Breaking Down Silos: How to Work Across Levels to Increase Strategy Execution
Strategy leaders are tasked with leading from a place between executive-level leadership and the folks on the front line.
Working as a Translator between the plan Architects (the C-Suite personnel building the strategy) and the Doers (the professionals carrying out the work that supports the strategy) – strategic plan leaders communicate the needs and priorities of each party across the reporting structure and back again to inform each group’s approaches.
Read more about Leading from the Center here
This flow of information is a lot for the Translator to shoulder without a healthy Culture of Strategy Execution that prioritizes cross-departmental visibility and fosters collaboration.
However, if your organization is only at the beginning of a cultural shift towards effective strategy execution, there are some techniques that you can focus on now that will help you break down silos sooner.
Best Practices for Increasing Cross-Departmental Visibility
The 2025 State of Strategy Execution revealed that:
77% of leaders report silos between departments as a top barrier to achieving their strategic initiatives.
But how do you work around that?
After all, teams are built because it’s better to have a smaller group of people dedicated to accomplishing one set of goals of the business, versus having all employees focused on bettering all facets of the organization.
However, there’s a huge cost to keeping departments focused on just their contributions. The biggest risks of operating in silos are the hard cost of accidentally duplicative work and devoting double the resources to achieve a similar outcome. (A strategy leader’s nightmare!)
The antidote? Fostering true cross-team collaboration needs two things:
- A strategy that’s fully informed and aligned across levels before execution begins
- A tenacious plan update cadence where insights actually inform plan adjustments
As the strategic leader, these are the processes you can champion.
Use a Combination of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Plan Development
32% of leaders reported that their goals don’t align with departmental objectives.
One way to set the stage for a successful cross-departmental plan is to approach plan development as a conversation between the broader (executive Leadership) and more specific (tactical Teams) arms of the organization.
It may seem like a bit of a chicken-or-the-egg scenario:
Do the Teams list out all the projects they need to accomplish first, and then Leadership has too many different ideas to bucket into as few strategy pillars as possible – without one unifying direction?
Or does Leadership dictate the goals that need to be completed without any outside expertise, and then the Teams must narrowly squeeze their skills into one of the strategy pillars to which they don’t feel aligned?
The truth is, neither approach is effective as they both happen in a vacuum instead of as part of a back-and-forth. The strategy leader must persistently work across the spectrum – moving from the top-down, to the bottom-up, and again and again – to build a plan that takes in both perspectives and produces a strategy that promises to move the needle.
For example –
Leadership works backwards from their Vision statement and identifies 3-5 things they want to change in the next year to help them get closer to that ideal.
The strategy leader then communicates those pillars to the Teams, who outline the initiatives and projects they can conduct to make a direct impact on those main strategic pillars.
The Teams also identify other objectives or goals/measurements that are in their interest to execute and propose how it would impact the larger organization’s success.
The strategy leader communicates those proposals back to Leadership, who then determines whether/how they will adapt the overall plan to include those ideas – and the strategy leader communicates those changes back to the Teams, and so on.
The combination of Leadership’s strategic direction and Departmental expertise leads to better outcomes than relying solely on a one-way method. This moderate approach places both groups firmly in their areas of expertise to produce a fully informed, highly effective plan to start with.
Watch Out! Be Judicious About What Makes It Into the Plan
Part of a plan’s successful alignment depends on how compact the scope of the plan is. The importance of Leadership is to make a tighter, more focused plan that Teams can then expand upon, ensuring alignment with organizational priorities. Leadership clearly sets the direction, and then allows Teams to figure out how to achieve those goals.
The Teams’ role is to make absolute sure that nothing is being left on the table, and that the organizational priorities are achievable and measurable within the context of the skills and abilities of the organization. And, if not, to propose adjustments or approaches that require additional resources.
Leadership should clearly communicate the reasons behind the chosen priorities. They play a crucial role in saying both yes and no to proposed initiatives, ensuring that only highly impactful projects are pursued. However, it’s equally important to explain which initiatives were considered that didn’t make the cut – and why. This practice invites trust by providing insight into the process and identifying the Teams as acknowledged experts.
It’s important to ensure the plan doesn’t get too “big” and focuses only on ideas that directly contribute to the organization’s priorities. After all, as the Project Management Institute (PMI) published, 44% of strategic initiatives are unsuccessful, but 65% of projects highly aligned to organizational strategy are accomplished.
Anything that’s left on the table might fit into an operational plan – equally important, but usually quick to identify as the difference between OpEx instead of CapEx budgets.
Is Your Strategic Plan an Operational Plan in Disguise?
Be Consistent About Plan Update Reviews to Maintain Momentum
79% of failed strategic initiatives can still be attributed in part to a lack of collaboration.
Plan governance is crucial to maintaining plan momentum. Leadership needs to set expectations that regular data updates and plan review meetings are not optional. Team leads or department heads need to be getting together with Leadership once a month (recommended) to review data trends, address conflicts and challenges, and identify any overlaps in resources. The strategy leader needs to be unrelenting and proactive about getting these touchpoints on the calendar in advance, never leaning on “busy” as an excuse.
Ready more about Urgency vs. Importance vs. Impact here
These reviews will happen with or without all attendees, so if a Team leader’s input is lacking, they may miss out on decision-making or resource allocation.
Cross-departmental discussions throughout your planning cycle are crucial to allow functional leaders to ask about each other’s approaches and what resources they’re using. Leaders might find out that there’s a solution – a vendor, consultant report, or software – that already exists that they can leverage for their own initiatives.
Watch Out! Make the Review Count with Insight-Based Adjustments
Perhaps the biggest risk of regular meetings, besides not having them at all, is going through the motions without making any changes or communicating to the company at large. The C-Suite should make a show of supporting the strategy at every opportunity. Ensure that Leadership consistently communicates the strategic priorities, progress, and any changes to the entire organization through various channels (e.g. Town Halls, email updates).
Imagine a CEO giving a shout out to the Sales team for converting 15% more Marketing-qualified leads to mid-funnel deals by implementing a new touchpoint strategy. “And because of the early indicators in the data, we’ll be allocating more budget to upgrade our automated outreach software to further develop the successful email education drip campaign.”
It can take time to build the cycle of review and adaptation, but clearly identifying the rules of engagement at the start will help push through the low points of change management.
Stick to It! Effective Strategy Execution Needs Visibility and Collaboration
Remember that the reason you decided to change your plan development and governance approach is because the “old way” wasn’t working. If you decide that the “pain of same” is more desirable than the “pain of change,” you’re choosing value destruction by allowing behaviors that you know don’t work to prevail (Global Focus Magazine).
As is identified in various change acceptance curves, you have to push through the most stressful point to see any sustained change. Allowing Change Resistors to hold their breath and stamp their feet long enough until Leadership caves in and goes back to the old way of doing things will make your organization more immune to change in the future.
Read more about the process of change acceptance here
The time and energy you invest up front into building an aligned strategy – from top to bottom and back – should be protected at all costs from letting your plan get pushed to the background throughout the year. Find a tool that works for your organization to keep your plan top-of-mind and visible to anyone in the organization.
Reach out to one of our Execution Experts for a tailored look at how AchieveIt can help your team automatically collect updates, showcase data in live dashboards, and facilitate regular cross-team discussions to keep your plan agile and schedule a free demo today.
