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7 Deadly Strategy Sins to Avoid in Your Communications
By
Lauren James
Strategy execution is make-or-break for life sciences organizations. When rapid growth, new therapeutic areas, or organizational changes are on the horizon, even brilliant strategies can falter without the right cultural foundation and employee alignment. Leaders often discover that their carefully crafted plans face unexpected resistance, misalignment, or slow adoption that puts initiatives at risk.
Does this situation feel familiar?
You and your team have spent hours, days, weeks and maybe even months developing a strategic roadmap. The strategy looks solid on paper, but six months later, execution lags. Teams seem disconnected, and momentum has stalled.
Seven common pitfalls can derail even the most well-conceived strategies if not addressed promptly. Let’s explore Strategy and Leadership Consultant Jeroen Kraaijenbrink’s “7 deadly sins of strategy” and how to avoid them before they impact your strategic communication plan.
1. Death by planning
❌ Sin: An overemphasis on planning the strategy rather than delivering it.
✅ Solution: Strike a balance between planning and execution. While thorough planning is essential, it should not become an endless loop. Focus on alignment over consensus and define clear milestones and timelines for implementation that everyone understands and can readily adapt to as needed.
2. Loss of focus
❌ Sin: After implementation, attention to the strategy wanes while everyone returns to business as usual.
✅ Solution: Maintain strategic focus by consistently communicating the strategy’s relevance and progress. Celebrate small wins along the way to show incremental success – it’s not just the big wins and direct progress against KPIs that showcase strategic execution. Ensure that the strategy remains a part of everyday conversations within your team.
3. Reinterpretation
❌ Sin: People adopt new terminology used in the strategy but use it to describe what they were already doing.
✅ Solution: Clarify the strategy’s key concepts and ensure that everyone understands its unique components. Provide real-world examples that illustrate how the strategy differs from past practices. Consider creating visual roadmaps that show the road ahead (the impact of great visuals on comprehension cannot be overstated!)
4. Disconnectedness
❌ Sin: This happens when the strategy is purely based on top management’s perception of reality.
✅ Solution: Involve employees at all levels of the strategy development process. If they help plan the battle, they won’t battle the plan! Conduct a survey to gather input and feedback. Ensure that the strategy reflects a collective understanding of your team’s challenges and opportunities as they relate to the overarching organizational strategy.
5. Behavioral compliance
❌ Sin: People do literally what is asked from them without really buying into the new strategy.
✅ Solution: Foster a sense of ownership and commitment to the strategy by explaining the “why” behind the “what.” Help employees understand how their roles contribute to the bigger picture and align their personal goals or individual development plans with the organization’s strategic objectives.
6. Misreading resistance
❌ Sin: Employees are blamed for resisting the change when, in fact, something else is going on.
✅ Solution: Address resistance with empathy. Investigate the root causes, which could be fear, uncertainty or lack of information. Engage in open dialogues to resolve concerns and provide reassurance. By managing through change with compassion, you can bring your team along the journey with you.
7. Broken agreements
❌ Sin: Management promotes the strategy in words but undermines it with what they do.
✅ Solution: Lead by example. Ensure that leaders and managers at all levels consistently align their actions with the strategic goals. Encourage accountability and hold everyone, including top management, responsible for maintaining the integrity of the strategy.
Successful strategy creates a strong culture
Successful strategy execution in life sciences demands more than compelling slides or thorough planning documents. It requires building a culture where every scientist, sales person, and team member understands how their work advances critical innovations and treatments.
When leaders proactively address these seven pitfalls, they create an environment where:
- Teams stay focused on strategic priorities even during rapid growth
- Managers cascade messages effectively across divisions
- Employees connect their daily work to broader organizational goals
- Innovation thrives through clear alignment and engagement
The stakes in life sciences are uniquely high — behind every strategy are patients waiting for breakthrough treatments. By building the right cultural foundation, life sciences organizations can move from strategy to execution with confidence, ultimately accelerating their ability to deliver life-changing solutions to the people who need them most.
Strategy fails without alignment.
Let’s make it stick.
