Using graphical techniques to communicate strategy: an exploratory study

This paper looks at a current management consultant-driven fashion for using graphical techniques to communicate strategic direction within larger organizations. Recent literature shows that many strategic change programmes fail through poor or miscommunication of the organization's strategic objectives, suggesting there is a need in the marketplace for new communication techniques.

This research evaluates the use of one graphical technique within three organizations to explore how it is being used and what the benefits of using this technique are. These new graphical techniques are felt to be more effective than traditional strategy communication techniques and our research suggests that this is because they consider both the communication medium and the content and presentation of the information in the strategic message.

In particular, these techniques use pictures or graphics with embedded metaphors to communicate clearer strategic messages, they encourage dialogue and inclusiveness from all employees within the process, they show connectivity of information, they facilitate the ability to remember the strategy and they are novel.