Welcome to the 47th edition of The Pulse, your bi-weekly newsletter of Insights for Strategy Leaders. Elate is a strategy execution platform that helps strategy, operations, and chief of staff leaders align teams, execute plans, and see real results... without the chaos of disconnected tools.
In this edition:
- 📘 Your Post-Summer Strategy Reset Playbook
- 🚀 How KIPP Atlanta Uses Elate to Drive Strategic Alignment
- Subscribe on LinkedIn + catch up on the previous 46 Editions
3 Moves Every Strategy Leader Should Make in H2
As the calendar turns to August and summer vacations wind down, it is likely that for many organizations, their operating rhythms are slowly being put back into place. Which means the attention for many Strategy Leaders and Executive Teams is shifting to the second half of the year.
Whether you’re accelerating growth, welcoming students back, or entering conference season, now is the time to reset priorities and refocus your team.
Since employees will need a refresh on the mission-critical initiatives set by the organization prior to the summer break, it's our responsibility to overcommunicate what we’re focused on, why it matters, and how we’ll measure success in H2.
So while some might start turning their turning towards 2026 Planning and Budgeting, I'd encourage Strategy Leaders to first gain alignment on finishing 2025 on a high note. The success of the current plan will dictate the way 2026 planning takes shape.
With that in mind, here are three things I recommend Strategy Leaders evaluate to help drive alignment heading into the fall.
1) Revisit Annual Themes and Operating Outcomes
Start with the big picture. As leaders, we need to first ensure we have answers to the following questions to convey to our teams…
- Themes - What did we say were our biggest areas of focus this year?
- Outcomes - Are these Themes still aligned with the Operating Outcomes we built into our plan?
- If so, are teams aligned? If not, what do we need to outline as Themes to communicate to employees?
If you can’t clearly answer these questions at the Leadership level, expect a rough H2.
And we can’t just make assumptions or limit our confirmation to a quick email or Slack exchange.
If they are still the right ones, great. Now evaluate whether the departmental Objectives are aligned. If not, you need to challenge whether those Objectives should be re-prioritized or sunset to free up resources to focus on other things.
Let me be clear: it’s okay if focus areas have changed. In fact, it is more likely than not.
But what I can't stress enough is the importance of having an honest assessment of those Themes. This dialogue will drive the communication coming out of your Leadership Meeting to the rest of the organization to renew organizational-wide focus heading into the back half of the year.
Validating the strategic direction… creates alignment… which empowers teams… to focus on the right initiatives… that deliver results for the business. It also creates space to say ‘no’ to the backlog of items they are likely to be met with when coming back from break.
2) Create Consistent Visibility
After validating / reestablishing your Themes, now comes the important part: keeping them front and center.
Many organizations suffer priority-drift because they lack a regular cadence to share and review progress. This is where a regular report highlighting performance to plan keeps folks aligned.
Here is our recommended structure for your bi-weekly Leadership Report to ensure everyone is focused on the right areas of discussion:
Business as Usual
- Quick Executive Summary: Keys wins + areas of improvement from Strategy/Ops across the business.
- Operating Outcomes: 3-5 most important plan-to-actual metrics.
Department or Key Objective Updates
- Brief summaries highlighting ‘What’s Working’, ‘In Motion’, and ‘Heads-Up’.
- Key Outcomes tied to departmental goals.
One additional report we often recommend is a Monthly Employee Report with updates on Company Themes that help provide team members with an understanding of how their work is contributing to the overall success of the organization’s strategy.
Our team is happy to share templates if helpful.
3) Bring it Home with a Town Hall
Bringing your entire organization together for a Town Hall is the best way to highlight what you’re focused on for the rest of the year and bring the above to life.
It serves as a rallying point for team members and is a great opportunity to either 1) have a hard reset heading into H2 or 2) build upon the continuity seen across the organization throughout H1.
So much is made of the importance of regular communication, yet it is still overlooked for many organizations. Leaders are far too assumptive in their thinking that employees understand the strategy and ‘why’ behind decisions being made at the Executive level.
I know this from my own experience.
If you want to ensure teams are aligned on the right priorities to close out the year, you must make the effort to communicate this broadly to employees. At the Town Hall, your regular operating rhythm, and in your reporting.
This intentionality will go a long way in shifting employees from completing transactional tasks to doing purposeful work that aligns with the company strategy.
Set the Stage for the Coming Months
With these actions in place, you now have the right cadence, clarity, and communication to ensure folks are aligned and focused on the right areas.
As a Strategy Leader, that is how you keep the engine humming.
And yes, now is also the time to map your 2026 planning calendar: aligning budgets, resources, goals, and priorities by year’s end. Just don’t let planning for the future come at the expense of delivering today’s results.
If you are building your planning process or feel behind, we’re here to help. That’s what we do.
That's all for today... have a great rest of your week.
-Brooks
How KIPP Atlanta Uses Elate to Drive Strategic Alignment
Like most organizations, KIPP Atlanta's strategy lived in fragmented tools and spreadsheets. Reporting was hard. Alignment was harder.
After evaluating multiple platforms, KIPP chose Elate as the partner to help them redefine how they execute strategy.
Read their story and learn why Ben Cabeza, Chief Strategy Officer at KIPP Atlanta, shared:
"They treated us like partners from the beginning. Honestly, [Elate is] probably my favorite vendor I’ve ever worked with."
Thank you Ben and the KIPP Atlanta team! 💙
