With England soccer fans in mourning following their team's recent 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Germany, who's to blame? The sports pages—in all the newspapers, not just the tabloids—are a frenzy of recrimination and finger-pointing: manager, Fabio Capello got it wrong; the players were hopeless; the linesman's poor judgment deprived us of a goal.

Perhaps the German strategy was simply more aligned than ours.

I don't know much about soccer, but it seems that sides can elect to play in particular formations. In the lead-up games to the World Cup (in which England played pretty well) the team played in a 4-2-3-1 formation (the goalkeeper doesn't count—he only plays in goal). But, in the tournament itself, Capello shifted the team strategy to a 4-4-2 formation.

Aside from a few key players, most the team is not used to playing in this formation. As a result, successful combinations of players (stars like Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerard) were split up and forced to muddle their way through a sudden change in strategy wrought with just enough holes for the Germans to take advantage of.

Strategic shifts in the business world can lead to the same detrimental effects. Sometimes changes in strategy are needed to position organisations for growth, but it's important to carefully align all internal stakeholders under that strategy in order to achieve success.

In the case of the England soccer team, dabbling with the team's formation seemed to confuse the players. And while each player may have understood victory as the end goal, not everyone was aligned on how to accomplish it. Organisations with a disjointed brand strategy (i.e., inconsistent messaging, irrational brand architecture or undefined brand promises) confuse their employees as well. As brand ambassadors, employees across all departments and global offices must fully understand and unite behind a single brand promise. Only then will they be able to deliver on that promise in a way that is clear, credible and compelling.

Indeed a unified strategy is the key to beating competitors—both on the soccer field and in the global market.