1. Connecting People to Strategy
Introducing Strategic LiteracySM
A Breakthrough Approach from Tailwind
2. 73% of workers say their organization’s strategies and goals are
not translated into specific tasks they can execute.
70% of workers do not know what to do to support their organization’s
strategy.
81% of workers do not feel committed to their organization’s strategy.
87% of workers are not satisfied with the results of their work.
Excellence in Execution remains the number one issue cited by
CEO’s Worldwide.
“…a staggering 95% of employees in a company are either unaware of,
or do not understand the strategy.” Kaplan and Norton
Why focus on Strategic Literacy?
6. Symptoms of Gaps in
Organizational Literacy
Strategy not clear Strategy not easily
and focused Senior understood
Leaders
Executives not Lack of Strategic
collaborating on Executives Thinking skills by
execution Executives
Strategy not Everyone not on the
translated at the Managers same page
Individual level
Organization not Employees do not
aligned around its understand the
Supervisors
strategic intent strategy
Too many initiatives Employees not
& they’re not committed to the
aligned with the
Employees
strategy
strategy
How do you know when you have a problem with Strategic Literacy?
7. Aligning Executives and
Managers
Alignment is a term that can represent
wide variability in actual results.
Organizations can be aligned around
Mission and Values, but not long term
Strategy. Or aligned around a Shared
Vision, but not in the Strategic
Imperatives they need to realize that
Vision. Often executives and managers
might agree on the “What”, but not on
the “How.”
True alignment involves having a Shared
Vision, then using a consistent Thinking
Framework to translate that Vision into
real work. True alignment involves
precision of thought—where executives
and managers at all levels collaborate
around a central intent.
Tailwind’s process is built around true
alignment and precise thinking. It aligns
the thinking—and the work—of each
executive and manager with the overall
strategy, and with each other.
8. A New Process for
Strategic Performance
Senior Leaders often struggle with
getting everyone on the same page so
that they are engaged and fully aligned.
Enabling your team to collaborate
around a single strategy involves a lot of
moving parts.
Strategic Performance is what happens
between your intent—what you want to
do—and its execution by your people.
Without a managed translation process,
an organization’s intent is often diluted
as executives and managers interpret
their individual roles in execution.
This dilution occurs because the strategic
thinking of individual leaders often has a
high degree of variability, or randomness.
This randomness in the thinking process
causes leaders to think differently about
the urgency or relevance of problems
they face. The predictable result is
unfocused, ineffective execution of those
things that are most strategically vital to
the organization.
11. Translating Strategy at the
Individual Level
An organization’s strategy is often
difficult to understand. Even if your
executives and managers do understand
the strategy, they are challenged to
effectively translate it for themselves and
their part of the organization.
The ability to translate strategy at the
individual level is like having a Rosetta
Stone for your organization. The strategy
suddenly makes sense—whether the
language being spoken is Operations, IT,
HR, Sales, or Marketing—everyone is
able to plug-in to the big picture and
make the right decisions.
Tailwind’s process enables each executive
and manager to translate the overall
strategy and own that translation. The
priorities that they set are perfectly
aligned with the overall direction. This
makes them perfect agents for the
overall intent and aligns both their
thinking, and their work with the
strategy.
14. Articulation Process
As many as 95% of workers do not
understand their organization’s
strategy. We often find that the Thinking as a Focus on Real
Process Work
strategy is not as clear and focused as
it needs to be.
Individual Integrated
How the strategy is structured and Translation Communication
articulated makes all the difference. A
clear and compelling strategy focuses
the entire organization. Without the
proper articulation process, a great
strategy can falter in execution. Articulation Strategic Collaborative
Engagement of
Process
LiteracySM the Mind
Tailwind helps organizations articulate
their strategy to ensure that it is
understood by everyone. We also
work with executives and managers to
articulate their own individual
translation of the overall strategy so
that it can be executed.
15. Individual Translation
73% of workers say that their
organization’s strategy is not translated
into specific tasks that they can execute. Thinking as a Focus on Real
Workers at all levels must translate Process Work
strategy in order to make decisions and
conduct business. Individually translating
your strategy is the key to aligning these Individual Integrated
decisions and tasks with your overall Translation Communication
intent.
