Every meaningful story includes an underlying theme, characters, setting, plot, conflict, resolution and audience. Your business strategy has many of these same elements:

Theme: Your company’s vision and purpose
Characters: Your employees, products and services
Setting: Your industry, market and competitive environment
Plot: Your strategic plans and initiatives
Conflict: The challenges, barriers and customer pain points you face
Resolution: The way you address challenges, barriers and pain points
Audience: Your prospects, customers and employees

That’s probably why you can’t execute a strategy and tell a different story in the market. Nor can you tell one story and execute a different strategy — unless, of course, you want to confuse your audience. Your strategy and story are intrinsically connected. Yet, establishing connectivity between your strategy and story requires discipline. It means you must invest the time, resources and energy to make it happen. You must be intentional.

In his book, The New Leader’s Playbook, George Bradt said, “Everything communicates. You can either make choices in advance about what and how you’re going to communicate or react to what others do. It is important to discover your own message and be clear on your platform for change, vision, and call to action before you start trying to inspire others.”

  • Do you have a documented corporate strategy?
  • Do employees know what the strategy is and the role they play?
  • What about your story? Is it aligned with your current go-to-market strategy?
  • Are employees able to bring the strategy and story to life in the customer experience?

Research from Forbes finds that only 65 percent of organizations have an agreed-upon strategy and just 14 percent of employees understand what the organization’s strategy is. Don’t let a lack of clarity and connectivity between your strategy and story stand in the way of success. Document and infuse your go-to-market strategy and story throughout the enterprise. It will significantly improve employee engagement, business performance — and your customer experience.