long term strategic business plan

Strategic Plans for Long-Term Growth: Examples and Strategies

Small to midsize businesses (SMBs) make up the vast majority of businesses in the US, according to the US Chamber of Commerce, and they are widely considered to be engines of innovation in the overall economy. But for many founders of these organizations, creating and maintaining strategic plans to keep those ships sailing smoothly five, ten, or even twenty years into the future can be immensely difficult. Don’t worry, though: We’ve got you covered. In this article, we’ll guide you through strategic planning examples and approaches for small to midsize companies in all types of industries. With a little foresight, you can ensure the strategic planning process is an effective means of building a company you’ll love forever .

If you want to:

• Move your organization in the direction you intend for long-term success.
• Implement your plan smoothly for greater growth.
• Use a better platform for developing a truly effective strategic plan.

… then you’ll love this guide. Let’s get started.

What’s Covered in This Guide

Click on each to jump to that section.

What Is Strategic Planning?

How many types of business plans are there, what is the goal of strategic planning.

• How Do I Become a Strategic Leader?

4 Examples of Strategic Planning Strategies

The strategic planning process in 11 steps, what does strategic planning involve, how to implement your strategic plan, examples of strategic plans, get your strategic planning done on ninety.

Strategic planning is the process you use to:

• Establish and document a clear direction for your organization.
• Identify business goals and set priorities that create growth for your company.
• Formulate a long-term plan of action designed to achieve these objectives.
• Determine an internal system tracking and evaluating performance.

When organizations want to, they use a strategic plan to:

• Strengthen their operation.
• Focus on collective energy and resources.
• Enable leaders, teams, and other stakeholders to work toward common goals.
• Make agreements around desired results.
• Refresh direction and prevail over a changing or challenging environment.

Thinking strategically helps companies take the right action for more success and better outcomes. Some even call it an art.

Strategic plans are one of three essential business plans used to pursue important objectives for your company. When tackling challenges and determining action plans, you can think strategically, tactically, or operationally. These three thought processes often work in concert to help you create a framework that achieves your desired objectives.

• Strategic plans are designed for multilevel involvement throughout the entire organization. Leaders will look ahead to where they want to be in three, five, and ten years and develop a mission.
• Tactical plans support strategic plans. They outline the specific responsibilities and functionalities at the department level so team members know how to do their part to make the strategic plan successful.
• Operational plans focus on the highly detailed procedures, processes , and routine tasks that frontline team members must accomplish to achieve desired outcomes.

The goal of your strategic plan is to determine:

• Where your company stands in relation to the current business environment. Understand how your business operates, how you create value , and how you differentiate from your competitors.
• Where you want to take the business based on Focus Filters such as your company’s Vision, culture, Core Values, and goals . Envision how you see the company 5–10 years from now.
• What you need to do to get there. You come away from your planning sessions with a road map that helps deliver on your strategic objectives. Determine better ways to enable and implement change, schedule deadlines, and structure goals so they’re achievable .

The main purpose of your strategic plan is to create clearly defined goals for achieving the growth and success your organization needs. These goals are connected to your organization’s Vision .

How Do I Become a Strategic Leader? 

Strategic leadership, also known as strategy execution, is how you create, implement, and sustain your strategic plan so your organization moves in the direction you intend for long-term success. This usually involves establishing ongoing practices and benchmarks, allocating resources, and providing leadership that supports your Vision.

Strategic leadership can employ two different approaches:

• A prescriptive approach is analytical and focuses on how strategies are created to account for risks and opportunities.
• A descriptive approach is principle-driven and focuses on how strategies are implemented to account for risks and opportunities.

Most people agree that a strategic plan is only as good as the company’s ability to research, create, implement, evaluate, and adjust when needed. The benefits can be great when:

• Your entire organization supports the plan.
• Your business is set up to succeed.
• Your team members are more likely to stay on track without being distracted or derailed.
• You make better decisions based on metrics that facilitate course correction.
• Everyone in your company is involved and invested in better outcomes.
• Departments and teams are aligned across your company.
• People are committed to learning, leading, and coaching .
• Productivity increases, and performance improves.
• Creativity is encouraged and rewarded.

What are the four main points of strategic planning? You engage in strategic thinking so you can create effective company goals that are:

1. Purpose-driven

Align your strategic plan with the Vision as you understand it.

2. Actionable

Actionable strategic goals are worth spending your time and resources on to reach organizational objectives.

3. Measurable

It’s critical for you to track your strategy's progress and success, enabling your teams to take action and meet the goals more effectively.

4. Focused Long-term

A long-term focus distinguishes a strategic plan from operational goals, which involve daily activities and milestones required for success. When planning strategically, you’re looking ahead to the company’s future.

A strategic plan isn’t written in a day: Critical thinking evolves over several months. Those involved in the strategic planning are usually a Senior Leadership Team and team members from your company and possibly other stakeholders.

When should strategic planning be done?

You should plan strategically for startups and newer organizations from the start. But even if your company is a more established small or midsize business, it’s not too late to start working on strategy.

Flexible timing that’s tailored to the needs of your organization is smart. Although the frequency of strategy sessions is up to you, many leaders use these milestones as a guide:

• When the economy, your market, and industry trends change, or a global event occurs (like the onset of a pandemic)
• Following a change in senior leadership
• Before a product launch or when a new division is added to your business
• After your company merges with another organization
• During a convenient time frame such as a quarterly and annual review

Many organizations opt to schedule regular strategic reviews either quarterly or annually. Especially when crafting a plan, your strategic planning team should meet regularly. They will often follow predetermined steps in the development of your long-term plan.

What are the 11 steps of strategic planning?

1. identify your company’s strategic position in the marketplace..

Gather market data and research information from both internal and external sources. You may want to conduct a comprehensive SWOT analysis . Your strengths and weaknesses are directly related to your current competitive advantage within your industry. They're what you use to balance challenges to your success. They also influence the likelihood of increased market share in the future.

2. Define your unique Vision.

What would success look like for you in three years? Five years? Ten years? Articulate that in your Vision. Formulating purpose-driven strategic goals articulates why your company does what it does. Your organizational values inform your Vision and connect them to specific objectives.

3. Determine your company’s value.

Many companies use financial forecasting for this purpose. A forecast can assign anticipated measurable results, return on investment, or profits and cost of investment.

4. Set your organizational direction.

Defining the impact you want to have and the time frame for achieving it helps focus a too-broad or over-ambitious first draft. This way, your plan will have objectives that will have the most impact. 

5. Create specific strategic objectives.

Your strategic objectives identify the conditions for your success. For instance, they may cover:

• Value: Increasing revenue and shareholder value, budgeting cost, allocating resources aligned with the strategic plan, forecasting profitability, and ensuring financial stability. 
• Customer Experience: Identifying target audiences, solution-based products and services, value for the cost, better service, and increased market share.
• Operational Efficiency: Streamlining internal processes, investing in research and development, total quality and performance priorities, reducing cost, and improving workplace safety.
• Learning and Growth: Training leaders and teams to address change and sustain growth, improving employee productivity and retention, and building high-performing teams.

6. Set specific strategic initiatives.

Strategic initiatives are your company's actions to reach your strategic objectives, such as raising brand awareness, a commitment to product development, purpose-driven employee training, and more.

7. Develop cascading goals.

Cascading goals are like cascading messages : They filter your strategy throughout the company from top to bottom. The highest-level goals align with both mid-level goals and the individual goals team members must accomplish to achieve overall outcomes. This helps everyone see how their performance will influence overall success, which improves engagement and productivity.

8. Create alignment across the entire company.

The success of your strategy is directly impacted by your commitment to inform and engage your entire workforce in strategy implementation. This involves ensuring everyone is connected and working together to achieve your goals. Overall decision-making becomes easier and more aligned.

9. Consider strategy mapping.

A strategy map is an easy-to-understand diagram, graphic, or illustration that shows the logical, cause-and-effect relationship among various strategic objectives. They are used to quickly communicate how your organization creates value. It will help you communicate the details of your strategic plan better to people by tapping into their visual learning abilities.

10. Use metrics to measure performance.

When your strategy informs the creation of SMART organizational goals , benchmarks can be established and metrics can be assigned to evaluate performance within specific time frames. Key performance indicators align performance and productivity with long-term strategic objectives. 

11. Evaluate the performance of your plan regularly.

You write a strategic plan to improve your company’s overall performance. Evaluating your progress at regular intervals will tell you whether you’re on your way to achieving your objectives or whether your plan needs an adjustment.

Effective strategic planning involves creating a company culture of good communication and accountability. It involves creating and embracing the opportunity for positive change.

Consider these statistics:

• In many companies, only 42% of leaders and 27% of employees have access to a strategic plan.
• Even if they have access, 95% of employees do not understand their organization's strategy.
• 5.2% of a strategy’s potential is lost to poor communication.
• What leaders care about makes up at least 80% of the content of their communications. But those messages do not tap into around 80% of their employees’ primary motivators for putting extra energy into a change program.
• 28% of leaders say one of the main reasons strategic initiatives succeed is the ability to attract skilled personnel; 25% say it’s good communication; 25% say it’s the ability to manage organizational change.

Here’s what you can do to embrace a culture of good communication and accountability:

Make your strategic plan visible. Talk about what's working and what isn't. People want to know where and how they fit into the organization and why their contribution is valuable — even if they don't understand every element of the plan.

Build accountability. If you've agreed on a plan with clear objectives and priorities, your leaders have to take responsibility for what's in it. They must own the objectives and activities in your plan.

Create an environment for change. It’s much more difficult to implement a strategy if you think there will be no support or collaboration from your team members. Addressing their concerns will help build a culture that understands how to champion change.

• 98% of leaders think strategy implementation takes more time than strategy formulation.
• 61% of leaders acknowledge that their organizations often struggle to bridge the gap between strategy formulation and its day-to-day implementation.
• 45% of leaders say ensuring team members take different actions or demonstrate different behaviors is the toughest implementation challenge; 37% of leaders say it’s gaining support across the whole organization.
• 39% of leaders say one of the main reasons strategic plans succeed is skilled implementation.

The reality for so many is that it’s harder to implement a strategic plan than to craft one. Great strategic ideas and a clear direction are key to success, no matter what. But so is:

• Turning strategic ideas into an easy-to-implement framework that enables meaningful managing, tracking, and adapting
• Getting everyone in the organization on the same strategic page, from creation to execution

When your plan is structured to support implementation, you're more likely to get it done.

What are examples of good strategic planning? If you prefer a more traditional approach, there's lots of templates out there to help you create a plan document with pen and paper whether you're a for-profit or nonprofit entity .

But Ninety has a better way.

The Vision planner is essentially a strategic planning template on Ninety’s cloud-based platform that allows you to:

• Set goals, establish how you will meet them, and share them with those who need to know.
• Gain visibility around your company's Core Values .
• Create Core Values, a niche, and long-term goals that are accessible to everyone in your company.
• Create a Vision that lets you know what needs to happen now.
• Easily update and track changes.
• Bring alignment to your entire organization.

And you can do all this with only two digitized pages.

In your Vision tool inside Ninety, you can easily access all the things that make strategic plans effective by either using our default categories or making custom ones that meet your company’s specific needs. While you can include information about your Vision, goals, SWOT analysis, and key performance indicators from the start, here are some examples of custom options you could add to help more effectively implement your strategic plan: 

• Executive Summary
• Elevator Pitch
• Compelling Why
• Industry Analysis
• Marketing Strategy
• Operations Plan
• Financial Projections

Your Vision and goals are also completely integrated with all other features on Ninety, such as Scorecards, Rocks, To-Dos, Issues, Org Chart , Meetings, 1-on-1s, and more:

• Create a clear game plan for each team.
• Determine one- and three-year goals.
• Reference past versions in a Vision archive.
• Share your Vision with all teams, or keep it private if it's still in progress.

Now that you’ve learned how to grow your company using strategic planning, it’s time to put your knowledge into practice:

Build your strategic plan on Ninety now .

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11 Tips for Creating a Long-Term Strategic Plan

7 min. read

Updated October 29, 2023

Strategic planning is a management tool that guides your business to better performance and long-term success.

Working with a plan will focus your efforts, unify your team in a single direction, and help guide you through tough business decisions. A strategic plan requires you to define your goals, and in defining them, enables you to achieve them—a huge competitive advantage.

In this article, we’ll discuss 11 essentials for creating a thorough and effective strategic plan. Each tip is a critical stepping stone in leading your business toward your goals.

• 1. Define your company vision

You should be able to define your company vision in 100 words. Develop this statement and make it publically available to both employees and customers.

