When Strategy and Talent Aren't Enough

You know the feeling.

Everything looks right on paper. The strategy is solid. The people are talented. The resources are there. Leadership is aligned.

And yet, somehow, nothing's really moving. Everyone's working hard, but it feels like pushing uphill through mud.

I've led those teams. And after 20+ years of watching this pattern repeat, I've figured out what's actually going on.

The Missing Piece

It's not your strategy. Strategy is the easy part. Put smart people in a room, give them data and time, and they'll create a perfectly logical plan.

It's not your people either. You hired well. You've got talent, experience, and good intentions all around the table.

The problem is something else entirely. Something that sits between strategy and execution, invisible but absolutely critical.

It's traction.

What Traction Actually Is

Traction isn't about working harder or moving faster. It's about the energy flowing toward solutions instead of getting trapped in problems.

When teams have traction, decisions get made quickly. Obstacles get navigated instead of becoming roadblocks. People stop second-guessing and start moving with confidence.

When traction is missing, everything becomes a struggle. Simple decisions take weeks. Small problems become major issues. People know what they should do but somehow can't get themselves to do it.

The strategy stays the same. The people stay the same. But the energy of the system is completely different.

Why Traction Goes Missing

I've seen this happen to good teams in successful organisations. Usually, it starts with something small.

At NRMA, we had a transformation that looked perfect on paper. Clear objectives, capable people, solid resources. But six months in, it felt like we were swimming through treacle. Every decision took twice as long as it should have. Simple problems became complex debates.

The strategy was fine. The people were fine. But something in the system was creating drag, and nobody could quite name what it was.

Maybe a few key decisions get delayed. Maybe there's some confusion about priorities. Maybe someone starts second-guessing choices that seemed obvious a month ago.

On its own, any of these things is manageable. But they compound. Before long, the team's energy shifts from execution to hesitation. From moving forward to checking and double-checking.

The Static in the System

Think of it like radio static. The signal is there—the strategy, the plan, the capability. But something is interfering with the transmission.

That interference might be unclear accountabilities. Or competing priorities that nobody wants to name directly. Or past failures that make everyone gun-shy about making bold moves.

It might be cultural habits that reward analysis over action. Or personalities that prefer to be right rather than effective. Or simply too many moving pieces without enough clarity about what actually matters.

The static doesn't have to be loud to be disruptive. Even a small amount of interference can turn clear signals into confused noise.

Removing the Static

This is where most consultants get it wrong. They assume the solution is better strategy or different people or new processes.

But you can't solve a traction problem with more complexity. You solve it by removing whatever's creating the interference.

Sometimes that means having the conversation everyone's been avoiding. Sometimes it means clarifying who actually makes which decisions. Sometimes it means stopping three things so you can actually do one thing well.

The answer is usually simpler than people expect. Not easier—simple and easy are different things—but simpler.

What It Looks Like When Traction Returns

I've been in rooms when traction suddenly clicks back into place. The shift is unmistakable.

Conversations become more direct. Decisions that seemed impossible become obvious. Energy that was going into worry and analysis starts flowing toward action.

It's not that problems disappear. It's that problems become something to solve rather than something to endure.

The same people, with the same strategy, suddenly moving like they should have been all along.

The Leadership Reality

As a leader, this puts you in an interesting position. Because the things that kill traction are often the things that seem reasonable in the moment.

Asking for one more analysis. Wanting to get everyone aligned before moving forward. Avoiding the difficult conversation because the timing isn't perfect.

All logical. All understandable. All potentially deadly to momentum.

Beyond Effort

Here's what I've learned: effort without traction is just expensive wheel-spinning. You can work incredibly hard and still get nowhere if the energy isn't flowing in the right direction.

But when traction is there, when the static is cleared, even small actions can create disproportionate results.

Your strategy's not broken. Your people aren't stuck.

The static is optional.

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