Advice on strategy that's out of this world

Always an interesting moment when you tell a client the only way they will make head or tail of the company's complex, strategic goals is to imagine they are talking about them with a Martian.
Today isn't the first time I have suggested it but it got to the point where both of us were reaching for the paracetamol and the gin in our bid to bring clarity to the corporate strategy. Sure I have no idea whether a) Martians exist b) they can speak English or c) if they do, whether they give a toss about articulating strategic goals on the red planet. But it is a fun and surefire technique to help you cut through the gobbledegook that sometimes even comms folk find themselves bogged down in.
Today was a prime example as we vainly tried to retrieve some key messages from a raft of almost incomprehensible acronyms, jargon, and nonsense. We were in danger of repeating the same language in our comms plan, so tough was it to decipher and so immersed were we in trying to make sense of it all.
"Wait!" I said. "Step away from the plan. Let's pretend we are talking to Martians."
(Client looks at me as if totally off rocker).
Me: "If a Martian wanted to know what we were trying to do, what would we say to keep it simple?"
Six clear messages were duly produced.
Client smiles with delight and says: "You are a comms genius and deserve twice your daily rate, Sarah!"
Yeah, well maybe she didn't actually say that but am sure she meant it.

Why strategy schmatters

It's that 'chicken and egg' scenario over what comes first - a business strategy or a comms plan. A comms plan is not a business strategy but sometimes in lieu of the latter (and yes it does happen, dear reader) you can pull together a framework for communicating what the business should be sharing and start the dialogue. 

The inexperience of youth had me waiting around in one organisation for the leaders to neatly explain where the hell we were going as a business so I could wrap a lovely bit of comms activity around it. In hindsight I would have been waiting for at least 18 months and possibly lost my job for twiddling those thumbs. 

After six weeks of much umming, aahing, sucking of teeth (their own) and mysterious meetings between the great and the good in the leadership team there was still no sign of clarity much less action. What's a gal to do? All I could do was grab the situation by the corporate throat and get on with deciphering a lot of Powerpoint slides discarded on photocopiers, ditto random speeches lurking in publications and emails, uncover content hidden in the intranet's dusty bits of cyberspace and invite myself to meetings about meetings in a bid to piece it all together. The result? A draft narrative and a first tranche of activity signed off by the Board who were more than happy after that to get involved in bringing the strategy to life and develop it further with employees. 

Interestingly another company I worked for had a business strategy to help them achieve their goals over the next five years. Sadly my initial delight faded fast. The strategy team hadn't really tested their theory and plans though their Powerpoint skills were up there with the best SlideShare has to offer - truly out of this world. Presenting us with 35 slides, filled to bursting with gorgeous figures, pointy arrows and creative Venn diagrams is all well and good but when the comms team tried those old fashioned 'who', 'what', 'why', 'when' and 'how' words, the strategy turned to dust.