This statement should answer the key questions that drive your business: Where is your company headed? What do you want your company to be? If you don’t know the answer to these questions off the top of your head, then you have some thinking to do! If you have the answers in your head, but not on paper—get writing.

If you have them written down, congrats! You’ve completed the first and most critical step in creating a long-term strategic plan.

• 2. Define your personal vision

While your personal vision is just as important to your strategic plan, it does not need to be shared with your team and customers.

Your personal vision should incorporate what you want your business to bring to your life—whether that’s enormous growth, early retirement, or simply more time to spend with family and friends.

Aligning your personal vision with your company vision is key to achieving your personal and professional goals. Just as with your company vision, have your personal vision written down in a 100-word statement. Know that statement inside and out and keep it at the forefront of your decision making.

• 3. Know your business

Conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis. By knowing where your business is now, you can make more informed predictions for how it can grow.

Questions such as “Why is this business important?” and “What does this business do best?” are a great place to start. A SWOT analysis can also help you plan for making improvements.

Questions such as “What needs improvement?” and “What more could the business be doing?” can help guide your strategic plan in a way that closes gaps and opens up opportunities.

For more on completing a SWOT analysis, see our SWOT analysis guide.

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• 4. Establish short-term goals

Short-term goals should include everything you (realistically) want to achieve over the next 36 months.

Goals should be “S.M.A.R.T.” (specific, measurable, actionable, reasonable, and timely).

An example of S.M.A.R.T. goals include “building out a new product or service within the next year” or “increasing net profit by 2 percent in ten months.” If you’ve already conducted a SWOT analysis, you should have an idea of what your business can reasonably achieve over a specified period of time.

• 5. Outline strategies

Strategies are the steps you’ll take to meet your short-term goals. If the short term goal is “build out a new product or service,” the strategies might be:

• Researching competitor offerings
• Getting in touch with vendors and suppliers
• Formulating a development plan
• Outlining a marketing and sales plan for the new offering
• 6. Create an action plan

An action plan is an essential part of the business planning and strategy development process. The best analysis, in-depth market research, and creative strategizing are pointless unless they lead to action.

An action plan needs to be a working document; it must be easy to change and update. But, must also be specific about what you’re doing, when you will do it, who will be accountable, what resources will be needed, and how that action will be measured.

Action plans put a process to your strategies. Using the previous example, an action plan might be: “CMO develops competitor research packet for new offerings by 9/1. Review packet with the executive team by 9/15.”

When The Alternative Board, Bradford West  Director Andrew Hartley was responsible for designing and delivering a three year, $10m environmental business support program, a full and detailed action plan was required for funding.

“That action plan allowed me to 1.) manage and measure the evolving program, 2.) ensure resources and staff were where they needed to be, and 3.) track whether the design of the program was working and delivering the level of results we were contracted to deliver,” says Hartley.

“Even I was surprised about how helpful that action plan was,” he says. “I cannot image approaching any significant project or business without one.”

• 7. Foster strategic communication

To align your team, you must communicate strategically. Results-driven communication focuses conversations and cuts out excessive meetings. Every communication should be rooted in a specific goal.

Include the how, where, when, and most importantly why every time you deliver instructions, feedback, updates, and so on.

• 8. Review and modify regularly

Check in regularly to make sure you’re progressing toward your goals. A weekly review of your goals, strategies, and action plans can help you see if you need to make any modifications.

Schedule time in your calendar for this. Weekly check-ins allow you to reassess your plan in light of any progress, setbacks, or changes.

• 9. Hold yourself accountable

Having a business coach or mentor is great for this. If you have a hard time sticking to your plans, you’ll have an equally hard time meeting your goals.

According to The Alternative Board’s September 2015 Business Pulse Survey, the number one reason business owners choose to work with mentors is accountability.

“Having a close—but not too close—space for advice and accountability is really valuable,” says TAB Member Scott Lininger, CEO of Bitsbox. “Someone who is too close to your business (such as board members) often have a perspective that’s too similar to your own. Over time, your coach comes to know your team, your product, and your business, and they help you work through all kinds of challenges in a way that’s unique.”

“All too often I find that leaders accept underperformance against their strategic plan too easily,” adds Hartley. “A coach can rekindle the resolve and ambition of the leader, resulting in a recovery of lost margins, sales, or output.”

According to Hartley, a coach can build accountability by questioning what’s working, making sure everything’s on track, pointing out areas of underperformance, and asking what corrective action needs to be pursued.

• 10. Be adaptable

Remember: You can’t plan for everything. Just as challenges will arrive, so too will opportunities, and you must be ready at a moment’s notice to amend your plan. Weekly reviews will help enormously with this.

“A strategic plan will likely need to be changed very soon after approval because nobody can accurately predict anything but the very near term future,” says Jim Morris, owner and President of The Alternative Board, Tennessee Valley. “You stay adaptable by monitoring the plan every day. The wise leader will be constantly looking for opportunities to exceed the strategic plan by being opportunistic, creative, and by exploiting weaknesses in the competitive market.”

By doing this, Morris was able to exceed forecast results of every strategic plan he ever approved. “The times when I needed to be flexible were when we met strategic plan goals ahead of time and had to rewrite the plan to keep it current and relevant.”

It’s important to be adaptable because nothing stays the same. “It’s more important to be agile and take advantage of opportunities that weren’t foreseen and make adjustments,” says Morris. “This and a continuous improvement mindset is the best way to exceed plan goals.”

• 11. Create a strategic planning team

As a business owner, you should never feel like you have to do everything alone.

A strategic planning team can help with every phase of the process, from creating a company vision to adapting your strategy week-to-week. Compose your team of key management staff and employees—some visionaries and some executors.

If you think you’re “too busy” for start strategic planning, then you need strategic planning more than you know. Having a focused plan allows you to focus your energies, so you’re working on your business, rather than in it. As a business owner, it is your responsibility to steer the ship, not put out day-to-day fires.

Yes, creating a strategic plan is challenging, and it’s certainly time-consuming, but it will make all the difference in achieving your long term goals. You’ll avoid making bad decisions and expending more effort than you need.

Try these 11 tips to get started, and then be flexible in your ongoing approach. You’ll be amazed at how much more streamlined your business processes will become when you are working with a long-term strategic plan.

Jodie Shaw is The Alternative Board (TAB)’s Chief Marketing Officer. She brings over 20 years of B2B marketing and 10 years in franchising to the role. Prior to to her work with TAB, Jodie served as the CEO and Global Chief Marketing Officer of an international business coaching franchise, serving more than 50 countries.

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How to optimize long-term strategy to maximize success.

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Long-term planning is sometimes seen as a waste of time or ineffective. Leading businesses and industries make use of five- to 10-year strategic plans as a key resource for sustaining a company’s vision, market-share growth, brand equity, employee and product/service effectiveness, profitability, and stakeholder satisfaction. They understand that the true value of long-term planning lies within the ability to remain relevant and strategic. They understand that change is inevitable and manageable.

A key factor in long-term strategy success is the ability to maximize and optimize an organization’s workforce and their cognitive abilities, such as the courage and confidence to commit to the strategy; the humility to be credible, open to learning and supportive; the discipline to execute the plan, be reliable and follow through; and the ability to communicate clearly, accurately and in a timely manner. The long-term process is doable through phases of short initiatives that support efficiency and effectiveness throughout the plan’s life cycle.

Planning five or 10 years out allows boards and leadership teams the opportunity to determine a vision for the future, outline measurable goals, optimize collaborative and relational possibilities, and align leadership, operational teams, employee skills and experiences. Strategic planning defines a road map for organizational growth and provides guidance for day-to-day decision making. It allows leadership teams to evaluate progress and creates an opportunity to learn and improve business processes and systems.

Long-term planning requires a formal strategic process. Here are the things you should consider as you develop your long-term strategy and plan periodic reviews and updates:

• An agreement for the strategic planning process.

• Key innovations, issues, assumptions and questions.

• Company core values, vision, mission, goals and objectives, key performance indicators, and a SWOT analysis .

• How you define and communicate company culture.

• Human resource management and a governance framework.

• Operational tactics.

• Industry/market and consumer data, as well as marketing analysis and tactics.

• Financial data and projections.

• Corporate communications.

• Action plans, reporting, process checks, controls and mitigations.

• Updated internal and external policies.

• An executive summary for senior leader engagement.

Once a strategy has been drafted, challenge the plan with your leadership team, and compare it against six key alignment criteria:

1. Appropriateness: Does the strategy align with the company’s core values, vision and mission?

2. Feasibility: Is the strategy doable, practical, conceivable and in alignment with the projected future state?

3. Value: Does the strategy create value, growth and opportunity?

4. Cost-Benefit: Will the plan afford profitability and stakeholder satisfaction given the projected costs in time and key resources?

5. Timing: Is now a good time for this strategy? Are there any leads or lags that are not being considered that would alter the strategic timeline?

6. Acceptability: If implemented, would the strategy be accepted and championed by the company's board, leadership, management, employees and other key stakeholders?

In my experience, companies that have a strong organizational culture and optimize key resources throughout the phases of a long-term strategy are able to better articulate their business objectives to a targeted audience, increase sales and experience success. These leaders have vision and successfully execute and update their plans. They help their people to learn and grow while maintaining the company's culture and market competitiveness. In turn, these companies become leaders in their industries and the marketplace, creating value, growth and opportunity for themselves and their employees, stakeholders and partners, as well as the communities they serve. In other words, they optimize their people to maximize success!

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How To Write A Strategic Plan In 6 Steps + Examples

Gone are the days of rigid, 5 or 10-year planning cycles that don't leave room for flexibility and innovation. To stay ahead of the curve, you need a dynamic and execution-ready strategic plan that can guide your business through the ever-evolving landscape.

In this article, we'll show you how to write a strategic plan in 6 simple steps . By the end, you'll have a comprehensive, actionable strategic plan that will help you align your organization on the path to success.

💡Pro tip : Use our customizable, free Strategic Planning Template that includes all the key elements of a strategic plan to streamline your strategic planning process.

Follow this guide step-by-step, or skip to the part you're most interested in:

• Pre-Planning Phase: Build The Foundation
• Key Elements of a Strategic Plan

How To Write A Strategic Plan In 6 Simple Steps

Develop an iterative strategic planning process, 3 strategic plan examples to get you started, how to achieve organizational alignment with your strategic plan.

• Quick Overview of Key Steps In Writing A Strategic Plan

Create An Execution-Ready Strategic Plan With Cascade 🚀

Before jumping into the planning phase, it's essential to lay the groundwork.

Pre-Planning Phase: Build The Foundation 

Your strategic planning process should start well before you write your strategic plan. The pre-planning phase is crucial for gathering the data and strategic insights necessary to create an effective plan.

1. Conduct Strategic Analysis

Strategic analysis is a crucial step before writing your strategic plan. It's like building a house – you wouldn't start constructing the walls without a strong foundation, and the same goes for strategic planning. It equips you with the knowledge and insights to create a strategic plan that is well-targeted, addresses your actual situation, and positions your organization for success.

Use a strategic framework like GAP analysis , SWOT analysis , Porter's Five Forces , Ansoff matrix , McKinsey 7S model , or GE matrix to structure your analysis sessions. Incorporating a risk matrix can also help align and decide on key strategic priorities.

Additionally, consider running a strategic planning workshop with your team. Co-creating the plan with stakeholders is a significant advantage, as it fosters a sense of ownership and increases the likelihood of successful strategy execution . According to McKinsey , initiatives where employees contribute to development are 3.4 times more likely to succeed .

2. Choose your strategic planning model

Before creating your strategic plan, decide on the structure you will use. There are hundreds of ways to structure a strategic plan. You've likely heard of famous strategic models such as OKRs and the Balanced Scorecard .

But beyond the well-known ones, there's also a myriad of other strategic planning models . However, many models that work well on paper often fail to meet organizational needs in practice.

Common issues with many models include:

• Complexity: People get lost in terminology rather than focusing on execution
• Scalability: They work well for small organizations but fail when extended across multiple teams
• Rigidity: They force unnecessary layers, hindering flexibility
• Lack of measurability: They state outcomes well but fail to help measure success
• Adaptability: They don’t adjust well to changing economic landscapes

Our goal is to provide a simpler, more effective way to write a strategic plan. The Cascade Strategy Model , refined over years of working with +20,000 teams, offers a proven approach to strategic planning that is adaptable, scalable, and effective for organizations of all sizes.

In the following sections, we'll explore the key elements and steps to write a strategic plan based on the Cascade Model.

