What good strategy has to do with storytelling and how to successfully implement change initiatives
Speakers Excellence: Dr. Etzold. You not only give lectures and advise companies on storytelling, but also on strategy. How do storytelling and strategy fit together? Dr. Veit Etzold: During my time as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group and as a lecturer at various business schools, I have been involved with strategy for a long time. I have observed time and time again: A strategy only works if it is also implemented. However, implementation only works if the employees understand what exactly they are supposed to implement. It must be clear to them why they are doing something (the strategy) and what exactly they should do (the operations / implementation). The necessary step for this is successful communication of the strategy. Whether it's a change project, new innovation initiatives, digitalization strategies, or the sale or acquisition of new business areas: Change is not always perceived as positive and must be convincingly explained. By the executives! Strategy has a lot to do with storytelling: Strategy is the path to the goal in competition with others. A story is the hero's journey to the happy ending in conflict with the villain. That is why a story is the best way to explain the strategy. And thus the first step towards its successful implementation. Speakers Excellence: Do companies see strategy implementation as a major challenge? Dr. Veit Etzold: Most companies I talk to see successful strategy implementation, especially towards digital transformation as happening in many banks, as one of the most pressing problems. Often, there is a lack of clearly stating the goal, communicating the strategy in the form of a good story within the company, and ultimately, putting the plan into action. Because a strategy that is not implemented is worthless. Speakers Excellence: Is successful implementation all that is needed? Shouldn't strategy also be planned? Dr. Veit Etzold: Of course. That comes first. Unfortunately, strategy is often confused with the goal, but it is actually "the path to the goal". A company has a goal it wants to achieve, for example, becoming the market leader in Germany in its sector. The path to the goal is the strategy. And the individual steps towards it are the tactics. Speakers Excellence: Can strategy be planned from start to finish? Dr. Veit Etzold: No, strategy must also adapt to the circumstances and in most cases is not completely predictable. Despite high-performance computers, we are not able to predict the weather for two days in advance. How then can you know what the market will look like in two years? As Carl von Clausewitz knew, strategy works until the first shot is fired. Mike Tyson put it more bluntly, but essentially meant the same thing when he said, Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Strategies need to be adjusted, but the goal should not be constantly changed. We cannot, like Air Berlin, say we want to be the market leader among business travelers today and then again the market leader among tourists to Mallorca tomorrow. That can only go wrong, as we are seeing now. The goal must be clear and at least medium-term unchanging. Planning a strategy, the path to the goal, when everything else is constantly changing and evolving sounds contradictory at first glance. However, good strategy planning combines the short-term with the long-term and always keeps the big goal in sight. This goal is often not defined. But you cannot achieve your goal if you don't know who you are and what you want. You need to know what makes your company unique, how it is positioned, and what untapped opportunities are waiting for you. To get somewhere, you must first know what you are and what you are not. Speakers Excellence: Let's go back to storytelling. What role can a good story play in the transformation process? Dr. Veit Etzold: There is much talk today about how "the customer" and not "the product" should be at the center. This is not new at all and has always been done by successful companies. After all, the customer pays money. A product costs money initially. The product only becomes profitable when a customer pays for it. Therefore, you should think about the strategy and the value proposition of your company as a customer journey: Which "villain" will you defeat for your customer in the future so convincingly that your customer cannot imagine any other company but you? And you must convey this perspective through the lens of the customer to your employees as well. Because in the end, customers decide how the company is perceived. Not through rosy marketing PowerPoint slides. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said it beautifully: "Your brand is what people say about you when you're not in the room." Speakers Excellence: We have the strategy and we have the story. Do you have one last tip for the final implementation? Dr. Veit Etzold: We all know brilliant ideas that were never realized. Because successful implementation is the key to strategy. In the end, you want a better company and not a bookshelf full of PowerPoint slides that no one will ever look at again. All your planning was meaningless if your strategy is not successfully implemented. It is crucial to differentiate between strategy and operations, involve all parts of the company, and master the art of embedding the strategy across the entire organization hierarchically. The board must tell a different story to their department heads than a department head to their team leaders. The higher the hierarchy, the stronger the strategic element in the story. The lower, the stronger the operational element. Prussian General von Moltke called this "mission tactics," which later evolved into Mission Command in the army. In the 19th century, von Moltke already contemplated how an organization can pursue a unified goal but still have everyone work as autonomously and effectively as possible. Anyone in a company who wants to embed a strategy must tell a convincing strategy story with the right mix of strategy, operations, and of course, a personal story to be believable as the sender of this narrative. The common practice in companies of simply forwarding the board presentation by email to their team with the words "please implement" does not lead to success.
