy into action for their teams. It's like expecting someone who's only seen the movie trailer to explain the entire plot with all its nuances.
Without a clear framework, your leadership team is doing their best impression of the "This is fine" dog in a burning room meme. They understand fragments of the strategy but are equally lost when it comes to making it real for their teams.
The result? A corporate telephone game where "We're leveraging cloud technology to enhance customer experiences through data integration" somehow becomes "Corporate wants us to use a new system that will probably make our jobs harder."
This is exactly why I developed the CLEAR Method in my work with C-suite leaders and their teams. It's not rocket science (though it does work well with rocket scientists too!). It's a practical framework that transforms your high-level vision into specific impacts for each role:
Connect strategic initiatives to specific roles Link changes to daily work processes Explain personal benefits for each stakeholder Address resource and support needs Review understanding and commitment
While I'll cover the full CLEAR Method in my Executive Presence course (which is still under development – no fancy trailer yet!), here's a quick way to start breaking the strategy-to-action curse:
Then test your answers with actual humans in those roles. If they look at you like you've just explained quantum physics to a golden retriever, your translation needs work.
When you nail this translation, the change is dramatic. Instead of polite nodding, you get engaged questions. Instead of slipping timelines, you get proactive problem-solving. And instead of "what does this mean for me," you get "when can we start?"
It's the difference between your strategy being an academic exercise and your strategy being something that actually changes how your organization operates.
And isn't that the whole point?
This silent saboteur is just one of five critical pitfalls that derail even the most brilliant strategies. In future posts, I'll dive into the others, sharing practical frameworks for each. If you're interested in learning more, check out studiowlabs.com/executive-presence for information about my upcoming course.