Strategy Only Matters When It Matters to People
Most organizations don’t struggle because they lack a strategy. They struggle because the strategy they have was never truly designed to change anything.
I see this across districts, nonprofits, and companies I support: leaders create strategies because they’re supposed to have them. A vision statement is drafted. A set of goals gets published. The slides look sharp. Everyone nods in agreement. And yet, nothing shifts in the day-to-day reality of the organization.
Not because the vision is wrong.
Not because people aren’t committed.
But because the strategy wasn’t built to be lived.
It wasn’t connected to the real problems people are wrestling with.
It didn’t speak to the soul of the organization.
It didn’t unlock something that felt worth fighting for.
When strategy becomes a compliance exercise rather than a catalyst, execution is doomed before it begins.
Three Real Reasons Strategy Breaks Down
Reason 1. The Strategy Doesn’t Resonate
Leaders often frame strategy at a level so high it floats above the organization rather than running through it.
The issue isn’t abstraction; it’s disconnection.
If people can’t see themselves in the strategy, if it doesn’t honor their lived reality, if it doesn’t touch something they care about, then it becomes background noise. The words may be technically sound, but they lack emotional gravity. Strategy only sticks when people feel it and want to carry it.
Reason 2. There’s No Shared Understanding of the Problem
Most teams align around solutions before aligning around the problem. That’s where execution collapses.
A shared definition of success is impossible when the organization never co-created a shared definition of the challenge.
Real alignment comes from a process that brings people into the room, not a meeting where information is presented to them. When people help define what’s broken, where the friction lives, and what “better” actually looks like, the commitment is natural. The clarity is earned. The execution is shared.
Reason 3. The System Works Against the Ambition
Sometimes the strategy is right, but the system is built for something else entirely.
I’ve worked with organizations where the goals for one division unintentionally undermine the broader vision. Other times, incentives reward individual performance over collective impact. Or the decision-making structures slow progress to a crawl.
In these situations, people aren’t resisting change, they’re surviving the system they’ve been given.
A strategy cannot thrive inside architecture built for a different purpose.
What It Takes to Bring Strategy to Life
When organizations close the gap between vision and implementation, it’s because they choose to design strategy as a real-time application rather than a product.
The work shifts in five key ways:
1. Strategy Connects to Real People and Real Problems
Leaders slow down long enough to understand what challenges actually matter to their teams. They ask questions like:
- What’s the pain point we keep dancing around?
- What possibility would energize people if we really pursued it?
This grounds the strategy in lived experience, not theoretical aspiration.
2. The Process Is Co-Created, Not Announced
Strategy becomes something people build, not something done to them.
Listening becomes the first step, not the last checkbox.
3. Structures Serve the Vision—Not the Other Way Around
Decision pathways, communication routines, and data flows get rebuilt to support the ambition. Accountability becomes relational and structural, not punitive.
4. The Culture Supports Forward Motion
Leaders model clarity, courage, and follow-through. Teams learn to give and receive feedback without fear. Initiative becomes normalized.
5. Progress Is Measured in Behaviors, Not Slogans
Everyone can answer questions like:
- What does this strategy look like on a random Tuesday afternoon?
- What actions tell us the work is actually happening?
That level of clarity is rare and transformational.
What It Looks Like When Strategy Finally Lands
When teams experience a strategy that is built with them, not for them, the shift is unmistakable:
- People move with purpose, not confusion.
- Leaders spend less time putting out fires because teams operate with shared direction.
- Feedback becomes easier because expectations are real.
- Energy rises. Engagement rises. Trust rises.
- The organization stops admiring its vision and starts living it.
Strategy becomes a tool, not a symbol.
If This Resonates, Let’s Talk
If your organization has a strong vision but inconsistent follow-through, the issue isn’t capability. It’s connection, process, and the systems around the work.
This gap is solvable.
RMA partners with leaders to create strategies that speak to the people responsible for bringing them to life—strategies that align ambitions with behavior, culture, and results.
Let’s close that gap together.
RMA helps leaders translate strategy into systems, behaviors, and results that actually move the organization forward.