Key Elements Of A Strategic Plan

The key elements of a strategic plan using the Cascade Model work together to create a clear and actionable roadmap for your organization.

Think of it as a step-by-step guide, where each element builds upon the previous one: 

• Vision: Where do you want to get to? 
• Values: How will you behave on the journey? 
• Focus Areas: What are going to be your strategic priorities? 
• Strategic objectives: What do you want to achieve? 
• Actions and projects: How are you going to achieve the objectives? 
• KPIs: How will you measure success?

These interconnected elements ensure everyone in your organization is aligned on your overall strategy . Above all, the Cascade Model is intended to be execution-ready—in other words, it has been proven to deliver success far beyond strategic planning.

To create a powerful strategic plan, follow this clear, step-by-step process using the Cascade Model.

💡 Pro Tip : If you want to follow along as we cover each step, you can use our Strategic Planning Template spreadsheet (Excel format), or, for the best experience, sign up for instant access to our free Strategic Planning Template in Cascade .

Your vision statement is your organization's anchor - it defines where you want to get to .

A good vision statement can help funnel your strategy towards long-term goals that matter the most to your organization, and everything you write in your plan from this point on will help you get closer to achieving your vision.

Trying to do too much at once is a surefire way to sink your strategic plan. By creating a clear and inspiring vision statement, you can avoid this trap and provide guidance and inspiration for your team.

For example, a bike manufacturing company might have a vision statement like, “To be the premier bike manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest.” This statement clearly articulates the organization's goals and is a powerful motivator for the team.

In short, don't start your strategic plan without a clear vision statement. It will keep your organization focused and help you navigate toward success.

📚 Recommended read: How to Write a Vision Statement (With Examples, Tips, and Formulas)

Alongside your organization’s vision, a well-crafted mission statement is essential. It succinctly defines your purpose, culture, goals, and values, serving as a foundation for your strategic plan. Ensure your mission statement is clear and aligns with your organization’s vision to drive cohesive and effective strategies.

Values are the enablers of your vision statement —they represent how your organization will behave as you work towards your strategic goals.

Make sure to integrate your organization's core values into everyday operations and interactions. In today's highly-competitive world, it's crucial to remain steadfast in your values and cultivate an organizational culture that's transparent and trustworthy.

Companies with the best company cultures consistently outperform competitors and their average market by up to 115.6%, as reported by Glassdoor . 

For example, a bike manufacturing company might have core values like:

• Accountability

These values reflect the organization's desire to become the leading bike manufacturer, while still being accountable to employees, customers, and shareholders.

👉 You can create and add your values, mission and vision statements directly in Cascade . This ensures your company's core principles remain top of mind for everyone.

📚When you're ready to start creating some company values, check out our guide, How To Create Company Values .

3. Focus Areas

Your focus areas are the strategic priorities that will keep your team on track and working toward the company's mission statement and vision. They represent the high-level areas that you need to focus on to achieve desired business outcomes.

In fact, companies with clearly defined priorities are more likely to achieve their objectives. According to a case study by the Harvard Business Review , teams that focus on a small number of key strategic initiatives are more likely to succeed than those that try to do too much. 

Rather than spreading your resources too thin over multiple focus areas, prioritize three to five. 

Following our manufacturing example above, some good focus areas include:

• Aggressive growth
• Producing the nation's best bikes
• Becoming a modern manufacturer
• Becoming a top place to work

Your focus areas should be tighter in scope than your vision statement, but broader than specific goals, time frames, or metrics. 

With a clear set of focus areas, your team will be better able to prioritize their work and stay focused on the most important things, which will ultimately lead to better business results.

👉 In Cascade, you can add focus areas while creating or importing an existing strategic plan from a spreadsheet.

With Cascade's Focus Area deep-dive functionality, you will be able to: 

• Review the health of your focus areas in one place
• Get a breakdown by plans, budgets, resources, and people behind each strategic priority
• See something at-risk? Drill down into each piece of work regardless of how many plans it's a part of

📚 Recommended read: Strategic Focus Areas: How to create them + Examples

4. Strategic Objectives

Strategic objectives are the specific and measurable outcomes you want to achieve . While they should align with your focus areas, they should be more detailed and have a clear deadline. 

According to the 2022 State of High Performing Teams report , there is a strong correlation between goals and success not only at the individual and team level but also at the organizational level. Here's what they found: 

• Employees who are unaware of their company's strategic goals are over three times more likely to work at a company experiencing a revenue decline than employees who are aware of the goals 
• Companies with shrinking revenues are almost twice as likely to have employees with unclear work expectations.

Jumping straight into actions without defining clear objectives is a common mistake that can lead to missed opportunities or misalignment between strategy and execution.

To avoid this pitfall, we recommend you add between three and six objectives to each focus area .

It's here that we need to start being a bit more specific for the first time in your strategic planning process. Let's take a look at an example of a well-written strategic objective:

• Continue top-line growth that outpaces the industry by 31st Dec 2023.

This is too specific to be a focus area. While it's still very high level, it indicates what the company wants to accomplish and includes a clear deadline. Both these aspects are critical to a good strategic objective.

Your strategic objectives are the heart and soul of your plan, and you need to ensure they are well-crafted. So, take the time to create well-planned objectives that will help you achieve your vision and lead your organization to success.

👉 Adding objectives in Cascade is intuitive, straightforward, and accessible. With one click, you'll open the objective sidebar and fill out the details. These can include a timeline, the objective's owner, collaborators, and how your objective will be measured (success criteria).

📚 Recommended read: What are Strategic Objectives? How to write them + Examples

5. Actions and projects

Once you've defined your strategic objectives, the next step is to identify the specific strategic initiatives or projects that will help you achieve those objectives . They are short-term goals or actionable steps you or your team members will take to accomplish objectives. They should leverage the company's resources and core competencies. 

Effective projects and actions in your strategic plan should: 

• Be specific 
• Contain a deadline
• Have an owner
• Align with at least one of your strategic objectives
• Provide clarity on how you or your team will achieve the strategic objective

Let's take a look at an example of a well-written project continuing with our bike manufacturing company using the strategic objective from above:

Strategic objective: Continue top-line growth that outpaces the industry by 31st Dec 2023.

Project: Expand into the fixed gear market by 31st December 2023.

This is more specific than the objective it links to, and it details what you will do to achieve the objective.

Actions and projects are where the rubber meets the road. They connect the organizational strategic goals with the actual capabilities of your people and the resources at their disposal. Defining projects is a vital reality check every strategic plan needs.

👉You can create actions and projects easily in Cascade! From the Objective sidebar, you can choose to add a project or action under your chosen objective. In the following steps, you can assign an owner and timeline to each action or project.

Plus, in Cascade, you can track the progress of each project or action in four different ways. You can do it manually, via milestones, checklists, or automatically by integrating with Jira and 1000+ other available integrations .

📚 Recommended read: What are Strategic Initiatives? How to Develop & Execute + Examples

6. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

Measuring progress towards strategic objectives is essential to effective strategic control and business success. That's where Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) come in.

KPIs are measurable values that track progress toward achieving key business objectives . They help you stay on track and focused on your organization's strategic goals.

To get the most out of your KPIs, make sure you link them to a specific goal or objective. This way, you'll avoid creating KPIs that don't contribute to your objectives and distract you from focusing on what matters. 

Ideally, you will add both leading and lagging KPIs to each objective so you can get a more balanced view of how well you're progressing. Leading KPIs can indicate future performance, while lagging KPIs show how well you've done in the past.

Think of KPIs as a form of signpost in your organization. They provide critical insights that inform business leaders of their organization's progress toward key business objectives. Plus, they can help you identify opportunities faster and capitalize on flexibility.

👉 In Cascade , you can add measures while creating your objectives or add them afterward. Open the Objective sidebar and add your chosen measure.

When you create your Measure, you can choose how to track it. Using Cascade, you can track it manually or automatically. You can automate tracking via 1000+ integrations , including Excel spreadsheets and Google Sheets . This way, you can save time and ensure that your team has up-to-date information for faster and more confident decision-making.

📚 Recommended reads:

• 10 Popular KPI Software Tools To Connect & Visualize Your Data (2024 Guide)
• ‍ How To Track KPIs To Hit Your Business Goals

Developing an iterative strategic planning process is essential for staying adaptable and responsive to change. This approach involves continuously reviewing and refining your strategies to ensure they remain relevant in a dynamic business environment. Regularly assess your plan's effectiveness, gather stakeholder feedback, analyze performance data, and make necessary adjustments.

This cycle of strategic planning, execution, and evaluation helps identify areas for improvement, fosters innovation, and keeps your organization aligned with its long-term goals. By adopting an iterative strategic planning process, you can navigate challenges more effectively and maintain a competitive edge.

📚 Check out our article Develop An Iterative Strategic Planning Process to dive into this topic

Corporate Strategic Plan 

Following the steps outlined above, you should end up with a strategic plan that looks something like this:

This is a preview of a corporate strategic plan template that is pre-filled with examples. Here, you can use the template for free and begin filling it out to align with your organization's needs. Plus, it's suitable for organizations of all sizes and any industry. 

Once you fill in the template, you can also switch to the timeline view. You'll get a complete overview of how the different parts of your plan are distributed across the roadmap in a Gantt chart view.

This template will help you create a structured approach to the strategic planning process, focus on key strategic priorities, and drive accountability to achieve necessary business outcomes. 

👉 Get your free corporate strategic plan template here.

Coca-Cola Strategic Plan

Need a bit of extra inspiration with your plan? Check out this strategic plan example, inspired by Coca-Cola's business plan:

This strategic planning template is pre-filled with Coca-Cola's examples so you can inspire your strategic success on one of the most iconic brands on the planet. 

👉 Grab your free example of a Coca-Cola strategic plan here.

The Ramsay Health Care expansion strategy

Ramsay Health Care is a multinational healthcare provider with a strong presence in Australia, Europe, and Asia.

Almost all of its growth was organic and strategic. The company founded its headquarters in Sydney, Australia, but in the 21st century, it decided to expand globally through a primary strategy of making brownfield investments and acquisitions in key locations.

Ramsay's strategy was simple yet clever. By becoming a majority shareholder of the biggest local players, the company expanded organically in each region by leveraging and expanding their expertise.

Over the last two decades, Ramsay's global network has grown to 460 locations across 10 countries with over $13 billion in annual revenue.

📚 Recommended read: Strategy study: The Ramsay Health Care Growth Study

✨ Bonus resource: We've created a list of the most popular and free strategic plan templates in our library that will help you build a strategic plan based on the Cascade model explained in this article. You can use these templates to create a plan on a corporate, business unit, or team level.

We highlighted before that other strategic models often fail to scale strategic plans and goals across multiple teams and organizational levels. 

In an ideal world, you want to have a maximum of two layers of detail underneath each of your focus areas. This means you'll have a focus area, followed by a layer of objectives. Underneath the objectives, you'll have a layer of actions, projects (or strategic initiatives), and KPIs.

If you have a single team that's responsible for the strategy execution, this works well. However, how do you implement a strategy across multiple and cross-functional teams? And why is it important? 

According to LSA research of 410 companies across 8 industries, highly aligned companies grow revenue 58% faster and are 72% more profitable. And this is what Cascade can help you achieve. 

To achieve achieve organization-wide alignment with your strategic plan and impact the bottom line, there are two ways to approach it in Casade: through contributing objectives or shared objectives .

1. Contributing objectives

This approach involves adding contributing objectives that link to your main strategic objectives, like this:

For each contributing objective, you simply repeat the Objective → Action/Project → KPI structure as follows:

Here's how you can create contributing objectives in Cascade: 

Option A: Create contributing objectives within the same plan 

This means creating multiple contributing objectives within the same strategic plan that contribute to the main objective. 

However, be aware that if you have a lot of layers, your strategic plan can become cluttered, and people might have difficulty understanding how their daily efforts contribute to the strategic plan at the top level. 

For example, the people responsible for managing contributing objectives at the bottom of the plan ( functional / operational level ) will lose visibility on how are their objectives linked to the main focus areas and objectives (at a corporate / business level ). 

This approach is best suited to smaller organizations that only need to add a few layers of objectives to their plan.

Option B: Create contributing objectives from multiple strategic plans linking to the main objective

This approach creates a network of aligned strategic plans within your organization. Each plan contains a set of focus areas and one single layer of objectives, each with its own set of projects, actions, and KPIs. This concept looks like this:

This example illustrates an objective that is a main objective in the IT strategic plan , but also contributes to the main strategic plan's objective.

