Where are we going?

Strategy not just for managers

If a company wants the best results it is not enough that the strategy makes sense to the board of directors. The employees need to experience the strategy as right, sensible and necessary in relation to the situation that the company is in. This is the result of a large Danish business research project organized by Copenhagen Business School and the consulting firm Strategos.

Lukewarm explanation does not work

Professor in Management and Strategy, Flemming Poulfelt thinks the investigation reveals a noticeable paradox.

- As the employees get better and better the demands on the strategy has to make sense to the individual employee. Knowledge employees do not settle for a lukewarm explanation as to why the company is heading in a certain direction. The job is more and more one’s identity and if the employees do not see the strategy working they start to slack off, says Flemming Poulfelt.

The employees’ personal role

It means that the employee has to feel that his/her competencies are used actively when the strategy is carried out.

- We have documentation showing that when the strategy makes sense to the employees, it shows on the bottom line. Apart from knowing where the company is heading and why – you have to be able to envision your own personal role in the strategy, says business researcher Mark Holst-Mikkelsen.

Facts about the investigation

• 60 companies have participated in the business research project.

• The companies represent turnover for more than DKK 100 billion and more than 40,000 employees.

• More than 3,300 people have answered questionnaires partially customized for the individual company.