Tailwind has developed a breakthrough
process that enables executives and
managers to create individual GamePlans Articulation Strategic Collaborative
that are perfectly aligned with the overall Engagement of
strategy. Our Strategic Partners at The
Process
LiteracySM the Mind
Work Itself Group have developed a
breakthrough process for aligning work
teams with the overall strategy and
translating the strategy into the tasks of
each individual worker.
Working together, we can align the work
of every worker with the overall strategy
through individual translation.
16. Thinking as a Process
Executives and Managers often lack a
consistent process for translating
strategy. This leads to variability in Thinking as a Focus on Real
Process Work
execution. And it is compounded by the
fact that they are also inexperienced at
strategic thinking.
Individual Integrated
Translation Communication
Knowing this, organizational leaders work
to align everyone’s behaviors. But in
reality, an individual’s thinking precedes
their behavior. If you want to effectively
change behavior, the best place to start is Articulation Strategic Collaborative
Engagement of
with thinking. Tailwind’s approach Process
LiteracySM the Mind
focuses on managing each individual’s
thinking process as the key to realizing
desired behaviors.
Tailwind has created a set of proven
thinking frameworks that get everyone
on the same page to drive execution.
17. Focus on Real Work
We focus on real work first, and learning
occurs as a by product, not the other way
around. Thinking as a Focus on Real
Process Work
There’s a lot of buzz about “action
learning”—having people learn
something new while working in a Individual Integrated
Translation Communication
simulated environment—so that the
learning can then be effectively
transferred back on the job. In fact,
that’s the challenge with most new
things: first learning them, and then
attempting to transfer them to a real Articulation Strategic Collaborative
situation. Engagement of
Process
LiteracySM the Mind
Tailwind’s approach is different. It
applies directly to your own real work.
We immediately engage your people in
working on what really matters to your
organization—the execution of your
strategy. Our clients are both pleased
and surprised by our approach because
of the amount of real work that we
accomplish from the very beginning.
18. Integrated Communication
Communicating strategy goes well
beyond sharing it with employees. It
includes how the strategy is structured so Thinking as a Focus on Real
Process Work
that it can be easily understood. It
involves how the senior executives are
included so that they can buy into the
Individual Integrated
strategy. It factors in how each person is Translation Communication
presented with the opportunity and tools
needed to align their individual work
with the strategy. It considers how each
person understands their individual role
in executing the strategy. Strategic Collaborative
Articulation
Engagement of
Process
LiteracySM the Mind
At Tailwind, our entire process is
designed around an integrated
communication process. Our overall goal
is to make your people fully literate in
your strategy and we weave elements of
communication into every step of our
approach. The result is that your people
will deeply understand your strategy and
be able to align their work in support of
it.
19. Collaborative Engagement
of the Mind
“Managers can’t align people with
strategy…people must align themselves.”*
People align themselves when they are Thinking as a Focus on Real
mentally engaged with the strategy and Process Work
have a structured process for collaborating
in its execution. That is, they have the
opportunity to understand the big picture Individual Integrated
and paint themselves into it. Translation Communication
Tailwind uses a consistent thinking process
that enables everyone to align around a
common strategy. It engages individuals
in thinking through the strategy from their Articulation Strategic Collaborative
perspective. It provides them with the Engagement of
opportunity to be self-determinant in
Process
LiteracySM the Mind
what they need to do in order to execute
it.
When people are empowered to
collaboratively engage in thinking about
the strategy, they own the outcomes. The
priorities they set and the decisions they
make are aligned with the strategy. They
recognize and value collaboration as a key
to accomplishing their own work.
* Dr. Brent Peterson and Gaylan Nielson, Fake Work
20. An Innovative New Approach
Connecting People to Strategy is achieved
by making the organization strategically
literate in its own strategy. Tailwind’s Thinking as a Focus on Real
Process Work
approach leverages six innovative design
principles that enable its effectiveness.
Individual Integrated
Strategic literacy galvanizes an Translation Communication
organization’s people around its strategic
intent. It enables them to understand
their role and how they fit into the big
picture. It provides a consistent
framework for translating the overall Articulation Strategic Collaborative
Engagement of
strategy individually at their level. Process
LiteracySM the Mind
Strategic Literacy is a new way of
thinking around how to deploy and
execute strategy. It broadens the
possibilities for how leaders can engage
and align their organizations by changing
the collective mindset—one person at a
time.
