Who. What. When – Linking Strategy and HR

Halfway through the year, it’s common for leaders to sense a disconnect between the strategic vision they set in January and the reality they’re seeing day to day. This is often not a failure of planning—but of execution. When people across the organization lack clarity on priorities, accountability, and timing, strategy loses traction. Aligning execution with people systems and performance conversations is key to bridging the gap. 

As June arrives, organizations should ask: Are we where we expected to be with our strategic plan? Mid-year isn’t just a time for individual performance reviews—it’s an opportunity to assess whether the organization as a whole is moving in the right direction. Strategy doesn’t fail on paper—it fails in execution. And when execution stalls, it’s often because people don’t know where they fit.

Developing Strategy Is Just the Beginning

Developing a strategy can be challenging, but the heavy lifting is in implementing and executing that vision.

Over coffee, a colleague was lamenting that headway was not being made on key organizational objectives.  As we chatted it became clear that most of the senior management team could easily recite the company’s major objectives and activities. The issue wasn’t confusion about goals; it was in execution.

Sadly, this is how most strategies wind up failing.

At the halfway point of the year, this is the perfect time to reflect and ask: Is our strategy still alive in the day-to-day operations of the business—or has it quietly faded into the background?

Execution: Where Strategy Lives or Dies

The offsite retreat produced a vision. The board endorsed it. The messaging was shared. But did it translate into action?

Effective execution generally involves these 5 important steps:

1. Carefully “unpacking” the strategy into component pieces
2. Defining the major activities that will support the execution of those component pieces
3. Assigning priorities
4. Designating leads and accountability
5. Moving forward to execute and monitor progress.

Oh yes, and let’s not forget that a healthy dose of course correction is usually required to address the inevitable deviations from plan.

Now, what have we missed?

At mid-year, leaders should revisit these five steps as a strategy audit framework. Did each step actually happen—or did planning stop after the slide deck was approved? If progress has stalled, it may be time to re-engage and realign.

The Strategic Alignment Gap

Even with well-articulated strategies, execution fails when front-line managers and staff can’t translate goals into daily priorities. This is the strategic alignment gap—a disconnect between leadership’s direction and what people across the business are actually focused on.

Signs of this gap often show up as: Momentum stalls despite high activity Accountability feels unclear Teams are unsure how their work supports bigger goals When you notice these symptoms, the issue may not be your plan—it may be your alignment.   Mid-Year Strategy Audit: Questions Worth Asking Strategic check-ins aren’t about blame—they’re about ensuring the second half of the year isn’t lost to inertia or misalignment. Consider asking: Are strategic priorities still aligned with current realities? Are team members clear on how their daily work connects to the strategic plan? Are we tracking meaningful progress—or just activity? Have we reassigned accountability as roles evolved over the past six months? These are people-centered questions—and they must be answered not just at the executive level, but across every team.   If People Don’t Know Who’s Doing What, When… Any strategy is simply a set of integrated choices to pursue some activities and not others. People across the organization are implicated to various degrees by the component pieces and supporting activities of the strategy. So if your implementation plan does not include communicating who will be doing what, when, then failure to achieve objectives is certainly not far off.

Telling who to do what, when, seems so obvious. Yet too often, employees cannot see themselves in the bigger picture or don’t understand how the work they do Monday to Friday contributes to organizational objectives.

This is where your People & Culture systems become strategic assets—not just administrative ones.

If People Don’t Know Who’s Doing What, When…

Any strategy is simply a set of integrated choices to pursue some activities and not others. People across the organization are implicated to various degrees by the component pieces and supporting activities of the strategy. So if your implementation plan does not include communicating who will be doing what, when, then failure to achieve objectives is certainly not far off.

Telling who to do what, when, seems so obvious. Yet too often, employees cannot see themselves in the bigger picture or don’t understand how the work they do Monday to Friday contributes to organizational objectives.

This is where your People & Culture systems become strategic assets—not just administrative ones.

Linking HR to Strategic Activation

As my colleague Mike D’Amico outlined in another blog post, a critical task in the “unpacking” exercise is linking your strategy to your human resources.

Your performance management program is an important communication tool to ensure that staff members are confidently advancing the ball towards the major goals in your strategic plan. But it’s more than that—it’s the bridge between vision and accountability.

Performance management should:

• • Translate organizational goals into clear, measurable individual contributions
  • Provide timely feedback and course correction throughout the year
  • Surface development needs or capacity gaps that may derail execution

At this point in the year, your performance conversations can do double duty: reinforcing expectations and reinvigorating commitment to the big picture.

What You Do Next Defines the Rest of the Year

A mid-year check-in is not just an exercise in reporting—it’s a strategic opportunity. Reflecting on progress isn’t about judgment—it’s about momentum.

Because strategy isn’t static, and neither is your organization.

If you're seeing signs of drift—or simply want to ensure your people systems are aligned to your priorities—Stratford can help.

👉 Contact us to schedule a mid-year strategy and performance alignment session.