Frontline Managers Aligned with Strategy: 4 Field-Tested Steps

Getting Frontline Managers Aligned with Strategy
For a corporate strategy to succeed, it must be understood, credible, and actionable. That requires more than just executive team alignment — it demands that frontline managers fully grasp and embrace the strategy after your strategy retreat. While executive leaders are responsible for understanding and committing to the business direction, frontline managers are the ones who translate it into actionable, meaningful steps for their teams.

When managers are aligned in this way, every activity and behavior across the organization can focus on driving successful strategy execution.

Why the Focus on Frontline Managers?
From our perspective, the hardest part of corporate strategy is consistent execution across the organization. Ultimately, the people most responsible for turning strategic plans into results are frontline managers — the leaders who get the work done through their teams. Representing more than half of an organization’s leadership and supervising over three-quarters of the workforce, frontline managers hold the keys to bringing any strategy to life.

Strategic Clarity
The best leaders ruthlessly seek strategic clarity so that the clear and compelling choices about where to play and what big bets to make are clear to the frontline.  But strategic clarity is neither simple nor easy.

• IBM found that less than 10% of well formulated strategies are effectively executed.
• 49% of executives recently surveyed by Booz & Company said their companies had no strategic priorities.
• Our organizational alignment research found that employees perceive that their company’s strategy is 50% less clear than leaders believe it to be.

Unless you and your frontline managers have absolute clarity on business goals, priorities, and execution, your strategic initiatives will falter. A strategy that is unclear, unaligned, perceived as inadequate for the challenge, or lacking sufficient resources simply cannot be implemented successfully.

Frontline Management Strategic Clarity Warning Signs
Based on insights from our management development and new manager training programs, the following are key signs that you have work to do before you and your frontline managers are fully aligned:

• Success and failure metrics are unclear
• Employees frequently seek clarification before taking action
• Key stakeholders disagree on priorities, roles, resources, funding, or timing
• Many question whether the strategy is adequate for the organization’s objectives
• The strategy is executed inconsistently across the organization

How to Get Frontline Managers Aligned with Strategy
Frontline managers often have their fingers on the pulse of what matters most to both employees and customers. They must also have a clear understanding of where the business is headed. If your managers are even slightly uncertain about the organization’s goals, it’s essential to create the conditions that ensure they:

1. Understand the Finances
   Invest the time to ensure your managers have the business acumen to interpret and act on your company’s financial realities. The more they understand the numbers, the more effectively they can guide their teams. If you want to strengthen strategy execution, don’t relegate financial insight to the finance department alone.

   Frontline managers need to grasp the financial implications of their decisions just as much as anyone else.

2. Understand How and Why Decisions are Made
   If you want frontline managers to make timely, high-quality, and thoughtful decisions, give them clear visibility into how and why the executive decisions they’re expected to implement were made. With the right context, authority, and understanding, frontline managers can often make faster and better decisions than those above them.

   If you expect strategies to flow down through the organization, decision-making authority needs to follow.

3. Feel Comfortable Asking Questions and Giving Feedback
   If you want your frontline managers to align with the strategy, they need to feel comfortable asking tough questions and offering candid feedback to their leaders. They have to believe in the strength of the strategy, be able to translate what truly matters to their teams, and adapt as conditions shift.

   Make sure your leaders treat questions not as criticism but as opportunities to build alignment and develop their managers. The real test is this: are your leaders genuinely open to feedback?

4. Get the Coaching They Need
   Managers who receive consistent coaching outperform their peers by a factor of four. That’s why leaders should be expected to spend at least 30 percent of their time coaching frontline managers — and frontline managers should dedicate a similar amount of time to developing their teams. If you want frontline managers to grow into real leaders, they need steady coaching that helps them see the broader landscape, make sound decisions, and guide their teams with confidence.

The Bottom Line
With flatter organizational structures, frontline managers increasingly hold the key to translating strategic priorities into the tactical actions needed to deliver results. To get them truly aligned with the strategy, companies must invest the time to ensure frontline managers understand the organization’s direction — and what it means for their teams day to day. The question is simple: are your frontline managers aligned?

To learn more about improving strategy execution, download 3 Big Mistakes to Avoid When Cascading Your Corporate Strategy