How to make your strategy stick

Early in your career, you probably thought your job as a strategist was to come up with the big ideas.

You know, the kind that gets your team nodding sagely and your CMO whispering “game changer” under their breath.

But here’s the hard truth: having the idea isn’t enough.

If your brilliant strat doesn’t get picked up, championed, executed and, hell, CELEBRATED, then it’s just another lonely pitch deck buried in someone's Google Drive, collecting digital dust next to "Q3 Growth Plan FINAL FINAL v7.pptx".

To make a strategy stick, like actually stick, you can’t just be a thinker.

You’ve got to be an advocate. An internal campaigner. A slightly annoying-but-extremely-effective hype machine. Because strategy without traction is just theory. And baby, we’re not getting paid in hypotheticals.

So, here’s your cheat sheet for turning smart thinking into actual action.

1. Tailor your pitch to the room

Seems obvious in theory, but in action, it can be harder than it sounds. And the reality is that your beautifully crafted strategy means nothing if the decision-makers don’t get it.

That means:

• Finance cares about efficiency. Show them the ROI.

• Sales wants ammo. Give them clear value props.

• Your boss cares about results. Lead with impact.

• Product wants feasibility. Loop them in early.

Don’t use the same 30-slide deck for every audience. Make micro-pitches. Learn the priorities of each stakeholder, and shape your messaging around what they care about, not what you care about.

2. Build a coalition early

People support what they help build. Instead of dropping your strategy like a mic at the end of a long ideation process, bring people in early.

Invite feedback. Run mini workshops. Gut-check your direction. Not because you're indecisive, but because inclusion breeds ownership. And ownership breeds action.

Think of it like this: You’re not just presenting a strategy. You’re rallying a crew.

3. Keep it juicy and memorable

If your strategy can’t be summed up in a sentence, it’s going to die a slow death in internal comms purgatory.

Develop a shorthand or mantra that your team can latch onto. Something sticky. Something people actually repeat at all-hands meetings and slap on slide footers. (“If it’s not shareable, it’s not scalable.”)

Don’t mistake this for dumbing it down. It’s about creating clarity, and clarity creates momentum.

4. Manage the momentum

You presented. You crushed it. Everyone clapped. Now what?

This is the danger zone: the post-deck limbo. Great strategies often fail because no one keeps the ball rolling. Your job isn't done after the applause. It’s just started.

• Book the next check-in before you leave the room.

• Assign owners and deadlines.

• Set up a visible progress tracker.

• Be politely persistent. (Okay, sometimes impolitely.)

You need to be the strategy’s project manager and its hype person.

5. Learn to speak “execution style”

If you want your strategy to survive, it has to be digestible to the people who will actually implement it.

That means:

• Simplify the operational asks.

• Avoid vague directives like “increase engagement” (what, where, how?).

• Break the vision down into sprints, milestones, and dirty-but-doable tasks.

Partner with operators or producers who can help translate ambition into action. Make them your new best friend.

6. Don’t let it get dusty

Strategies age like milk in the wrong hands. If you're not actively updating, iterating, and communicating progress, people will assume it’s dead, or worse, irrelevant.

Schedule regular pulse checks:

• What’s working?

• What’s not?

• What needs to be revised?

A strategy that evolves gets adopted. A static one just gathers dust.

7. Celebrate wins loudly

Even if it’s small, make noise. When your strategy moves the needle, on a metric, a mindset, or a product decision, document it and shout it from the Slack channels.

People love being part of a winning team. So, show them they're winning. And make the strategy the backbone of that win.

You’re not a lone ranger/ genius. You’re a strategic advocate.

The best strategists don’t just dream big. They build bridges, rally troops, and do whatever it takes to drag that dream across the finish line.

Because strategy isn’t just about what you think. It’s about what actually gets done, darling. 

-Sophie Randell, Writer