For example, let's say that your main business objective is to improve customer satisfaction by reducing product delivery time by 25% in the next quarter. This objective requires multiple operational teams within your organization to work together to achieve a shared objective. 

Each team will create its own objective in its plan to contribute to the main objective: 

• Logistics team: Reduce the shipment preparation time by 30%
• IT team: Implement new technology to reduce manual handling in the warehouse
• Production team: Increase production output by hour for 5%   

Here's how this example would look like within the Cascade platform:

Although each contributing objective was originally created in its own plan, you can see how each contributing objective relates to the main strategic objective and its status in real-time.

2. Shared objectives

In Cascade, shared objectives are the same objectives shared across different strategic plans.

For example, you can have an objective that is “Achieve sustainable operations” . This objective can be part of the Corporate Strategy Plan, but also part of the Operations Plan , Supply Chain Plan , Production Plan, etc. In short, this objective becomes a shared objective between multiple teams and strategic plans. 

This approach helps you to:

• Cascade your business strategy as deep as you want across a near-infinite number of people while maintaining strategic alignment throughout your organization .
• Create transparency and a much higher level of engagement in the strategy throughout your organization since objective owners are able to identify how their shared efforts contribute to the success of the main business objectives.

The more shared objectives you have across your organization, the more your teams will be aligned with the overarching business strategy. This is what we call " alignment health ”. 

Here's how you can see the shared objectives in the alignment map and analyze alignment health within Cascade:

You get a snapshot of how your corporate strategic plan is aligned with sub-plans from different business units or departments and the status of shared objectives. This helps you quickly identify misaligned strategic initiatives and act before it's too late.  Plus, cross-functional teams have better visibility of how their efforts contribute to shared objectives. 

So whether you choose contributing objectives or shared objectives, Cascade has the tools and features to help you achieve organization-wide alignment and boost your bottom line.

Quick Overview Of Key Steps In Writing A Strategic Plan

Here's a quick infographic to help you remember how everything connects and why each element is critical to effective strategic planning:

This simple answer to how to write a strategic plan avoids confusing jargon and has elements that the whole organization can both get behind and understand. 

💡Tip: Save this image or bookmark this article for your next strategic planning session.

If you're struggling to write an execution-ready strategic plan, the Cascade Strategy Model is the solution you've been looking for. With its clear, easy-to-understand terminology, and simple linkages between objectives, projects, and KPIs, you can create a plan that's both scalable and flexible.

But why is a flexible and execution-ready strategic plan so important? It's simple: without a clear and actionable plan, you'll never be able to achieve your business objectives. By using the Cascade Strategic Planning Model, you'll be able to create a plan that's both tangible and measurable, with KPIs that help you track progress towards your goals.

However, the real value of the Cascade framework lies in its flexibility . By creating links between main business objectives and your teams' objectives, you can easily scale your plan without losing focus. Plus, the model's structure of linked layers means that you can always adjust your strategy in response to new challenges to easily develop an iterative strategic planning process. 

So if you want to achieve results with your strategic plan, start using Cascade today. With its unique combination of flexibility and focus, it's the perfect tool for any organization looking to master strategy execution and succeed in today's fast-paced business world. 

Want to see Cascade in action? Get started for free or book a 1:1 demo with Cascade's in-house strategy expert.

This article is part one of our mini-series "How to Create a Strategy". This first article will give you a solid strategy model for your plan and get the strategic thinking going.

Think of it as the foundation for your new strategy. Subsequent parts of the series will show you how to create the content for your strategic plan.

Articles in our "How To Create a Strategy" series

• How To Write A Strategic Plan In 6 Steps + Examples (This article)
• How to Write a Good Vision Statement
• How To Create Company Values
• Creating Strategic Focus Areas
• How To Write Strategic Objectives
• How To Create Effective Projects
• How To Write KPIs + Ultimate Guide To Strategic Planning

More resources on strategic planning and strategy execution: 

• 6 Steps to Successful Strategy Execution
• 4-Step Strategy Reporting Process (With Template)
• Annual Planning: Plan Like a Pro In 5 Steps (+ Template) 
• 18 Free Strategic Plan Templates (Excel & Cascade) 2024
• The Right Way To Set Team Goals
• 23 Best Strategy Tools For Your Organization in 2024

Popular articles

Annual Planning: 5 Easy Steps To Plan Next Year (+Template)

11 Best Strategic Frameworks For Your Organization + Free eBook

Strategic Analysis Complete Guide: Definition, Tools & Examples

6 Steps To Successful Strategy Execution & Best Practices

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• What is strategic planning? A 5-step gu ...

What is strategic planning? A 5-step guide

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. In this article, we'll guide you through the strategic planning process, including why it's important, the benefits and best practices, and five steps to get you from beginning to end.

Strategic planning is a process through which business leaders map out their vision for their organization’s growth and how they’re going to get there. The strategic planning process informs your organization’s decisions, growth, and goals.

Strategic planning helps you clearly define your company’s long-term objectives—and maps how your short-term goals and work will help you achieve them. This, in turn, gives you a clear sense of where your organization is going and allows you to ensure your teams are working on projects that make the most impact. Think of it this way—if your goals and objectives are your destination on a map, your strategic plan is your navigation system.

In this article, we walk you through the 5-step strategic planning process and show you how to get started developing your own strategic plan.

How to build an organizational strategy

Get our free ebook and learn how to bridge the gap between mission, strategic goals, and work at your organization.

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a business process that helps you define and share the direction your company will take in the next three to five years. During the strategic planning process, stakeholders review and define the organization’s mission and goals, conduct competitive assessments, and identify company goals and objectives. The product of the planning cycle is a strategic plan, which is shared throughout the company.

What is a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is the end result of the strategic planning process. At its most basic, it’s a tool used to define your organization’s goals and what actions you’ll take to achieve them.

Typically, your strategic plan should include: 

Your company’s mission statement

Your organizational goals, including your long-term goals and short-term, yearly objectives

Any plan of action, tactics, or approaches you plan to take to meet those goals

What are the benefits of strategic planning?

Strategic planning can help with goal setting and decision-making by allowing you to map out how your company will move toward your organization’s vision and mission statements in the next three to five years. Let’s circle back to our map metaphor. If you think of your company trajectory as a line on a map, a strategic plan can help you better quantify how you’ll get from point A (where you are now) to point B (where you want to be in a few years).

When you create and share a clear strategic plan with your team, you can:

Build a strong organizational culture by clearly defining and aligning on your organization’s mission, vision, and goals.

Align everyone around a shared purpose and ensure all departments and teams are working toward a common objective.

Proactively set objectives to help you get where you want to go and achieve desired outcomes.

Promote a long-term vision for your company rather than focusing primarily on short-term gains.

Ensure resources are allocated around the most high-impact priorities.

Define long-term goals and set shorter-term goals to support them.

Assess your current situation and identify any opportunities—or threats—allowing your organization to mitigate potential risks.

Create a proactive business culture that enables your organization to respond more swiftly to emerging market changes and opportunities.

What are the 5 steps in strategic planning?

The strategic planning process involves a structured methodology that guides the organization from vision to implementation. The strategic planning process starts with assembling a small, dedicated team of key strategic planners—typically five to 10 members—who will form the strategic planning, or management, committee. This team is responsible for gathering crucial information, guiding the development of the plan, and overseeing strategy execution.

Once you’ve established your management committee, you can get to work on the planning process. 

Step 1: Assess your current business strategy and business environment

Before you can define where you’re going, you first need to define where you are. Understanding the external environment, including market trends and competitive landscape, is crucial in the initial assessment phase of strategic planning.

To do this, your management committee should collect a variety of information from additional stakeholders, like employees and customers. In particular, plan to gather:

Relevant industry and market data to inform any market opportunities, as well as any potential upcoming threats in the near future.

Customer insights to understand what your customers want from your company—like product improvements or additional services.

Employee feedback that needs to be addressed—whether about the product, business practices, or the day-to-day company culture.

Consider different types of strategic planning tools and analytical techniques to gather this information, such as:

A balanced scorecard to help you evaluate four major elements of a business: learning and growth, business processes, customer satisfaction, and financial performance.

A SWOT analysis to help you assess both current and future potential for the business (you’ll return to this analysis periodically during the strategic planning process). 

To fill out each letter in the SWOT acronym, your management committee will answer a series of questions:

What does your organization currently do well?

What separates you from your competitors?

What are your most valuable internal resources?

What tangible assets do you have?

What is your biggest strength? 

Weaknesses:

What does your organization do poorly?

What do you currently lack (whether that’s a product, resource, or process)?

What do your competitors do better than you?

What, if any, limitations are holding your organization back?

What processes or products need improvement? 

Opportunities:

What opportunities does your organization have?

How can you leverage your unique company strengths?

Are there any trends that you can take advantage of?

How can you capitalize on marketing or press opportunities?

Is there an emerging need for your product or service? 

What emerging competitors should you keep an eye on?

Are there any weaknesses that expose your organization to risk?

Have you or could you experience negative press that could reduce market share?

Is there a chance of changing customer attitudes towards your company? 

Step 2: Identify your company’s goals and objectives

To begin strategy development, take into account your current position, which is where you are now. Then, draw inspiration from your vision, mission, and current position to identify and define your goals—these are your final destination. 

To develop your strategy, you’re essentially pulling out your compass and asking, “Where are we going next?” “What’s the ideal future state of this company?” This can help you figure out which path you need to take to get there.

During this phase of the planning process, take inspiration from important company documents, such as:

Your mission statement, to understand how you can continue moving towards your organization’s core purpose.

Your vision statement, to clarify how your strategic plan fits into your long-term vision.

Your company values, to guide you towards what matters most towards your company.

Your competitive advantages, to understand what unique benefit you offer to the market.

Your long-term goals, to track where you want to be in five or 10 years.

Your financial forecast and projection, to understand where you expect your financials to be in the next three years, what your expected cash flow is, and what new opportunities you will likely be able to invest in.

Step 3: Develop your strategic plan and determine performance metrics

Now that you understand where you are and where you want to go, it’s time to put pen to paper. Take your current business position and strategy into account, as well as your organization’s goals and objectives, and build out a strategic plan for the next three to five years. Keep in mind that even though you’re creating a long-term plan, parts of your plan should be created or revisited as the quarters and years go on.

As you build your strategic plan, you should define:

Company priorities for the next three to five years, based on your SWOT analysis and strategy.

Yearly objectives for the first year. You don’t need to define your objectives for every year of the strategic plan. As the years go on, create new yearly objectives that connect back to your overall strategic goals . 

Related key results and KPIs. Some of these should be set by the management committee, and some should be set by specific teams that are closer to the work. Make sure your key results and KPIs are measurable and actionable. These KPIs will help you track progress and ensure you’re moving in the right direction.

Budget for the next year or few years. This should be based on your financial forecast as well as your direction. Do you need to spend aggressively to develop your product? Build your team? Make a dent with marketing? Clarify your most important initiatives and how you’ll budget for those.

A high-level project roadmap . A project roadmap is a tool in project management that helps you visualize the timeline of a complex initiative, but you can also create a very high-level project roadmap for your strategic plan. Outline what you expect to be working on in certain quarters or years to make the plan more actionable and understandable.

Step 4: Implement and share your plan

Now it’s time to put your plan into action. Strategy implementation involves clear communication across your entire organization to make sure everyone knows their responsibilities and how to measure the plan’s success. 

Make sure your team (especially senior leadership) has access to the strategic plan, so they can understand how their work contributes to company priorities and the overall strategy map. We recommend sharing your plan in the same tool you use to manage and track work, so you can more easily connect high-level objectives to daily work. If you don’t already, consider using a work management platform .  

A few tips to make sure your plan will be executed without a hitch: 

Communicate clearly to your entire organization throughout the implementation process, to ensure all team members understand the strategic plan and how to implement it effectively. 

Define what “success” looks like by mapping your strategic plan to key performance indicators.

Ensure that the actions outlined in the strategic plan are integrated into the daily operations of the organization, so that every team member's daily activities are aligned with the broader strategic objectives.

Utilize tools and software—like a work management platform—that can aid in implementing and tracking the progress of your plan.

Regularly monitor and share the progress of the strategic plan with the entire organization, to keep everyone informed and reinforce the importance of the plan.

Establish regular check-ins to monitor the progress of your strategic plan and make adjustments as needed. 

Step 5: Revise and restructure as needed

Once you’ve created and implemented your new strategic framework, the final step of the planning process is to monitor and manage your plan.

