Why Your Strategy Feels Stuck – And How to Get it Flowing

For a business to achieve anything intentional, it must have a strategy.  Setting that strategy is very similar to planning a flight in aviation.  You must have an idea of where you want to go (destination) and the route you’d like to take to get there. 

Before every flight, there are certain checks a pilot makes.  The aircraft and equipment are checked for serviceability.  The route planning and corresponding fuel requirements are confirmed and actioned.  Discussions about roles and responsibilities are had where necessary with other crew members.  Every step of this pre-flight planning acts as a multilayered check in that confirms and reconfirms the mission and the inputs.

Starting a flight without having checked any one of the above seems an obvious recipe for disaster, and yet businesses try and move forward every day without clarity of focus, or without having established clear communication, roles and responsibilities, or the culture that fuels the agreement and powers their strategy.

Effective communication and a strong, shared culture aren’t abstract ideas; they’re the lifeblood of your business.  Without communication, you can’t align perspectives.  Without culture, you can’t build trust or shared values.  We’ve unpacked these in the previous articles in this series (links below).  Now, it’s time to talk about the next step that will truly set your business in motion – strategic alignment.

Strategy Needs a Foundation to Fly

Just as a successful flight relies on fundamentals like aircraft serviceability and navigational planning, strategic alignment in business needs the foundation of culture and communication to ensure you’re heading in the right direction.  If the crew isn’t in sync, the plane doesn’t get off the ground – or worse, it goes off course.

Before we dig deeper, remember that if this process still feels overwhelming, that’s exactly where we come in.  At Making Teams Work, we help you create the straight line between where you are and where you want to go.  We streamline the process, cutting down wasted time and energy.  It’s easier than you think and crucial for long-term success.

Symptoms of Misalignment: What to Watch Out For

When communication, culture, and strategy don’t align in the right order, you’ll see signs in your business that things aren’t quite working as they should.  These symptoms are often mistakenly addressed as isolated problems, but they’re usually indicators of deeper issues:

• Low morale or disengagement: If your team’s culture is unclear or doesn’t resonate with them, you’ll likely see low energy, lack of initiative, or increased turnover.  Employees are often disengaged because they don’t feel a sense of shared purpose or value alignment.
• Communication breakdowns: Are meetings going in circles?  Do decisions get delayed because people aren’t on the same page?  This often signals that communication hasn’t been established as the foundation, leading to confusion about roles, expectations, or even the business direction.
• Strategy stalling: If you’ve launched a new business strategy but aren’t seeing results, the issue could be a misaligned culture or poor communication.  A strategy is only as effective as your team’s ability to understand and implement it, which requires trust, clarity, and strong communication channels.
• Leadership burnout: If you find yourself or your leaders constantly putting out fires or “driving” the team, you’re likely seeing the result of deeper misalignment.  You might be relying on a few strong personalities to keep things afloat instead of empowering the whole team with a unified culture and communication flow.

Communication + Culture = Strategic Alignment

So, why do these steps need to happen before you set your strategy?  Without solid communication, your team will never understand or buy into the strategy.  Without a strong culture, they won’t believe in it.  The strategy is what propels you forward, but it’s built on the foundation of what your team values and how they communicate.

Take aviation, for example.  Pilots, copilots, and cabin crew need to communicate efficiently. A shared understanding of protocol, roles, and how to respond in critical moments forms the culture that keeps them all aligned.  Only once that’s clear do they focus on executing the flight strategy – altitudes, routes, and timing.  You can’t plot a course if your team is confused about their role in getting there.

Why Businesses Rush Strategy (and Why They Shouldn’t)

Many businesses make the mistake of rushing into strategy without considering the underlying communication gaps or cultural misalignments.  They put a “bandaid” on what seems to be the problem – a drop in productivity, poor customer satisfaction, or financial struggles – without investigating the deeper issues at play.

For example, if your team is struggling with low morale, it’s tempting to introduce new incentives or revamp processes without addressing the culture that’s causing disengagement.  Or, if you’re facing communication issues, you might introduce more tools or technology without tackling the underlying need for clarity in how your team interacts and shares information.

What you’ve achieved so far, by focusing on communication and culture, is the equivalent of completing a thorough pre-flight check.  Now, with a unified team, you’re in the cockpit and ready to set a clear, confident strategy that aligns with where your business is heading. Think of strategic alignment as choosing the flight path.  It’s informed by everything that’s come before – your values, communication, and the way your team interacts.

Setting a Strategy That Sticks

Here’s what can be achieved now that your foundation is in place:

• Clarity of Vision: Everyone knows where you’re going, why you’re going there, and their role in getting there.
• Improved Decision-Making: When culture and communication are aligned, decision-making becomes quicker and more confident.  There’s no hesitation about the direction.
• Agility in Execution: Just like in-flight adjustments, strategy needs to be adaptable.  With a solid culture and clear communication, your team can pivot as needed without losing momentum.

If you’ve been in business (or life) for any length of time, you’ll know that whilst these bullet points may seem straightforward in theory, they can be deceptively complex in reality. Clarity of vision, improved decision-making, and agility in execution don’t just happen – they require the right foundations to function smoothly. This is why following the correct formula is so crucial. Without properly establishing communication and culture first, these elements can feel like individual mountains to surmount, creating friction and uncertainty in your team. However, when aligned correctly, they become part of a natural and progressive flow that drives your business forward with ease. It’s this alignment that transforms what feels sticky into a seamless, powerful strategy in motion.

Ready for Take-off

If communication is the language of your business and culture is the fuel, strategy is the flight plan that takes you to your destination.  As you move into strategic alignment, you’re ready to take off with your business.  If you’ve done the hard work to build a solid foundation, you can confidently steer your team towards a successful 2025 and beyond.

But if you’re still wondering where to start or need help plotting the right course, that’s where Making Teams Work can step in.  With a little help, you can streamline this process and unlock results faster than you think.

Catch Up on Previous Articles:

Missed the previous steps? Understand the Business Equation You Can’t Afford to Ignore in 2025, explore the Power of Communication – The Real Foundation for Success, and avoid the fix the Costly Business Mistake You Didn’t Know You Were Making. Then understand How Culture (not strategy) Drives Business Direction.

by Christen Killick

February 3rd, 2025