Co-authored with Margaret Wilson of Tandem Partners
In our current environment, one of the top priorities for leaders is building teams that work well together to drive strategy forward. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Yet the necessity of having both a strong strategy and a strong team hasn't always been the norm.
In the past, leaders often relied on stability for success. When each day was relatively similar to the one before it, you had a clearer sense of what strategy will lead to success — and a team used to working together made execution of that strategy smooth. As a result, focusing on strategy and team in tandem didn't feel that urgent.
But in today's reality, leaders must build strategy and team cohesiveness simultaneously in order to excel. You simply can’t have one without the other and still expect success.
Here’s why.
There are many newly formed teams working in organizations right now. This is due to a variety of factors such as layoffs, furloughs, necessary restructurings and individuals simply deciding to move on or opt out.
Combined with the a highly competitive recruiting environment, it means leaders are having a hard time filling open positions and even teams that appear to be intact aren’t “together” in the way they once were.
When teams are in flux like this, it makes sharing strategy and translating strategy quite challenging.
Hybrid and remote work have become permanent. While these structures offer flexibility and autonomy, they also require stronger intention from leaders.
Bringing new people onto the team, reinforcing shared priorities and creating real cohesion now takes significantly more than an annual retreat or planning meeting.
Without a more deliberate effort, teams might operate in parallel but they won't be in sync.
Leaders are also experiencing an ongoing sense of uncertainty. If you've been feeling stuck or indecisive, join the club. Over the past year, many leaders have reported feeling less decisive than usual. Not because they lack capability, but because conditions keep shifting.
While it may seem prudent to wait for more information before committing to a direction and communicating it to your team, doing so leaves your people to interpret your priorities on their own. That's the bigger risk.
Burnout and disengagement also continue to be critical leadership issues.
Gallup’s 2025 State of the Global Workplace report shows global employee engagement fell to 21% last year, with disengagement costing the world economy an estimated $438 billion in lost productivity.
When people aren't clear about where the organization is headed or why their work matters, they disengage and this makes it much harder to move forward together as a team.
If you want to overcome these challenges and build momentum for the year ahead, involve your team in a strategy process. When you use strategy discussions as a focal point for people to rally around, they become more engaged with plans, aligned with each other and motivated collectively.
They will not only hit the ground running in the new year, but keep running... together.
