Big Girl Panty Diaries - Entry #21: Your Shiny Strategy Means Nothing If No One Gets It
I once sat in a strategy session that cost more than my house. A dozen suits, a killer slide deck, bold promises — and six months later, everyone was still doing things the old way.
After years in change management, I’ve learned this: a strategy is only as strong as the people who actually understand it — and own it.
I’ve been on both sides — clutching the “perfect plan” behind closed doors and then cleaning up when it falls apart because no one feels ownership.
I’ll never forget one tenured employee who looked at me and said, “But this is always the way we've done it — it’ll work again!” And another in the break room who muttered, “This too shall pass.” That wasn’t stubbornness — that was a lack of context. No one had taken the time to explain why it mattered — for them, the clients, or the company.
Why does this happen? Two big reasons:
1️⃣ We underestimate how much socialization it really takes. Real buy-in isn’t one-and-done. It’s hallway chats, messy workshops, revisiting the tough questions. It’s people seeing their fingerprints on the plan. If you think you’re repeating yourself too much? You’re probably doing it just enough. And if you don’t give people the context, they’ll write their own story — and that story rarely works in your favor.
2️⃣ Fear shuts us down. We’re so afraid that opening up will invite pushback that we keep the shiny strategy locked up too long. We’d rather protect the perfect plan than risk a messy conversation. But here’s the truth: they’ll poke holes in it anyway — just later, when it’s harder to fix. If your strategy can’t survive a tough conversation, it’s not ready yet.
Big Girl Panties moment:
It takes courage to let people challenge your brilliant idea. It’s not weakness to invite critique — it’s weakness to pretend you don’t need it. Socializing your strategy doesn’t water it down. It strengthens it.
People don’t resist change because they’re stubborn — they resist because they’ve been left out of the room.
And I’ve seen it work. I’ve seen a strategy stick — not because it was perfect, but because people saw themselves in it. They were in the drafts, the pushback, the pivots. They owned it.
So test drive your strategy with the people who’ll hate it most. They’ll help you fix what really matters before you launch.
Big Girl Panties Diaries Rule: Ask for feedback before they give it to you anyway — when it’s too late. Repeat it until they roll their eyes — then repeat it again.
I’d take a plan that’s 80% perfect and 100% owned over one that’s 100% brilliant and dead-on arrival any day.
Next time you’re tempted to hoard your shiny new strategy, remember: Take the feedback. Have the conversation. Repeat yourself. Make it make sense. Messy alignment beats polished secrecy every time.
You can’t shortcut buy-in. If your strategy can’t walk the halls and speak your people’s language, it’s not a strategy. It’s a wish.
Big Girl Panties on: brave strategy isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about letting people in before you think you’re ready.
#ChangeLeadership #StrategyExecution #BigGirlPantyDiaries #Communication #Leadership