Strategy Alone Doesn’t Travel
Most organisations have a strategy.
Clear goals.
Defined priorities.
A logical plan for allocating scarce resources.
Far fewer have a narrative strategy. That gap is where momentum is lost.
A narrative strategy is not the language wrapped around a plan at the end of the process.
It is the deliberate framing that allows people to understand the strategy, remember it, and act on it — especially when conditions change.
Without that framing, even strong strategy struggles to travel.
Strategy decides; narrative mobilises
Strategy answers the what and the how.
What you are trying to achieve
How you intend to achieve it
Where time, money, and attention will go
What will be prioritised — and what will not
Narrative provides the meaning and the why that makes those choices actionable, memorable, and motivating.
This distinction has been well observed.
Simon Sinek popularised it with his focus on purpose and belief.
What is often missed is the operational implication.
The why does not replace strategy. It makes strategy usable.
Narrative strategy is not about inspiration
This is where many organisations lose their footing.
Narrative becomes confused with tone.
Or messaging.
Or something delegated to communications once decisions are already locked.
A narrative strategy is a leadership discipline.
It creates a shared explanation for why these choices make sense together.
That shared explanation matters because people do not execute strategy line by line. They interpret it.
Pressure reveals what people really rely on
Under pressure, strategy documents are rarely consulted.
Funding tightens. Capacity thins. Trade-offs sharpen.
In those moments, people rely on judgement.
Narrative strategy shapes that judgement.
It answers questions people often ask silently:
What are we protecting?
What are we prepared to pause or let go?
What matters most right now, even if everything matters?
If leadership has not answered these questions explicitly, teams will answer them themselves — and not always consistently.
The cost of narrative absence
Where narrative strategy is weak or absent, familiar symptoms appear.
Priorities feel temporary
Decisions feel reactive
Leaders spend time justifying individual choices
The organisation experiences change as instability.
Not because direction is unclear.But because the logic of direction has not been shared .Over time, trust erodes quietly.
Why this matters so deeply in cultural organisations
In the cultural and heritage sector, strategy carries moral weight.
You are balancing:
Public value and commercial reality
Preservation and progress
Care of collections and care of people
Strategy may define advantage or sustainability. Narrative strategy protects legitimacy.
It explains why difficult choices are being made without reducing everything to finance or survival language.
It provides continuity of purpose, even as operating models shift.
That continuity matters — to staff, partners, funders, and the public.
Narrative strategy cannot be delegated
This work sits with leadership.
A narrative strategy requires leaders to be clear about:
The problem they are truly trying to solve
The tension they are willing to hold
The principles they are not prepared to trade away
This clarity is uncomfortable.
It removes room for ambiguity.
It forces prioritisation to be explicit.
But it is also what builds confidence.
How I approach this :
I treat narrative strategy as infrastructure, not output.
Before a strategy is finalised, we test the narrative rigorously:
Can people explain it without the document?
Does it help them prioritise when pressure rises?
Does it guide judgement when circumstances change?
If the answer is no, the strategy is not yet ready.
Because a strategy that cannot be carried cannot be delivered.
Leaving you with this …
Strategy sets direction.
Narrative strategy creates shared understanding.
That shared understanding is what allows organisations to move with confidence — even when the path narrows and choices become harder.
This is not about telling better stories.
It is about leading with clarity.
That is why narrative strategies matter.
