You know what's ridiculous about human beings? We can know exactly what we need to do, genuinely want to do it, and still not do it.
And CEOs are no exception.
The strategy that never leaves the room
I see this all the time. A leadership team spends months putting together a strategy they believe in. Everyone's excited. They invest in the tools, software and systems to keep things moving, and they communicate it beautifully.
Then everyone goes back to work and does exactly what they were doing before. Even the CEO.
It isn't because they don't care. Believing in change and actually changing your behaviour are two very different things, and humans are incredibly good at confusing the two. When we're busy or stressed, we fall back on what's familiar, not necessarily on what's better.
As much as I love a good strategic planning retreat, it isn't the answer to this problem on its own. If you want people to change their behaviour, you have to do more than convince them it's a good idea.
Where to start
Pick one specific behaviour. Not "be more collaborative" or "be more open". What does that even look like? Choose one thing someone could do differently in their very next meeting. Just one.
Give people a chance to practise it. Make it easy to remember and easy to try.
Come back to it. Find out how it actually went. What worked? What felt awkward? What got in the way? Then keep coming back to it, over and over again.
One workshop, one reminder or one inspirational speech, however great, isn't going to undo years of habits.
Leaders, this includes you
You have to practise it too, especially when things get busy, uncomfortable or inconvenient. Your team is watching what you do, not just listening to what you say is important.
Otherwise you've spent six months building a beautiful strategy, and all you've got to show for it is a very expensive PowerPoint.