It is not the plan that delivers — it is the conversation we are willing to stay in

Strategy Is Not Separate from People

The other day I was speaking with a friend, someone who moves between the coaching and consulting world. He described his work as strategy consulting, even though he said he only does coaching these days. I asked him what he really meant by “strategy consulting” as part of a coaching offer. His answer was surprisingly simple: “Just enabling good conversations that lead to good strategy.” That idea stuck with me. Because that is really how good strategy — and ultimately good results — happen. Not through perfect planning, but through the quality of conversations we are willing to have. Especially the hard ones. The ones we keep coming back to. The ones we do not avoid. But often is not seen like that.

We tend to treat strategy as a high-level intellectual exercise. Sharp minds. Big slides. Lots of data. But what actually shapes strategy are the conversations we are capable of having. Or not having. And behind those conversations are people — with their stories, loyalties, fears and needs. That is what makes hard conversations so hard. So we have them — and then set them aside. Or we are aware of tensions, but do not have the tools to work through them.

The Disconnect I Have Seen and Been Part Of

I have sat in many strategic discussions over the years — in pharma, in consulting, in team meetings and facilitating executive conversations. And I have seen time and again how what gets labelled as “strategy” is often a construct built on top of:

• Pressure

• Unspoken tension

• Competing egos

• The need to look good

• An unwillingness to name the real problem

Quite often the strategy bit can be done by a team, quickly, at least the draft plan to start off, gather the right data and test hypothesis. But then it gets complicated when all these things begin to be at play.

I have seen consultants deliver beautifully clear strategic plans, fully aware — and sometimes even saying — that the real issue lies in leadership or organisational dynamics. But because of these issues, organisations often bring in consultants to create alignment without confronting the conflict. A plan signed off by top consultants avoids hard conversations and gives something that appears safe. It protects the surface — but it leaves the wiring underneath untouched. Even the most technically sound strategy can lose its impact if the system cannot implement it — and we cannot implement what we cannot talk about.

The real work of strategy is holding the tensions in the organisation and pulling through them. That requires engagement, trust and alignment. But all of those rest on our ability to navigate difficult conversations.

Team dynamics' conversations

We often separate the people conversations from the strategy conversations. They happen in different rooms. At different times. We expect that a separate offsite on leadership will prepare us for strategy. But it rarely does. Because the real issues show up in the strategy conversation — when results are at stake, when competing views collide, when discomfort is high.

That is where the work needs to happen.

"We will deal with the human stuff later." But later rarely comes. So strategy — brilliant on paper — falls apart in practice.

That conversation with my friend brought this into focus. For a long time, I treated coaching and strategy as separate disciplines. I thought I had to choose: Do I want to work with ideas and impact — or with people and growth?

But the truth is, the best team dynamics material surfaces in the middle of strategic work. Because that is when everything shows up:

• What people are really fighting for

• Where they feel uncertain

• What they are unwilling to risk

That is where alignment becomes possible — or impossible. Not in a short lived offsite. But in the room, when a decision must be made and direction chosen. And again later, when implementation falters, and the real issues resurface.

Strategy, Operations and the Human Foundation

We often talk about strategy and operations as the two pillars of performance. But they both sit on the clarity, maturity and connectedness of the people involved.

That is the human foundation — and it is often invisible, messy, complex. But it is what holds everything else. And the thread that pulls that foundation together? The conversations we are able to have. At all levels. But especially at the top.

Strategic conversations are not separate from team dynamics. They are team dynamics — under pressure, in real time.

My advice — having been both inside and outside of these rooms:

• Bring the coach or facilitator into the strategy room.

• Make space to address what is happening in the moment.

• Do not postpone the human stuff — integrate it.

• Work through the tensions as you work through the plan.

When that foundation is strong, you get honest conversations, clear choices and strategies that live. When it is weak, you get nice decks, broken trust and plans that never touch ground.

This is why team coaching — or leadership development — is not a support function. It is not the soft stuff. It is the work of making the foundation real. And the plans delivered.

Strategy is not separate from people. Results are driven by people — in conversation, in relationship, making things happen, under pressure.