Why Strategy Mapping Is The Future Of Strategic Communication

 

It’s no secret that strong strategic communication is one of the most important foundations of any growing organization. After all, what use is a business strategy if no one understands what the strategy is, or how you intend to achieve it?

One of the most important features of good strategic communication is clarity. A message that is over-complicated and disjointed will get lost in translation, while a message that is clear and understandable can be easily communicated throughout departments or whole organizations.

That is why strategy mapping is quickly gaining a foothold as a highly effective tool of strategic communication. Here is a beginner’s guide to strategy mapping, and the benefits that strategy maps can offer.

What is a strategy map?

In the simplest of terms, strategy mapping involves putting together a clear and concise diagram that sets out the strategic goals of an organization and how those goals are to be achieved.

Strategy maps come in many different shapes and forms, and can be tailored to fit the needs of any business. However, they usually have a few important things in common.

Firstly, they are brief and succinct, with minimal fluff or filler. In fact, a good strategy map should fit on a single page. Secondly, they feature different objectives inside shapes (usually blocks), which are linked together with arrows or lines that show causal relationships.

Why are strategy maps important?

In order to communicate your business strategy, you need to capture it in a way that is clear and understandable to everyone involved. Strategy mapping is one of the best ways to do this.

Strategy mapping takes your strategic theories and records them in a tangible, information-rich manner that is easy to share and communicate with other relevant stakeholders within the company.

By providing your employees with strategy maps, you increase accountability by ensuring that everyone understands what their wider objectives should be. As a result, strategic communication is improved, and the entire organization can continue moving towards a single, unified goal.