Remember, your strategic plan isn’t set in stone. You’ll need to revisit and update the plan if your company changes directions or makes new investments. As new market opportunities and threats come up, you’ll likely want to tweak your strategic plan. Make sure to review your plan regularly—meaning quarterly and annually—to ensure it’s still aligned with your organization’s vision and goals.

Keep in mind that your plan won’t last forever, even if you do update it frequently. A successful strategic plan evolves with your company’s long-term goals. When you’ve achieved most of your strategic goals, or if your strategy has evolved significantly since you first made your plan, it might be time to create a new one.

Build a smarter strategic plan with a work management platform

To turn your company strategy into a plan—and ultimately, impact—make sure you’re proactively connecting company objectives to daily work. When you can clarify this connection, you’re giving your team members the context they need to get their best work done. 

A work management platform plays a pivotal role in this process. It acts as a central hub for your strategic plan, ensuring that every task and project is directly tied to your broader company goals. This alignment is crucial for visibility and coordination, allowing team members to see how their individual efforts contribute to the company’s success. 

By leveraging such a platform, you not only streamline workflow and enhance team productivity but also align every action with your strategic objectives—allowing teams to drive greater impact and helping your company move toward goals more effectively. 

Strategic planning FAQs

Still have questions about strategic planning? We have answers.

Why do I need a strategic plan?

A strategic plan is one of many tools you can use to plan and hit your goals. It helps map out strategic objectives and growth metrics that will help your company be successful.

When should I create a strategic plan?

You should aim to create a strategic plan every three to five years, depending on your organization’s growth speed.

Since the point of a strategic plan is to map out your long-term goals and how you’ll get there, you should create a strategic plan when you’ve met most or all of them. You should also create a strategic plan any time you’re going to make a large pivot in your organization’s mission or enter new markets. 

What is a strategic planning template?

A strategic planning template is a tool organizations can use to map out their strategic plan and track progress. Typically, a strategic planning template houses all the components needed to build out a strategic plan, including your company’s vision and mission statements, information from any competitive analyses or SWOT assessments, and relevant KPIs.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. business plan?

A business plan can help you document your strategy as you’re getting started so every team member is on the same page about your core business priorities and goals. This tool can help you document and share your strategy with key investors or stakeholders as you get your business up and running.

You should create a business plan when you’re: 

Just starting your business

Significantly restructuring your business

If your business is already established, you should create a strategic plan instead of a business plan. Even if you’re working at a relatively young company, your strategic plan can build on your business plan to help you move in the right direction. During the strategic planning process, you’ll draw from a lot of the fundamental business elements you built early on to establish your strategy for the next three to five years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. mission and vision statements?

Your strategic plan, mission statement, and vision statements are all closely connected. In fact, during the strategic planning process, you will take inspiration from your mission and vision statements in order to build out your strategic plan.

Simply put: 

A mission statement summarizes your company’s purpose.

A vision statement broadly explains how you’ll reach your company’s purpose.

A strategic plan pulls in inspiration from your mission and vision statements and outlines what actions you’re going to take to move in the right direction. 

For example, if your company produces pet safety equipment, here’s how your mission statement, vision statement, and strategic plan might shake out:

Mission statement: “To ensure the safety of the world’s animals.” 

Vision statement: “To create pet safety and tracking products that are effortless to use.” 

Your strategic plan would outline the steps you’re going to take in the next few years to bring your company closer to your mission and vision. For example, you develop a new pet tracking smart collar or improve the microchipping experience for pet owners. 

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. company objectives?

Company objectives are broad goals. You should set these on a yearly or quarterly basis (if your organization moves quickly). These objectives give your team a clear sense of what you intend to accomplish for a set period of time. 

Your strategic plan is more forward-thinking than your company goals, and it should cover more than one year of work. Think of it this way: your company objectives will move the needle towards your overall strategy—but your strategic plan should be bigger than company objectives because it spans multiple years.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a business case?

A business case is a document to help you pitch a significant investment or initiative for your company. When you create a business case, you’re outlining why this investment is a good idea, and how this large-scale project will positively impact the business. 

You might end up building business cases for things on your strategic plan’s roadmap—but your strategic plan should be bigger than that. This tool should encompass multiple years of your roadmap, across your entire company—not just one initiative.

What’s the difference between a strategic plan vs. a project plan?

A strategic plan is a company-wide, multi-year plan of what you want to accomplish in the next three to five years and how you plan to accomplish that. A project plan, on the other hand, outlines how you’re going to accomplish a specific project. This project could be one of many initiatives that contribute to a specific company objective which, in turn, is one of many objectives that contribute to your strategic plan. 

What’s the difference between strategic management vs. strategic planning?

A strategic plan is a tool to define where your organization wants to go and what actions you need to take to achieve those goals. Strategic planning is the process of creating a plan in order to hit your strategic objectives.

Strategic management includes the strategic planning process, but also goes beyond it. In addition to planning how you will achieve your big-picture goals, strategic management also helps you organize your resources and figure out the best action plans for success. 

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Business Strategy: A Complete Guide

Ryan Wherrity

Ryan serves as a "player-coach" on ClearPoint's sales team, managing major accounts while also overseeing his fellow Account Executives' efforts.

If you’re not planning strategically as an organization, but would like to, read now

Table of Contents

Does your organization have a fully developed strategy that defines where the company is headed over the next three to five years? Or is it instead guided by a patchwork of annual departmental business strategies that are inexorably tied to the budget? If you’re in the latter camp, you’re not alone. Lots of organizations have annual business plans but no overall strategic plan; however, the lack of an overall strategy ultimately limits their progress.

If you’re part of a leadership team that doesn’t yet plan strategically but aspires to, this guide was created for you.

In the sections below you’ll find a trove of information and resources on strategic planning and execution. You’ll also see how using software like ClearPoint can help you turn your business plans into a well-formed strategic plan.

If you have any questions about business strategy after reading, please reach out to us here at ClearPoint. We’re dedicated to making strategy execution simple, straightforward, and—most importantly—successful.

Important Strategy Definitions: What is a business plan vs. a strategic plan ?

If you want to up your strategy game, it’s important to understand what your organization is doing now vs. what you want to be doing —in other words, understanding the difference between having a business plan vs. a strategic plan.

If your work revolves around a set of short-term objectives, you may be using what we refer to as an annual business plan:

A business plan is a yearlong plan of action for a specific department or business unit, outlining a specific subset of goals and activities.

A strategic plan (sometimes called a corporate strategy ) is different:

A strategic plan identifies a broad set of objectives an organization will strive to achieve over the course of the next three to five years. It should be accompanied by a slate of departmental business plans that will bring it to fruition.

Most organizations have an annual business plan but not every organization has a strategic plan. Ideally, a business plan should be formed around the corporate strategy, and the activities it includes would be in support of broader, high-level organizational goals.

Business plans are beneficial in that they allow you to link work activities to your budget; they also give all departments a purpose. However, annual plans, if used as a standalone strategy mechanism, tend to be more budget-focused than strategy-focused, so they often repeat the same activities year after year. Both annual plans and strategic plans are necessary in order to make meaningful forward progress; the key is to link them together.

To get an even better overview of the levels of strategy and how they should be used together, read the following:

Business vs. Corporate Strategy: What’s The Difference?

Breaking Down The Three Levels Of Strategy In Any Business

Strategic Planning Best Practices

Creating a solid business strategy happens in three parts: 1) understanding where you stand strategically as an organization right now; 2) deciding where you want to be in the future; and 3) determining how you’ll get there. Briefly, here are a few best practices to help you through the processes of fleshing out your organizational objectives and developing a plan for every department to make them happen:

1) Make sure you get the right people involved. Aside from the strategic planner, you need a cross-functional team that involves members of the board along with representatives from your critical functions. This varied input will be necessary to accurately identify strengths/weaknesses and priority issues as well as possible courses of action.

2) Align every division and department around the strategic plan. Once you’ve come up with a set of objectives, make sure your entire organization is working together to achieve them. The activities contained in your annual business plans should support the larger business strategy either directly or indirectly.

3) Communicate your strategy frequently. Don’t stop talking about your strategy after the initial launch. Keep up the level of enthusiasm—and keep your strategy top of mind—by discussing progress with employees and other stakeholders continuously.

4) Put a reliable, solid tracking system in place. Lots of organizations are unexpectedly overwhelmed by strategy reporting. Done manually in Excel, it’s an incredibly time-consuming task that drags down everyone involved, often leading to errors, delays, and workarounds. You can avoid making the same mistake—and produce much more helpful reports, to boot!—by using ClearPoint. Keep reading to learn why it’s a necessity.

For more information on how to develop your strategy effectively, read:

4 Best Business Strategies For Company Growth

Strategic Planning: The Ultimate Guide To Preparing, Creating, & Deploying Your Strategy

What Is A Cascading Strategy? 3 Critical Steps To Take For Strategic Alignment

How To Effectively Communicate Your Strategic Plan To Employees

Tracking Progress On Your Business Strategy

Tracking progress is a fundamental part of strategy execution—if things aren’t headed in the right direction, you need to know so you can course-correct as soon as possible. Unfortunately, organizations tend to devote too little attention to tracking and reporting. Without a strong and reliable system in place, you’ll struggle to report consistently over time; you also won’t get the kind of performance reports that are most helpful for strategic decision-making.

Even annual business plans would be better managed with strategy reporting software like ClearPoint—it helps you stay focused on the big picture while still managing all the small operational pieces that bring your goals to fruition.

Here are just a few reasons why ClearPoint is more helpful for strategy reporting (at every level) than traditional reporting tools:

• It gives you a place to house all your strategy-related information for easy viewing and historical reference.
• It allows you to align objectives, measures (KPIs) , and initiatives (projects) across divisions and departments, and create reports to showcase alignment.
• It has the capability to produce a variety of report types, highlighting as little or as much information as each audience needs for decision-making.
• It makes reporting virtually effortless thanks to automation features.

Using ClearPoint to manage your annual business plans is an excellent entry point for more ambitious strategic planning: You’ll gradually create goals that will stretch out over more than one year, begin to coordinate departmental activities, and start focusing internal meetings around performance reporting. And the best part: You’ll already have a top-notch system in place to support the organization’s more advanced planning efforts going forward.

To learn more about strategic tracking and reporting, read:

Business Strategy Software: ClearPoint

How Do You Write A Business Strategy Report?

Strategy Reporting: The Ultimate Guide

See how ClearPoint can help you set and reach long-term goals.

Are you part of a team that would like to start planning more strategically for your organization’s future? If so, we’d love to introduce you to ClearPoint! Book a demo today to see the software in action.

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More Like this

4-phase guide to the strategic planning process, the strategic planning process in 4 steps, to guide you through the strategic planning process, we created this 4 step process you can use with your team. we’ll cover the basic definition of strategic planning, what core elements you should include, and actionable steps to build your strategic plan..

Free Strategic Planning Guide

What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic Planning is when a process where organizations define a bold vision and create a plan with objectives and goals to reach that future. A great strategic plan defines where your organization is going, how you’ll win, who must do what, and how you’ll review and adapt your strategy development.

A strategic plan or a business strategic plan should include the following:

• Your organization’s vision organization’s vision of the future.
• A clearly Articulated mission and values statement.
• A current state assessment that evaluates your competitive environment, new opportunities, and new threats.
• What strategic challenges you face.
• A growth strategy and outlined market share.
• Long-term strategic goals.
• An annual plan with SMART goals or OKRs to support your strategic goals.
• Clear measures, key performance indicators, and data analytics to measure progress.
• A clear strategic planning cycle, including how you’ll review, refresh, and recast your plan every quarter.

Overview of the Strategic Planning Process:

The strategic management process involves taking your organization on a journey from point A (where you are today) to point B (your vision of the future).

Part of that journey is the strategy built during strategic planning, and part of it is execution during the strategic management process. A good strategic plan dictates “how” you travel the selected road.

Effective execution ensures you are reviewing, refreshing, and recalibrating your strategy to reach your destination. The planning process should take no longer than 90 days. But, move at a pace that works best for you and your team and leverage this as a resource.

To kick this process off, we recommend 1-2 weeks (1-hour meeting with the Owner/CEO, Strategy Director, and Facilitator (if necessary) to discuss the information collected and direction for continued planning.)

Questions to Ask:

• Who is on your Planning Team? What senior leadership members and key stakeholders are included? Checkout these links you need help finding a strategic planning consultant , someone to facilitate strategic planning , or expert AI strategy consulting .
• Who will be the business process owner (Strategy Director) of planning in your organization?
• Fast forward 12 months from now, what do you want to see differently in your organization as a result of your strategic plan and implementation?
• Planning team members are informed of their roles and responsibilities.
• A strategic planning schedule is established.
• Existing planning information and secondary data collected.

