Strategy is one of the most overused words in our professional vocabulary.
Every organization has one, every team wants one, and yet very few live by it.
That’s because strategy isn’t a document, it’s a mindset. It’s not what we write; it’s what we practice when the meeting ends, the cameras are off, and the decisions get hard.
I’ve learned that lesson in many spaces, from municipal government to mosque leadership, from community campaigns to corporate communication rooms. The most effective strategies aren’t the most detailed ones; they’re the ones people actually believe in enough to live out.
Strategy Begins with Alignment, Not Activity
Most strategies fail not because they lack creativity, but because they lack alignment.
You can have the most beautiful plan on paper, but if your team doesn’t understand the why, it becomes a checklist, not a compass.
In every organization I’ve worked with, the turning point always came when we stopped asking, “What are we doing?” and started asking, “Why does this matter?”
That’s the core of what I call strategic alignment, when purpose, priorities, and people move in the same direction. Strategy should never feel like a separate task. It should feel like shared clarity.
A Strategy That Sits Still, Dies
A strategy is not a static plan; it’s a living system.
The best ones breathe, they adapt, respond, and evolve as the environment shifts. This is what consultants call adaptive strategy, but for me it’s simply realistic leadership.
During the City of Edmonton’s corporate focus areas rollout, for example, we had to translate five complex priorities, from financial sustainability to safety and growth, into clear, human language that 13,000 employees could see themselves in. That didn’t happen by writing a 50-page plan; it happened through conversation, iteration, and constant feedback.
A strategy that never moves beyond the PowerPoint is just potential energy. Execution gives it life.
Communication Is the Strategy
In my world, communication isn’t the last step of strategy, it is the strategy.
You can have the right vision, but if you can’t articulate it, align people around it, and adapt it to different audiences, it won’t survive first contact with reality.
That’s why I believe in using storytelling as a framework for alignment. A good strategy tells a story: where we are, where we’re going, and why it matters. When people can repeat that story in their own words, your strategy has moved from paper to practice.
The real test isn’t whether a plan is written, it’s whether it’s understood.
The Mindset Shift: From Perfection to Progress
Perfection is the enemy of strategy.
Too often, teams wait for full clarity before moving forward, a perfect brand, a perfect message, a perfect moment. But the truth is, clarity comes through action, not before it.
In strategic consulting, I call this the motion principle, progress creates precision. The organizations that thrive are the ones willing to test, learn, and refine. They treat strategy as a journey, not a verdict.
Whether I’m helping a foundation develop a communications plan or a city team launch a campaign, I remind them: a plan on paper changes nothing. Action, reflection, and iteration, that’s where strategy lives.
Culture Eats Strategy, So Build Both
Peter Drucker said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” I’d add: that’s only true when you let them eat separately.
The strongest organizations align their strategies with their cultures, ensuring the values on the wall match the behaviours in the hall.
At Al Rashid Foundation of Canada, for example, we didn’t just build a communications plan; we built habits of storytelling. We made communication part of culture, not a department. That’s when the strategy started working for us instead of against us.
A strategy can’t survive where the culture resists it. And culture can’t thrive without direction. The two must grow together.
The mindset of strategy is really about how you think every day:
- Do you make decisions based on priorities or pressures?
- Do you communicate with clarity or assumption?
- Do you build for the next meeting, or the next generation?
When strategy becomes a mindset, it stops being a document and starts being a discipline.
Living the Plan
A strategy is only as strong as the culture that carries it.
It’s not the binder on your shelf, it’s the clarity in your conversations, the confidence in your teams, and the consistency in your leadership.
If we want strategies that last, we have to build them into how people think, speak, and act every day.
Because at its core, strategy is not about control, it’s about connection.
It’s the language that turns vision into movement.
At ELMA Consulting, we help organizations turn plans into culture, because strategy only works when people live it.
