Before your New Year reset, consider the strategy-people disconnect

Returning to the office after the Christmas break often sees executives review their strategic plans, reinvigorate hiring strategies and reassess their budget priorities. Accordingly, job adverts jump by 21.8% in January, on average, according to SEEK. As leaders return refreshed from a break, full of resolutions and determination to do better in 2024, that assessment process may involve balanced scorecards, KPIs, reporting and other measures. Often, it is an enthusiastic quick-fix solution to get things moving again in the New Year after a quiet December and start to January.

If reading that rings true for you, ask yourself this. After struggling with executing an aspect of your strategy in 2023, does using the same assessment method you used last year risk giving you the same results this year? It may be that you have a strategy-people disconnect: a divide between your strategy and your people’s needs, capabilities, and motivations. 

Culture eats strategy for breakfast, but is your kitchen even open?

Strategy cannot be executed effectively if your people are not engaged and performing to their potential. As Peter Drucker famously said culture eats strategy for breakfast, but that was in 2006 and we have come a long way since then. Research by Beaumont People into meaningful work found that culture was but one subset of one of the four factors of meaningful work. 

When you and your team members are in meaningful work they have higher engagement levels, less sick leave, and are less likely to leave your organisation. Your people will have a higher commitment to your organisation, and your overall organisational performance will improve, even increasing your organisation’s performance during times of downturns or downsizing, therefore also improving the happiness of leaders. These higher levels of performance and engagement mean they are more likely to execute your strategy. 

The four factors of meaningful work

To bridge that strategy-people disconnect you need to understand the four factors of meaningful work, the subsets within them, and the areas of meaningful work in which your organisation is performing well. Everyone’s path to meaningful work is unique, so if you can align your people’s meaningful work needs to those you provide, that will help to build the bridge you need. The four factors are:

Individual

At an individual level, the subsets of meaningful work are defined by your people’s interests, abilities, and personality traits. It also encompasses aspects of their character that can change over time – the things you may not have asked your staff about recently like motivations, goals, aspirations; along with personal narratives — the stories your team themselves about their work.  

Job 

On the job front, meaningful work finds its cues in the type, quality, and quantity of tasks. Job design also plays a pivotal part, including how the role has been crafted or tailored by your organisation or you to create a sense of meaningfulness.

Organisation

Organisational-level indicators of meaningful work consider your people’s interpretation of your organisation’s leadership, alongside culture, policies, practices, and the social ecosystem within the workplace. These elements collectively contribute to shaping the meaningfulness of the job.

Societal

Societal influences extend their impact into meaningful work, driven by economic and social factors. Access to decent work and alignment with cultural norms significantly contribute to your team’s ability to attain meaning through their work. This is more challenging for you, as a leader to affect, however being aware of it is part of the process. 

Slow down to accelerate achievement

Whilst you have the determination and are refreshed, do not make the mistake of treating the symptom with that quick-fix solution. Instead, take the time to find and cure the underlying illness. The immediate need for results, caused by our unique holiday cycle in Australia, often means lower financial results in December, January and sometimes into February. As executives, we feel pressured to turn that around quickly. However, as McKinsey showed, slowing down does indeed speed up the results.

I recommend these steps:

1. Observe – internally and externally. What is working, and what could be improved?
2. Assess – your strategic current state against your desired state
3. Review – discuss with the executive leadership team to come to a judgement
4. Consult – consider seeking external advice

Taking these actions will help you determine whether you have a strategy-people disconnect and will save you a significant amount of time, money, and stress – helping you achieve better results, and ensuring you maintain your resolutions for that little bit longer into 2024.

Nina Mapson Bone is a people strategist, consultant, and author of Meaningful Work: Unlock your unique path to career fulfilment.