Action Grid:

Step 1: Determine Organizational Readiness

Set up your plan for success – questions to ask:

• Are the conditions and criteria for successful planning in place at the current time? Can certain pitfalls be avoided?
• Is this the appropriate time for your organization to initiate a planning process? Yes or no? If no, where do you go from here?

Step 2: Develop Your Team & Schedule

Who is going to be on your planning team? You need to choose someone to oversee the strategy implementation (Chief Strategy Officer or Strategy Director) and strategic management of your plan? You need some of the key individuals and decision makers for this team. It should be a small group of approximately 12-15 people.

OnStrategy is the leader in strategic planning and performance management. Our cloud-based software and hands-on services closes the gap between strategy and execution. Learn more about OnStrategy here .

Step 3: Collect Current Data

All strategic plans are developed using the following information:

• The last strategic plan, even if it is not current
• Mission statement, vision statement, values statement
• Past or current Business plan
• Financial records for the last few years
• Marketing plan
• Other information, such as last year’s SWOT, sales figures and projections

Step 4: Review Collected Data

Review the data collected in the last action with your strategy director and facilitator.

• What trends do you see?
• Are there areas of obvious weakness or strengths?
• Have you been following a plan or have you just been going along with the market?

Conclusion: A successful strategic plan must be adaptable to changing conditions. Organizations benefit from having a flexible plan that can evolve, as assumptions and goals may need adjustments. Preparing to adapt or restart the planning process is crucial, so we recommend updating actions quarterly and refreshing your plan annually.

Strategic Planning Phase 1: Determine Your Strategic Position

Want more? Dive into the “ Evaluate Your Strategic Position ” How-To Guide.

Action Grid

Step 1: Identify Strategic Issues

Strategic issues are critical unknowns driving you to embark on a robust strategic planning process. These issues can be problems, opportunities, market shifts, or anything else that keeps you awake at night and begging for a solution or decision. The best strategic plans address your strategic issues head-on.

• How will we grow, stabilize, or retrench in order to sustain our organization into the future?
• How will we diversify our revenue to reduce our dependence on a major customer?
• What must we do to improve our cost structure and stay competitive?
• How and where must we innovate our products and services?

Step 2: Conduct an Environmental Scan

Conducting an environmental scan will help you understand your operating environment. An environmental scan is called a PEST analysis, an acronym for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological trends. Sometimes, it is helpful to include Ecological and Legal trends as well. All of these trends play a part in determining the overall business environment.

Step 3: Conduct a Competitive Analysis

The reason to do a competitive analysis is to assess the opportunities and threats that may occur from those organizations competing for the same business you are. You need to understand what your competitors are or aren’t offering your potential customers. Here are a few other key ways a competitive analysis fits into strategic planning:

• To help you assess whether your competitive advantage is really an advantage.
• To understand what your competitors’ current and future strategies are so you can plan accordingly.
• To provide information that will help you evaluate your strategic decisions against what your competitors may or may not be doing.

Learn more on how to conduct a competitive analysis here .

Step 4: Identify Opportunities and Threats

Opportunities are situations that exist but must be acted on if the business is to benefit from them.

What do you want to capitalize on?

• What new needs of customers could you meet?
• What are the economic trends that benefit you?
• What are the emerging political and social opportunities?
• What niches have your competitors missed?

Threats refer to external conditions or barriers preventing a company from reaching its objectives.

What do you need to mitigate? What external driving force do you need to anticipate?

Questions to Answer:

• What are the negative economic trends?
• What are the negative political and social trends?
• Where are competitors about to bite you?
• Where are you vulnerable?

Step 5: Identify Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths refer to what your company does well.

What do you want to build on?

• What do you do well (in sales, marketing, operations, management)?
• What are your core competencies?
• What differentiates you from your competitors?
• Why do your customers buy from you?

Weaknesses refer to any limitations a company faces in developing or implementing a strategy.

What do you need to shore up?

• Where do you lack resources?
• What can you do better?
• Where are you losing money?
• In what areas do your competitors have an edge?

Step 6: Customer Segments

Customer segmentation defines the different groups of people or organizations a company aims to reach or serve.

• What needs or wants define your ideal customer?
• What characteristics describe your typical customer?
• Can you sort your customers into different profiles using their needs, wants and characteristics?
• Can you reach this segment through clear communication channels?

Step 7: Develop Your SWOT

A SWOT analysis is a quick way of examining your organization by looking at the internal strengths and weaknesses in relation to the external opportunities and threats. Creating a SWOT analysis lets you see all the important factors affecting your organization together in one place.

It’s easy to read, easy to communicate, and easy to create. Take the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats you developed earlier, review, prioritize, and combine like terms. The SWOT analysis helps you ask and answer the following questions: “How do you….”

• Build on your strengths
• Shore up your weaknesses
• Capitalize on your opportunities
• Manage your threats

Strategic Planning Process Phase 2: Developing Strategy

Want More? Deep Dive Into the “Developing Your Strategy” How-To Guide.

Step 1: Develop Your Mission Statement

The mission statement describes an organization’s purpose or reason for existing.

What is our purpose? Why do we exist? What do we do?

• What are your organization’s goals? What does your organization intend to accomplish?
• Why do you work here? Why is it special to work here?
• What would happen if we were not here?

Outcome: A short, concise, concrete statement that clearly defines the scope of the organization.

Step 2: discover your values.

Your values statement clarifies what your organization stands for, believes in and the behaviors you expect to see as a result. Check our the post on great what are core values and examples of core values .

How will we behave?

• What are the key non-negotiables that are critical to the company’s success?
• What guiding principles are core to how we operate in this organization?
• What behaviors do you expect to see?
• If the circumstances changed and penalized us for holding this core value, would we still keep it?

Outcome: Short list of 5-7 core values.

Step 3: casting your vision statement.

A Vision Statement defines your desired future state and directs where we are going as an organization.

Where are we going?

• What will our organization look like 5–10 years from now?
• What does success look like?
• What are we aspiring to achieve?
• What mountain are you climbing and why?

Outcome: A picture of the future.

Step 4: identify your competitive advantages.

A competitive advantage is a characteristic of an organization that allows it to meet its customer’s need(s) better than its competition can. It’s important to consider your competitive advantages when creating your competitive strategy.

What are we best at?

• What are your unique strengths?
• What are you best at in your market?
• Do your customers still value what is being delivered? Ask them.
• How do your value propositions stack up in the marketplace?

Outcome: A list of 2 or 3 items that honestly express the organization’s foundation for winning.

Step 5: crafting your organization-wide strategies.

Your competitive strategy is the general methods you intend to use to reach your vision. Regardless of the level, a strategy answers the question “how.”

How will we succeed?

• Broad: market scope; a relatively wide market emphasis.
• Narrow: limited to only one or few segments in the market
• Does your competitive position focus on lowest total cost or product/service differentiation or both?

Outcome: Establish the general, umbrella methods you intend to use to reach your vision.

Phase 3: Strategic Plan Development

Want More? Deep Dive Into the “Build Your Plan” How-To Guide.

Strategic Planning Process Step 1: Use Your SWOT to Set Priorities

If your team wants to take the next step in the SWOT analysis, apply the TOWS Strategic Alternatives Matrix to your strategy map to help you think about the options you could pursue. To do this, match external opportunities and threats with your internal strengths and weaknesses, as illustrated in the matrix below:

TOWS Strategic Alternatives Matrix

Evaluate the options you’ve generated, and identify the ones that give the greatest benefit, and that best achieve the mission and vision of your organization. Add these to the other strategic options that you’re considering.

Step 2: Define Long-Term Strategic Objectives

Long-Term Strategic Objectives are long-term, broad, continuous statements that holistically address all areas of your organization. What must we focus on to achieve our vision? Check out examples of strategic objectives here. What are the “big rocks”?

Questions to ask:

• What are our shareholders or stakeholders expectations for our financial performance or social outcomes?
• To reach our outcomes, what value must we provide to our customers? What is our value proposition?
• To provide value, what process must we excel at to deliver our products and services?
• To drive our processes, what skills, capabilities and organizational structure must we have?

Outcome: Framework for your plan – no more than 6. You can use the balanced scorecard framework, OKRs, or whatever methodology works best for you. Just don’t exceed 6 long-term objectives.

Step 3: Setting Organization-Wide Goals and Measures

Once you have formulated your strategic objectives, you should translate them into goals and measures that can be communicated to your strategic planning team (team of business leaders and/or team members).

You want to set goals that convert the strategic objectives into specific performance targets. Effective strategic goals clearly state what, when, how, and who, and they are specifically measurable. They should address what you must do in the short term (think 1-3 years) to achieve your strategic objectives.

Organization-wide goals are annual statements that are SMART – specific, measurable, attainable, responsible, and time-bound. These are outcome statements expressing a result to achieve the desired outcomes expected in the organization.

What is most important right now to reach our long-term objectives?

Outcome: clear outcomes for the current year..

Step 4: Select KPIs

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) are the key measures that will have the most impact in moving your organization forward. We recommend you guide your organization with measures that matter. See examples of KPIs here.

How will we measure our success?

Outcome: 5-7 measures that help you keep the pulse on your performance. When selecting your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), ask, “What are the key performance measures we need to track to monitor if we are achieving our goals?” These KPIs include the key goals you want to measure that will have the most impact on moving your organization forward.

Step 5: Cascade Your Strategies to Operations

To move from big ideas to action, creating action items and to-dos for short-term goals is crucial. This involves translating strategy from the organizational level to individuals. Functional area managers and contributors play a role in developing short-term goals to support the organization.

Before taking action, decide whether to create plans directly derived from the strategic plan or sync existing operational, business, or account plans with organizational goals. Avoid the pitfall of managing multiple sets of goals and actions, as this shifts from strategic planning to annual planning.

Questions to Ask

• How are we going to get there at a functional level?
• Who must do what by when to accomplish and drive the organizational goals?
• What strategic questions still remain and need to be solved?

Department/functional goals, actions, measures and targets for the next 12-24 months

Step 6: Cascading Goals to Departments and Team Members

Now in your Departments / Teams, you need to create goals to support the organization-wide goals. These goals should still be SMART and are generally (short-term) something to be done in the next 12-18 months. Finally, you should develop an action plan for each goal.

Keep the acronym SMART in mind again when setting action items, and make sure they include start and end dates and have someone assigned their responsibility. Since these action items support your previously established goals, it may be helpful to consider action items your immediate plans on the way to achieving your (short-term) goals. In other words, identify all the actions that need to occur in the next 90 days and continue this same process every 90 days until the goal is achieved.

Examples of Cascading Goals:

Phase 4: Executing Strategy and Managing Performance

Want more? Dive Into the “Managing Performance” How-To Guide.

Step 1: Strategic Plan Implementation Schedule

Implementation is the process that turns strategies and plans into actions in order to accomplish strategic objectives and goals.

How will we use the plan as a management tool?

• Communication Schedule: How and when will you roll-out your plan to your staff? How frequently will you send out updates?
• Process Leader: Who is your strategy director?
• Structure: What are the dates for your strategy reviews (we recommend at least quarterly)?
• System & Reports: What are you expecting each staff member to come prepared with to those strategy review sessions?

Outcome: Syncing your plan into the “rhythm of your business.”

Once your resources are in place, you can set your implementation schedule. Use the following steps as your base implementation plan:

• Establish your performance management and reward system.
• Set up monthly and quarterly strategy meetings with established reporting procedures.
• Set up annual strategic review dates including new assessments and a large group meeting for an annual plan review.

Now you’re ready to start plan roll-out. Below are sample implementation schedules, which double for a full strategic management process timeline.

Step 2: Tracking Goals & Actions

Monthly strategy meetings don’t need to take a lot of time – 30 to 60 minutes should suffice. But it is important that key team members report on their progress toward the goals they are responsible for – including reporting on metrics in the scorecard they have been assigned.

By using the measurements already established, it’s easy to make course corrections if necessary. You should also commit to reviewing your Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) during these regular meetings. Need help comparing strategic planning software ? Check out our guide.

