On democratizing strategy…

… and 'autocracy' in the boardroom.

Picture this: a group of people locks themselves in a meeting room with far too bad coffee, a whiteboard full of post-its, and a healthy dose of self-confidence. A few hours later, a strategy rolls out that the rest of the organization – without asking too many questions – simply has to execute. Sound familiar? Welcome to the classic top-down organization.

Strategy development has long resembled an autocratic regime. The CEO speaks, the C-suite nods, and the rest gets to experience the party. The problem? That approach doesn't work anymore. And frankly, it never really worked well.

The boardroom as an ivory tower

Let's be honest: the people at the top are far from the work floor. They see the spreadsheets, the quarterly figures, and the PowerPoints. What they see less of: the employee who has known for six months that a certain process is completely broken but is never asked to say so.

The focus on shareholder value and profit maximization has led to what researchers euphemistically call a 'poly-crisis'. Climate problems, social inequality, exhaustion of people and planet. Not exactly the result you proudly share at the next team drinks.

It's not that these directors are bad people. They're just stuck in a system that encourages them to think short-term, while the world around them demands long-term thinking.

The work floor already knows

Here's an open door that many organizations still miss: the people who do the work daily know an awful lot. More than their managers might like.

Research by Branddoctors among 300 Dutch directors and managers shows that the role of middle management in strategy is already growing. And rightly so. They connect strategic ambition with daily reality. They know what's happening, what's broken, and where the real opportunities lie.

But don't stop at middle management. Involve everyone. The employee who has customer contact every day sees things that no consultant will ever write in a report.

Involving more people in strategy means: better strategy. And a strategy that people have helped build, they also execute with more pleasure. Logical, right?

Strategy with a human heart

Democratizing strategy isn't just about more input. It's also about asking different questions.

Instead of: "How do we maximize profit this quarter?" we can ask: "How do we make our organization profitable and good for people and planet?" That sounds idealistic, but it's just smart business for the long term.

A people-centered strategy takes into account employees, society, and the environment, not as a side issue but as a starting point. Changing an organization's culture starts with the question: what do we actually stand for?

Dialogue instead of dictate

A democratic strategy isn't a document that's pushed from top to bottom. It's a conversation. An open, honest conversation between all layers of the organization.

When people think along, something beautiful happens: ownership. People who have helped create a strategy also stand behind it. They understand it, believe in it, and actively promote it. That's what Branddoctors means when they say that inspiring strategies are much more successful than strategies that only revolve around numbers.

The difference isn't in the spreadsheet. It's in whether people wake up in the morning feeling: this is my organization, this is my direction.

Make strategy attractive

Another point that organizations often underestimate: how you tell a strategy is just as important as what's in it.

A strategy of 47 pages full of jargon and abstract goals isn't a strategy. It's a sleeping pill.

A good strategy has a story. Clear, human, inspiring. Something that people understand and remember. Something that works as brand communication, both internally and externally.

If your strategy touches people, not just informs them, then you get support as a gift. And an organization that shares its direction in an attractive way automatically positions itself as authentic and progressive.

Strategy as a story. Not as a mandatory document.

Time for a new course

The conclusion is simple: stop making strategy as a closed club, and start making it an open co-creation process.

Give the boardroom back its role as inspirer and framework setter, but let the wisdom of the entire organization play along. Formulate the strategy so that people get energy from it. And ensure that the direction you choose is good for more than just the shareholders.

Strategy that works is strategy that lives. And strategy only truly lives when people are part of it themselves.

So: fewer closed doors, more open conversations. Fewer post-its in the meeting room, more real dialogue with the people who make it happen every day.