Embrace the Mess: Bottom-Up Strategy Development When There Are No Easy Answers
We live in an ambiguous world where easy answers are in short supply. The traditional top-down approach to strategy can feel deceptively comfortable. Boards and Executives decide the direction and make the calls, and strategy trickles down in a set of attractive PowerPoints. And of course, execution follows. Or does it?
In my experience, it doesn’t. Or at least it doesn’t follow easily.
Throughout my career, I have been on the receiving end of many fantastical strategies written in weighty detail by a prominent Big Four thinker, only to be faced with the reality that it is neither possible to implement nor indeed the right fit for the organisation. What ensues is often a rocky road of managing stakeholders’ expectations for the fanciful vision with the reality of what can (and should) be delivered, in the best interests of the organisation.
But what’s the alternative, I hear you say? Well, in many cases, the best alternative is a bottom-up strategy. Bottom-up strategy development starts with input from the front-line employees, managers and cross-functional teams. It’s driven by lived experience, not just analysis from the top or generic industry trends. It’s rooted in the organisation’s reality, what makes it tick, what makes it different, and importantly, what could be its ultimate downfall.
Sounds great, right? So why is it so rarely pursued? The simple answer is - because it’s messy, even uncomfortable at times. It creates friction and demands debate. It surfaces inconsistent or conflicting priorities and uncertainties about who’s ‘in charge’. However, in that mess lies the potential for powerful, resilient, and deeply informed strategic direction.
When the environment is complex and fast-changing, no one has the perfect roadmap. What you need isn’t command-and-control, it’s sense-making, experimentation, and continuous adaptation. Here’s why the bottom-up strategy works better in these conditions:
1. Ear to the ground insight
Frontline employees see the customer pain points, the operational bottlenecks, and the innovation gaps firsthand. With their ear to the ground, their insights enable strategy to focus on the here and now, and the reality of the environment in which the organisation is based, not just in strategic models or industry trends. That’s not to say trends aren’t insightful; they can be, but only when applied to the specific context of your organisation.
2. Culture of continuous improvement
When strategy emerges from those already close to the problem, iteration happens faster, which creates the right conditions for a culture of continuous improvement. Continuous improvement is key to keep the organisation moving forward and to iterate and improve, rather than blindly following a strategic imperative.
3. Creates buy-in
People are more invested in a strategy that they helped to shape. It’s pretty obvious, really! But how often do we define a strategy and then spend months (if not years) trying to communicate it to the organisation? Bottom-up strategy creates intrinsic motivation because it says, ‘your ideas matter’. This is important because it is ‘buy-in’, which will drive the implementation of the strategy forward.
4. Avoids groupthink
When ideas come from different departments, roles, and perspectives, the resulting strategy is often more creative and well-rounded. It avoids the trap of groupthink that can plague senior teams.
When there are no easy answers, embrace the messiness. If your organisation is navigating disruption, entering new markets, or reinventing how it operates, then strategy isn't about certainty; it's about co-creation.
Bottom-up strategy development acknowledges that in complexity, no single person has all the answers. It turns the organisation into a listening, learning organism. Yes, it’s slower. Yes, it’s harder to steer. But it also means:
Your strategy is more grounded in reality
Your people feel trusted and engaged
Your organisation is more adaptable because everyone’s involved in making sense of the challenge
So, leadership just steps aside then? On the contrary, leaders play a crucial role, not by dictating the plan, but by:
Setting clear purpose and intention
Gleaning key insights from the information
Proactively enabling collaboration and incentivising challenge
Championing learning over perfection
In summary, the bottom-up strategy feels messy because it is. But in that mess lies truth, creativity, and connection. When the path isn’t clear, the best way forward is often the one built together.
So, if your team is grappling with uncertainty and complexity, don’t fear the noise, lean into it. It just might be where your best strategy is waiting to emerge.
If you need help facilitating the mess, get in touch with our team. We will help you to build a visionary strategy tailored to your organisation. Email: hello@marbraladvisory.com / Tel: 01534 744303
