Have you ever experienced a situation where everyone agrees on a strategy, yet somehow it never gets implemented?

I encountered exactly this situation at a global automotive supplier.

A year earlier, the company had reached consensus on its Operational Excellence strategy. Importantly, this had been achieved with the involvement of key stakeholders – it had not been imposed on them.

Implementation plans were also in place. Yet, despite all this, progress had stalled.

During a two-day global workshop, we brought together three key stakeholder groups: plant directors from factories across 15 countries, regional excellence leaders and the central excellence team.

First, I wanted to clarify the answer to one fundamental question:

"Is implementing this strategy genuinely critical to all of you?"

The answer was unequivocal:

"Yes. If we fail to implement it, our long-term sustainable success will be at risk."

In other words, there was a strong sense of urgency.

So the next question was:

"If you all agree, why isn't it happening?"

This was followed by meaningful glances, eyes turning away and a noticeable shift in the room. Clearly, the answer lay among the things left unsaid.

To help different stakeholders express themselves more openly and understand one another's perspectives, I used a team coaching tool built around the metaphor of countries. This helped make each group's reality visible to the others.

From the Country of Plants, we heard:

"Things don't work the way you imagine them on paper. Come and see for yourselves what it's really like on the ground."

The message came across with a hint of frustration and reproach.

The Regional Excellence Leaders shared:

"To prioritize correctly, we need transparency from the plants. And to make a meaningful contribution, we need the central team to involve us in designing the processes."

The Central Excellence Team responded:

"When parallel processes are designed and implemented on the shop floor without our knowledge, it doesn't just disappoint us. It also undermines the automation initiatives we are planning to introduce in the coming months."

MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE.

I tried to help them see what was happening beneath the surface:

"Do you realize that you're all essentially saying the same thing? Collaboration, openness and the need to be understood. Each of you has a valid perspective from where you stand. But if everyone continues behaving in the same way, the strategy you all consider critical will never become a reality. Based on what we've just heard, what do we need to approach differently so that implementation can flow smoothly?"

From that point on, through the right questions and by repeatedly challenging the practicality of proposed solutions, new ways of working began to emerge.

More importantly, so did empathy, mutual appreciation and a willingness to understand one another.

Sometimes, the strategy isn't missing. And people aren't necessarily in disagreement.

What's missing is the willingness to visit each other's "countries" – to genuinely understand one another's realities and needs.

Kindest Regards

Şebnem Gürün Özeren