Have you lost the plot?

Most organisations don't need more strategic pillars. They need a plot: a shared story of where they've come from, what they stand for and where they're heading, clear enough that people at every level can make good decisions without waiting for permission. This article explores narrative identity and why it determines every decision your organisation makes.

A question leaders answer in seconds

When a leader I'm coaching is stuck on a decision, I often ask: "The leader you want to be in five years' time, what would they do here?"

It surprises me every time how fast people answer. No hesitation, no working it out. That future version of themselves is already vivid and formed, waiting to be asked. They know who that person is, what they stand for and how they'd move in this moment.

Which raises a harder question about the organisations these leaders run. If a leader can access that kind of orientation in seconds, why are so many organisations disconnected from the same thing? Why, when disruption hits, do people scatter or freeze instead of asking: given who we are and where we're heading, what does this moment require of us?

I think the answer is simpler than we make it. Most organisations have lost the plot.

You don't need strategic pillars. You need a plot.

I must have been eight or nine when I first watched The NeverEnding Story. You may remember the moment Sebastian realises he isn't just reading the story. He's inside it, and the story needs him to make a choice that only he can make.

Fantasia is being consumed by the Nothing. The Empress is dying. Atreyu is sent on a quest without a plan. But he knows what needs protecting, he understands what's at stake, and he knows the kind of choices required as he moves. That's enough to keep going.

When your people ask where you're heading, they aren't asking for more detail. Like Atreyu, they need the thing that lets them align their decisions with the ending you're after.

Why your five-year strategy won't help on its own

We talk about strategy as though it's a document: a plan, a set of goals with a horizon date. It isn't.

Strategy is the pattern of decisions and actions you take over time that move you toward where you're trying to go. Your vision and ambition are the destination. Your mission is what you do. Your purpose is why any of it matters. But none of those move the organisation. What moves the organisation is decisions, every day, in every room, at every level, made by people who may or may not know the story they're operating inside.

Decisions without a narrative are uncertainty with a nicer name

We talk a lot about empowering people to make decisions. Here's what happens when you do that without a shared plot.

Misaligned decisions lead to strategic drift, and limited resource gets spent in places that won't move you forward. Siloed decisions lead to clashing priorities, because people guess what's important and their guesses don't line up. Or people hesitate, wait and escalate everything to you, which costs efficiency and opportunity.

This often gets labelled a capability or capacity issue. It usually isn't. Like Sebastian, your team needs enough of the story to move from reader to actor.

Narrative identity: the missing link

This is where the philosopher Paul Ricoeur becomes unexpectedly practical. For Ricoeur, identity is the story we use to make our lives coherent across time. It links what has happened, how we understand ourselves now, and the commitments that carry us forward.

That's as true for organisations as it is for individuals. An organisation's identity is its narrative: what it has survived, what it stands for, what it has chosen and refused, where it is now and where it's heading. A commitment about the future needs to be grounded in that history and that present understanding. Without the narrative thread, it's a disconnected target.

When narrative identity is clear and alive, something shifts. People can see the story and see themselves in it. They can make decisions without waiting, weigh trade-offs in the room, and say no to what doesn't belong and yes to what does, because they know how the story needs to move forward.

When disruption hits, the narrative is what you navigate by

A funding cut, a reform, a market shift or a leadership change brings the horizon of your story much closer. Risks become real, and you need to focus on something nearer while staying true to your long-term destination.

In that moment, most organisations don't just face disruption. They face disorientation. People don't know which chapter they're in, what matters most right now, or what the organisation would choose under pressure. So they wait, scatter, or default to whatever feels safest and most familiar.

When the narrative is alive, the question changes to: given who we are and where we're heading, what does this moment require of us? That's what maintains orientation when your plans hit reality.

Leadership is narrative discipline

This reframes the role of leadership. The job is to hold the narrative clearly enough that good decisions get made without you.

That means naming where you've come from, honestly. Being clear about where you are, even when it's uncomfortable. And making the future tangible, as a story people can see themselves inside. When that narrative disappears, decisions fragment, strategy drifts from identity, and the Nothing starts to win.

Reflection

• Do your people know the plot? Could someone at the coalface tell you where you've come from, what you stand for, where you're heading, and what it means for their work?
• Find one person who doesn't sit in the strategic planning hui. Ask them to tell you the story of where the organisation is going, and listen carefully.
• The gap between the story you think you're telling and the one they tell back is your strategy problem.

Strategy isn't a plan. It's the story your organisation is living when your plans hit reality.