Effective Strategic Planning: Your Bi-Annual Checklist

Never lose sight of the fact that strategic plans are guidelines, not rules. Every six months or so, you should evaluate your strategy execution and strategic plan implementation by asking these key questions:

• Will your goals be achieved within the time frame of the plan? If not, why?
• Should the deadlines be modified? (Before you modify deadlines, figure out why you’re behind schedule.)
• Are your goals and action items still realistic?
• Should the organization’s focus be changed to put more emphasis on achieving your goals?
• Should your goals be changed? (Be careful about making these changes – know why efforts aren’t achieving the goals before changing the goals.)
• What can be gathered from an adaptation to improve future planning activities?

Why Track Your Goals?

• Ownership: Having a stake and responsibility in the plan makes you feel part of it and leads you to drive your goals forward.
• Culture: Successful plans tie tracking and updating goals into organizational culture.
• Implementation: If you don’t review and update your strategic goals, they are just good intentions
• Accountability: Accountability and high visibility help drive change. This means that each measure, objective, data source and initiative must have an owner.
• Empowerment: Changing goals from In Progress to Complete just feels good!

Step 3: Review & Adapt

Guidelines for your strategy review.

The most important part of this meeting is a 70/30 review. 30% is about reviewing performance, and 70% should be spent on making decisions to move the company’s strategy forward in the next quarter.

The best strategic planners spend about 60-90 minutes in the sessions. Holding meetings helps focus your goals on accomplishing top priorities and accelerating the organization’s growth. Although the meeting structure is relatively simple, it does require a high degree of discipline.

Strategy Review Session Questions:

Strategic planning frequently asked questions, read our frequently asked questions about strategic planning to learn how to build a great strategic plan..

Strategic planning is when organizations define a bold vision and create a plan with objectives and goals to reach that future. A great strategic plan defines where your organization is going, how you’ll win, who must do what, and how you’ll review and adapt your strategy..

Your strategic plan needs to include an assessment of your current state, a SWOT analysis, mission, vision, values, competitive advantages, growth strategy, growth enablers, a 3-year roadmap, and annual plan with strategic goals, OKRs, and KPIs.

A strategic planning process should take no longer than 90 days to complete from start to finish! Any longer could fatigue your organization and team.

There are four overarching phases to the strategic planning process that include: determining position, developing your strategy, building your plan, and managing performance. Each phase plays a unique but distinctly crucial role in the strategic planning process.

Prior to starting your strategic plan, you must go through this pre-planning process to determine your organization’s readiness by following these steps:

Ask yourself these questions: Are the conditions and criteria for successful planning in place now? Can we foresee any pitfalls that we can avoid? Is there an appropriate time for our organization to initiate this process?

Develop your team and schedule. Who will oversee the implementation as Chief Strategy Officer or Director? Do we have at least 12-15 other key individuals on our team?

Research and Collect Current Data. Find the following resources that your organization may have used in the past to assist you with your new plan: last strategic plan, mission, vision, and values statement, business plan, financial records, marketing plan, SWOT, sales figures, or projections.

Finally, review the data with your strategy director and facilitator and ask these questions: What trends do we see? Any obvious strengths or weaknesses? Have we been following a plan or just going along with the market?

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Strategic Planning

The art of formulating business strategies, implementing them, and evaluating their impact based on organizational objectives

What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is the art of creating specific business strategies, implementing them, and evaluating the results of executing the plan, in regard to a company’s overall long-term goals or desires. It is a concept that focuses on integrating various departments (such as accounting and finance, marketing, and human resources) within a company to accomplish its strategic goals. The term strategic planning is essentially synonymous with strategic management.

The concept of strategic planning originally became popular in the 1950s and 1960s, and enjoyed favor in the corporate world up until the 1980s, when it somewhat fell out of favor. However, enthusiasm for strategic business planning was revived in the 1990s and strategic planning remains relevant in modern business.

CFI’s Course on Corporate & Business Strategy is an elective course for the FMVA Program.

Strategic Planning Process

The strategic planning process requires considerable thought and planning on the part of a company’s upper-level management. Before settling on a plan of action and then determining how to strategically implement it, executives may consider many possible options. In the end, a company’s management will, hopefully, settle on a strategy that is most likely to produce positive results (usually defined as improving the company’s bottom line) and that can be executed in a cost-efficient manner with a high likelihood of success, while avoiding undue financial risk.

The development and execution of strategic planning are typically viewed as consisting of being performed in three critical steps:

1. Strategy Formulation

In the process of formulating a strategy, a company will first assess its current situation by performing an internal and external audit. The purpose of this is to help identify the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as opportunities and threats ( SWOT Analysis ). As a result of the analysis, managers decide on which plans or markets they should focus on or abandon, how to best allocate the company’s resources, and whether to take actions such as expanding operations through a joint venture or merger.

Business strategies have long-term effects on organizational success. Only upper management executives are usually authorized to assign the resources necessary for their implementation.

2. Strategy Implementation

After a strategy is formulated, the company needs to establish specific targets or goals related to putting the strategy into action, and allocate resources for the strategy’s execution. The success of the implementation stage is often determined by how good a job upper management does in regard to clearly communicating the chosen strategy throughout the company and getting all of its employees to “buy into” the desire to put the strategy into action.

Effective strategy implementation involves developing a solid structure, or framework, for implementing the strategy, maximizing the utilization of relevant resources, and redirecting marketing efforts in line with the strategy’s goals and objectives.

3. Strategy Evaluation

Any savvy business person knows that success today does not guarantee success tomorrow. As such, it is important for managers to evaluate the performance of a chosen strategy after the implementation phase.

Strategy evaluation involves three crucial activities: reviewing the internal and external factors affecting the implementation of the strategy, measuring performance, and taking corrective steps to make the strategy more effective. For example, after implementing a strategy to improve customer service, a company may discover that it needs to adopt a new customer relationship management (CRM) software program in order to attain the desired improvements in customer relations.

All three steps in strategic planning occur within three hierarchical levels: upper management, middle management, and operational levels. Thus, it is imperative to foster communication and interaction among employees and managers at all levels, so as to help the firm to operate as a more functional and effective team.

Benefits of Strategic Planning

The volatility of the business environment causes many firms to adopt reactive strategies rather than proactive ones. However, reactive strategies are typically only viable for the short-term, even though they may require spending a significant amount of resources and time to execute. Strategic planning helps firms prepare proactively and address issues with a more long-term view. They enable a company to initiate influence instead of just responding to situations.

Among the primary benefits derived from strategic planning are the following:

1. Helps formulate better strategies using a logical, systematic approach

This is often the most important benefit. Some studies show that the strategic planning process itself makes a significant contribution to improving a company’s overall performance, regardless of the success of a specific strategy.

2. Enhanced communication between employers and employees

Communication is crucial to the success of the strategic planning process. It is initiated through participation and dialogue among the managers and employees, which shows their commitment to achieving organizational goals.

Strategic planning also helps managers and employees show commitment to the organization’s goals. This is because they know what the company is doing and the reasons behind it. Strategic planning makes organizational goals and objectives real, and employees can more readily understand the relationship between their performance, the company’s success, and compensation. As a result, both employees and managers tend to become more innovative and creative, which fosters further growth of the company.

3. Empowers individuals working in the organization

The increased dialogue and communication across all stages of the process strengthens employees’ sense of effectiveness and importance in the company’s overall success. For this reason, it is important for companies to decentralize the strategic planning process by involving lower-level managers and employees throughout the organization. A good example is that of the Walt Disney Co., which dissolved its separate strategic planning department, in favor of assigning the planning roles to individual Disney business divisions.

An increasing number of companies use strategic planning to formulate and implement effective decisions. While planning requires a significant amount of time, effort, and money, a well-thought-out strategic plan efficiently fosters company growth, goal achievement, and employee satisfaction.

Additional Resources

Thank you for reading CFI’s guide to Strategic Planning. To keep learning and advancing your career, the additional CFI resources below will be useful:

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Strategic planning

Growing a business means taking many decisions about the way you want to expand your operations. Creating a strategic plan is a key component of planning for growth. It will help you prepare a realistic vision for the future of your business and in doing so can maximise your business' potential for growth.

A strategic plan should not be confused with a business plan. A business plan is about setting short- or mid-term goals and defining the steps necessary to achieve them. A strategic plan is typically focused on a business' mid- to long-term goals and explains the basic strategies for achieving them.

This guide sets out the basics of the strategic planning process. It explains how to go about drawing up a strategic plan, it highlights some important issues to bear in mind and it shows how to turn from planning to implementation.

The purpose of strategic planning

The three key elements of strategic planning, getting started with strategic planning, build your plan on solid strategic analysis, what a written strategic plan should include, some important strategic planning issues to consider, implementing a strategic plan.

The purpose of strategic planning is to set your overall goals for your business and to develop a plan to achieve them. It involves stepping back from your day-to-day operations and asking where your business is headed and what its priorities should be.

Why strategic planning matters more to growing businesses

Taking the decision actively to grow a business means embracing the risks that come with growth. Spending time on identifying exactly where you want to take your business - and how you will get there - should help you reduce and manage those risks.

As your business becomes larger and more complex, so strategy formulation will need to become more sophisticated, both to sustain growth and to help you muster the leadership and resources you need to keep your business developing.

To do this, you will also need to start collecting and analysing a wider range of information about your business - both about how it operates internally and about how conditions are developing in your current and potential markets.

The difference between strategic planning and writing a business plan

The process of strategic planning is about determining the direction in which you want to take your business. It involves setting out your overall goals for your business. By contrast, the purpose of the business plan is to provide the detailed roadmap that will take you in your desired direction.

Your strategic planning and your business planning should be complementary, but effective strategy development requires you to shift your focus from the day-to-day concerns of your business and to consider your broader and longer-term options.

Developing a strategy for business growth requires you to deepen your understanding of the way your business works and its position relative to other businesses in your markets. As a starting point, you need to ask yourself the following three questions:

• Where is your business now? This involves understanding as much about your business as possible, including how it operates internally, what drives its profitability, and how it compares with competitors. Keep your review separate from day-to-day work and be realistic, detached and critical in distinguishing between the cause and effect of how your business operates. You should also write it down and review it periodically.
• Where do you want to take it? Here you need to set out your top-level objectives. Work out your vision, mission, objectives, values, techniques and goals. Where do you see your business in five or ten years? What do you want to be the focus of your business and your source of competitive advantage over your rivals in the marketplace? This step should be the foundation for the final plan and motivate change.
• What do you need to do to get there? What changes will you need to make in order to deliver on your strategic objectives? What is the best way of implementing those changes - what changes to the structure and financing of your business will be required and what goals and deadlines will you need to set for yourself and others in the business? Think about the business as a whole, for example consider diversification, existing growth, acquisition plans, as well as functional matters in key areas.

While the second question - Where do you want to take it? - is at the heart of the strategic planning process, it can only be considered usefully in the context of the other two.

You should balance your vision for the business against the practical realities of your current position and changes, such as increased investment in capital and other resources that would be required to implement your vision. A strategic plan needs to be realistically achievable.

As with any business activity, the strategic planning process itself needs to be carefully managed. Responsibilities and resources need to be assigned to the right people and you need to keep on top of the process.

Who to involve

Try to find people who show the kind of analytical skills that successful strategic planning depends upon. Try to find a mix of creative thinkers and those with a solid grasp of operational detail.

A good rule of thumb is that you shouldn't try to do it all yourself. Take on board the opinions of other staff - key employees, accountants, department heads, board members - and those of external stakeholders, including customers, clients, advisors and consultants.

How to structure the process

There is no right or wrong way to plan the process of strategic planning, but be clear in advance about how you intend to proceed. Everyone involved should know what is expected of them and when.

For example, you may decide to hold a series of weekly meetings with a strategy team before delegating the drafting of a strategy document to one of its members. Or you might decide to block off a day or two for strategy brainstorming sessions - part of which might involve seeking contributions from a broader range of employees and even key customers.

Getting the planning document right

The priority with strategic planning is to get the process right. But don't neglect the outcome - it's also important to make sure you capture the results in a strategic planning document that communicates clearly to everyone in your business what your top-level objectives are. Such a document should:

• reflect the consensus of those involved in drafting it
• be supported by key decision-makers, notably owners and investors
• be acceptable to other stakeholders, such as your employees

Strategic planning is about positioning your business as effectively as possible in the marketplace. So you need to make sure that you conduct as thorough as possible an analysis of both your business and your market.

There is a range of strategic models that you can use to help you structure your analysis here. These models provide a simplified and abstract picture of the business environment. SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis is probably the best-known model and is used by both smaller and bigger businesses in the for-profit and not-for-profit sectors alike. STEEPLE (social, technological, economic, environmental, political, legal, ethical) and Five Forces analysis are two other widely used models.

