Welcome to another episode of the Communications Business Advisor™ podcast with your host, Tara McDonagh. This episode is all about taking that shiny new Communications Strategy off the shelf and turning it into something operational. You’ve finally crafted that amazing Communications Strategic Plan. Congratulations! What do you do next? Tara shares her expertise to ensure your strategy doesn’t gather dust. She walks listeners through: Engaging Your Team: Whether you created the plan solo or with a small team, it’s time to bring everyone on board on next steps. Learn how to involve your team to operationalize the strategy and make it part of your everyday work. Integrate it into all you do.  Executive Alignment: Align your Communications Strategy with business areas’ goals looking for the common denominators that connect the priorities together. Reset leaders’ expectations of you and your team. Set those expectations higher. Tara explains why roadshows don’t work in this process and what to do instead.  Open Dialogue: Understand the importance of being open to feedback and adjustments, emphasizing that buy-in requires a willingness to adapt your strategy to fit the needs of the business. Note: this does not mean throwing the plan in the trash and starting over because an executive doesn’t like hearing about new ways of doing things! The TMC process: Hear some of the components of the Tara McDonagh Communications (TMC) framework for creating, getting buy-in and operationalizing a Communications Strategic Plan - proven to work time and again.  Your Communications Strategy isn’t just a thoughtful document—it’s a tool for achieving business goals. Ensure it resonates with everyone, from your team to executives. Make it a core part of your decision-making and operational processes.  For those of you who want even more insight on Communications Business Advising, sign up for the Level Up: Be Extra emails. Visit taramcdonagh.com/levelup to sign up.  The Communications Business Advisor™ Podcast is brought to you by Raise the Tide™, the program that elevates our field and the women in it. For more info. Visit raisethetide.net. If you enjoyed this episode, please share a rating or review. We can ignite a movement when we share a message.