Most strategies do not fail in the boardroom. They fail somewhere between the plan and the people expected to deliver it. Middle managers are the bridge.
Ask a leadership team whether they have a strategy and almost all will say yes. Ask the people three levels below what that strategy means for their week, and the answers scatter.
The bridge is thinner than you think
The people expected to carry strategy into daily work are usually the least supported group in the organisation. They are promoted for technical excellence and then asked to do something entirely different: mobilise other people.
What actually closes the gap
- Translation. Every manager should be able to state, in one sentence, what the strategy requires of their team this quarter.
- Permission. Execution stalls when managers do not believe they are allowed to decide.
- Conversation quality. Most of a manager's influence is exercised in short, unplanned conversations. That is a skill, and it can be taught.
Strategy documents do not execute themselves. People do — and the quality of their management determines whether the plan survives contact with the working week.