Strategy moves at the speed of trust.
I’ve seen many organizations invest significant time and money into developing new visions and strategies—many of them responding to community needs or crisis situations, or tackling long-standing inequities that require a new way of work.
They gather data, hire facilitators, hold retreats and produce a polished final plan.
And then… momentum fades.
Was the strategy wrong? Did the people involved not care enough? Was the team confused about the vision? Were the deadlines too mushy? Sometimes, but those are not usually the real reasons strategies get stuck. Often new strategies stall because the organization underestimated what actually moves strategy forward.
The traction you need does not move at the speed of plans. It moves at the speed of relationships and trust.
The Hidden Work of Execution
Many leaders unintentionally treat strategy like a project:
Launch the plan / framework / vision
Assign a few initiatives
Create a timeline
Schedule updates
Hope momentum follows
But strategy is not a side project. It is a way of working.
When strategy gets placed in its own silo, disconnected from daily operations, team meetings, decision-making, shared language, and communication rhythms, it begins to stall almost immediately. Execution requires integration.
That means the strategy must live inside:
how leaders communicate
how priorities are chosen
how departments collaborate
how meetings are run
how resources are allocated
how accountability is practiced
how people understand their role in the whole
Why Inclusion Matters More Than Most Plans Acknowledge
Another common challenge: plans are often created with partial participation.
When the people responsible for carrying the work forward were not meaningfully included in shaping it, implementation begins in a deficit.
Questions remain unanswered:
Why this priority?
Why now?
What does this mean for my team?
How does my role connect?
What tradeoffs are we making?
If leaders have not built strong enough internal relationships for people to ask those questions honestly, confusion hardens into disengagement.
What I Look For First
When I’m brought in to help organizations move from strategy to action, I rarely start with the plan itself.
I start with the operating environment.
I listen for:
how people talk about one another
whether communication flows or bottlenecks
where decisions get stuck
whether teams understand each other’s work
whether leaders invite questions or defensiveness
whether trust is present or performative
Because without a healthy internal network, even smart strategies struggle and sputter.
What Actually Creates Traction
In my experience, organizations gain traction when they:
strengthen cross-functional relationships
create honest communication channels
lean into shared language
revisit priorities regularly
connect strategy to everyday operations
clarify ownership and decision rights
make room for questions and tension
lead consistently, not ceremonially
Especially in Philanthropy and Nonprofits
For foundations and nonprofits, this matters even more.
The work is complex. Outcomes are long-term. Authority is often shared. Change depends on collaboration. Relational trust becomes execution infrastructure.
But trust must extend beyond the walls of the organization.
In community-driven work, strategy also moves at the speed of trust with community. When residents, partners, or those closest to the challenge are invited to participate only after decisions are made, organizations lose something essential: insight, legitimacy, and shared ownership. Community voice can be dismissed as a communications tactic, but it is much more than that—it is strategic intelligence.
Agency is not a courtesy. It is a condition for making change that lasts. And power-building is not separate from execution. It is the path to fully-realized impact. The strongest strategies are shaped with communities, instead of delivered to them.
Final Thought
If your strategy is stuck, the next answer may not be another planning session, or a more detailed set of goals.
It may be stronger relationships, clearer communication, and a healthier way of working together.
The strategy investments that pay off are those you make into becoming a more self-aware leader, spending time with your team, and listening to your partners.
