When I work with clients to help them execute their strategies, one of the most important issues they seem to face is getting staff buy-in to the new strategy.  I often hear the question:  What do we have to do to get staff buy-in to this new strategy?

Like any experienced consultant, my answer is usually: “It depends.”  It depends on your organizational culture.  Is this an organization in which people are used to being told from on high what the strategy is and then they go out and execute in lock-step?  Or, is it a culture based on consensus, where everyone has the need to ruminate, provide input, and discuss every last detail? 

When developing their strategic plans, a lot of clients we work with (most, in fact) are adamant about getting input from staff—in addition to the leadership team—and important external organizations such as clients or donors to ensure they are getting more diverse input and to help with buy-in from these key stakeholders. 

Getting input from these constituencies is important in developing your strategy because often an organization’s leadership team can have tunnel vision with respect to its mission, vision, and strategy and not always understand what other stakeholders need or want from it.  However, engaging staff and external stakeholders in addition to your organization’s leadership team still leaves a “blind spot” in your strategy development process.  What about the external environment?  Does your organization properly take account of the external social, technological, environmental, economic, and political environment in which you operate?