A SWOT analysis involves identifying an objective of a business or project and then identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable and unfavourable to achieving that goal.

These factors are considered using four elements:

• s trengths - attributes of the business that can help in achieving the objective
• w eaknesses - attributes of the business that could be obstacles to achieving the objective
• o pportunities - external factors that could be helpful to achieving the objective
• t hreats - external factors that could be obstacles to achieving the objective

There are other models you can use to assess your strategic position. STEEPLE analysis, for example breaks the business environment down into the following components:

s ocial –e.g. demographic trends or changing lifestyle patterns

t echnological – e.g. the emergence of competing technologies, or productivity-improving equipment for your business

e conomic – e.g. interest rates, inflation and changes in consumer demand

e nvironmental – e.g. changing expectations of customers, regulators and employees on sustainable development

p olitical – e.g. changes to taxation, trading relationships or grant support for businesses

l egal – e.g. changes to employment law, or to the way your sector is regulated

e thical – e.g. ethical and moral standards governing policies and practices

STEEPLE analysis is often used alongside SWOT analysis to help identify opportunities and threats.

Five Forces

The Five Forces model aims to help businesses understand the drivers of competition in their markets. It identifies five key determinants of how operating in a given market is likely to be for a business:

• customers' bargaining power - the higher it is (perhaps because there is a small number of major buyers for your product or service) the more downward pressure on prices and thus revenue they will be able to exert
• suppliers' bargaining power - the ability of suppliers to push prices up (for instance if you rely on a single firm) can impact significantly on costs and profitability
• the threat of new competitors entering your market or industry - more businesses competing makes it more difficult to retain market share and maintain price levels
• the threat of customers switching to substitute products and services - an example would be the threat to fax machine manufacturers posed by the wide availability of email
• the level of competition between businesses in the market - this depends on a wide range of factors, including the number and relative strength of the businesses and the cost to customers of switching between them.

There is no set blueprint for how to structure a strategic plan, but it is good practice to include the following elements:

• Analysis of internal drivers - corresponding, for example, to the strengths and weaknesses of a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis.
• Analysis of external drivers - this should cover factors such as market structure, demand levels and cost pressures, all of which correspond to the opportunities and threats elements of a SWOT analysis.
• Vision statement - a concise summary of where you see your business in five to ten years' time.
• Top-level objectives - these are the major goals that need to be achieved in order for your vision for the business to be realised. These might include attracting a new type of customer, developing new products and services, or securing new sources of finance.
• Implementation - this involves setting out the key actions (with desired outcomes and deadlines) that will need to be completed to attain your top level objectives.
• Resourcing - a summary of the implications your proposed strategy will have for the resources your business needs. This will reflect financing requirements, as well as factors such as staffing levels, premises and equipment.

You may also want to consider adding an executive summary . This can be useful for prospective investors and other key external stakeholders.

Growing a business can pose some considerable personal challenges to the owner or manager, whose role can change dramatically as the business grows.

Effective strategic planning involves considering options that challenge the way that business has been done up to this point. It may be that decision-making in some areas will be handed to others, or that processes which have worked well in the past will no longer fit with future plans.

It can be tempting for owners or managers to overlook alternatives that are uncomfortable for them personally, but to disregard your options on these grounds can seriously compromise your strategic plan and ultimately the growth of your business.

Examples of the kind of issues that tend to get overlooked by growing businesses include:

• The future role of the owner - for example, it may be in the best interests of the business for the owner to focus on a smaller number of responsibilities, or to hand over all day-to-day control to someone with greater experience.
• The location of the business - most small businesses are located close to where the owner lives. But as a business grows it may make sense to relocate the business -for example, to be closer to greater numbers of customers or employees with certain skills.
• Ownership structure - growing businesses in particular should ensure that they get this right. The more a business grows, the more sophisticated it needs to be about meeting its financing needs. In many cases, the best option is for the owner to give up a share of the business in return for equity finance - but this can be emotionally difficult to do.

In the final analysis, it is the owner of the business who decides the strategic plan. Growing a business is not something done "at all costs". However, an honest assessment of the options allows for any decisions made to be as informed as possible.

The plan needs to be implemented and this implementation process requires planning.

The key to implementation of the objectives identified in the strategic plan is to assign goals and responsibilities with budgets and deadlines to responsible owners - key employees or department heads, for example.

Monitoring the progress of the implementation plan and reviewing the strategic plan against implementation will be an ongoing process. The fit between implementation and strategy may not be perfect from the outset and the implications of implementing the strategy may make it necessary to tweak the strategic plan.

Monitoring implementation is the key. Using key performance indicators (KPIs) and setting targets and deadlines is a good way of controlling the process of introducing strategic change.

Your business plan is another important tool in the implementation process. The business plan is typically a short-term and more concrete document than the strategic plan and it tends to focus more closely on operational considerations such as sales and cash flow trends. If you can ensure that your strategic plan informs your business plan, you'll go a long way to ensuring its implementation.

Remember that strategic planning can involve making both organisational and cultural changes to the way your business operates.

Original document, Strategic planning , © Crown copyright 2009 Source: Business Link UK (now GOV.UK/Business ) Adapted for Québec by Info entrepreneurs

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Keeping Sight of Your Company’s Long-Term Vision

by Ron Ashkenas and Peter D. Moore

Summary .   

Crafting a powerful vision is often considered the sine qua non of great leadership, but it’s only the first step. How can leaders translate that vision into reality — a process that can take years — while the rapidly changing context distracts with the need for daily adaptation? The authors, both advisors to large firms which have undergone significant transformations, suggest three approaches: 1) Structuring strategic planning processes around the vision, rather than letting it be an afterthought; 2) Focusing experimentation on questions relevant to the long-term vision; and 3) Investing in training programs to help staff embrace the skills and mindset needed to executive on the vision.

One of the most visible and essential elements of your job as a leader is to create an exciting, unified vision of the longer-term future for your company or unit. (We discuss this imperative in more detail in Ron’s book The Harvard Business Review Leader’s Handbook and in earlier articles .) This is difficult enough, but even once a vision is in place, many leaders fail to execute on it over the many years that it may require. For example, a 2018 study by McKinsey found that only 16% of companies that were committed to a multi-year process of digital transformation reported sustainable performance improvement.

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Why Is Strategic Planning Important?

• 06 Oct 2020

Do you know what your organization’s strategy is? How much time do you dedicate to developing that strategy each month?

If your answers are on the low side, you’re not alone. According to research from Bridges Business Consultancy , 48 percent of leaders spend less than one day per month discussing strategy.

It’s no wonder, then, that 48 percent of all organizations fail to meet at least half of their strategic targets. Before an organization can reap the rewards of its business strategy, planning must take place to ensure its strategy remains agile and executable .

Here’s a look at what strategic planning is and how it can benefit your organization.

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What Is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning is the ongoing organizational process of using available knowledge to document a business's intended direction. This process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning.

It’s important to highlight that strategic planning is an ongoing process—not a one-time meeting. In the online course Disruptive Strategy , Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen notes that in a study of HBS graduates who started businesses, 93 percent of those with successful strategies evolved and pivoted away from their original strategic plans.

“Most people think of strategy as an event, but that’s not the way the world works,” Christensen says. “When we run into unanticipated opportunities and threats, we have to respond. Sometimes we respond successfully; sometimes we don’t. But most strategies develop through this process. More often than not, the strategy that leads to success emerges through a process that’s at work 24/7 in almost every industry.”

Strategic planning requires time, effort, and continual reassessment. Given the proper attention, it can set your business on the right track. Here are three benefits of strategic planning.

Related: 4 Ways to Develop Your Strategic Thinking Skills

Benefits of Strategic Planning

1. create one, forward-focused vision.

Strategy touches every employee and serves as an actionable way to reach your company’s goals.

One significant benefit of strategic planning is that it creates a single, forward-focused vision that can align your company and its shareholders. By making everyone aware of your company’s goals, how and why those goals were chosen, and what they can do to help reach them, you can create an increased sense of responsibility throughout your organization.

This can also have trickle-down effects. For instance, if a manager isn’t clear on your organization’s strategy or the reasoning used to craft it, they could make decisions on a team level that counteract its efforts. With one vision to unite around, everyone at your organization can act with a broader strategy in mind.

2. Draw Attention to Biases and Flaws in Reasoning

The decisions you make come with inherent bias. Taking part in the strategic planning process forces you to examine and explain why you’re making each decision and back it up with data, projections, or case studies, thus combatting your cognitive biases.

A few examples of cognitive biases are:

• The recency effect: The tendency to select the option presented most recently because it’s fresh in your mind
• Occam’s razor bias: The tendency to assume the most obvious decision to be the best decision
• Inertia bias: The tendency to select options that allow you to think, feel, and act in familiar ways

One cognitive bias that may be more difficult to catch in the act is confirmation bias . When seeking to validate a particular viewpoint, it's the tendency to only pay attention to information that supports that viewpoint.

If you’re crafting a strategic plan for your organization and know which strategy you prefer, enlist others with differing views and opinions to help look for information that either proves or disproves the idea.

Combating biases in strategic decision-making requires effort and dedication from your entire team, and it can make your organization’s strategy that much stronger.

Related: 3 Group Decision-Making Techniques for Success

3. Track Progress Based on Strategic Goals

Having a strategic plan in place can enable you to track progress toward goals. When each department and team understands your company’s larger strategy, their progress can directly impact its success, creating a top-down approach to tracking key performance indicators (KPIs) .

By planning your company’s strategy and defining its goals, KPIs can be determined at the organizational level. These goals can then be extended to business units, departments, teams, and individuals. This ensures that every level of your organization is aligned and can positively impact your business’s KPIs and performance.

It’s important to remember that even though your strategy might be far-reaching and structured, it must remain agile. As Christensen asserts in Disruptive Strategy , a business’s strategy needs to evolve with the challenges and opportunities it encounters. Be prepared to pivot your KPIs as goals shift and communicate the reasons for change to your organization.

Improve Your Strategic Planning Skills

Strategic planning can benefit your organization’s vision, execution, and progress toward goals. If strategic planning is a skill you’d like to improve, online courses can provide the knowledge and techniques needed to lead your team and organization.

Strategy courses can range from primers on key concepts (such as Economics for Managers ), to deep-dives on strategy frameworks (such as Disruptive Strategy ), to coursework designed to help you strategize for a specific organizational goal (such as Sustainable Business Strategy ).

Learning how to craft an effective, compelling strategic plan can enable you to not only invest in your career but provide lasting value to your organization.

Do you want to formulate winning strategies for your organization? Explore our portfolio of online strategy courses and download the free flowchart to determine which is the best fit for you and your goals.

About the Author

Long-Term vs Short-Term Planning: Key Differences and Strategies

Throughout history, whether a society focuses on long-term or short-term planning often decides its fate. Those who look ahead tend to keep their culture strong and their society together better than those who only think about immediate gains.

From war generals to founding fathers, this sentiment has been captured in many eloquent ways. Including when Sun Tzu said in The Art of War, “ The general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand .” Or when Benjamin Franklin famously stated, “ If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail .”

One of these men conquered nations, and the other helped to build one. The fact that they both credit strategic planning as one of the essential ingredients for their success merits a closer look from any leadership team at what these processes entail.

You’ll discover that effective workforce planning is an art form as much as a science. And just as history shows us, getting that chemistry right sets the winners apart from the…well, you know.

This article will help you understand the art of planning within your organization. We’ll define what short-term and long-term planning entails, break down key differences between the two, and discover strategies for implementing each in a balanced way. Let’s begin.

Difference between long-term and short-term planning

The art of planning, long-term vs. short-term goals, long-term planning in business, short-term planning and its impact, balancing long-term and short-term planning, let’s wrap it up, boost your team’s efficiency with hubstaff's productivity tools.

The most distinct difference between long-term and short-term planning is the time frame .

Long-term planning looks at a three to five-year period or even longer; short-term planning covers up to a year. 

This profoundly impacts the goals, KPIs, and projects an organization will choose during each process. That being said, when short-term and long-term planning are leveraged correctly, they always work towards the same vision.

Long-term planning 

Long-term planning determines your organization’s goals in the next five to ten years. Think big. What sustainability, growth, and innovation approach will secure your competitive edge and ensure future relevance? When mapping out your plan, how can you consider market trends, potential disruptions, and strategic opportunities? 

A thorough analysis of your business environment will help you uncover objectives and specific business strategies that align with your organization’s values and vision. Then, by setting relevant Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), you can measure your progress towards them.

Short-term planning 

The goal of short-term planning is to prepare businesses for the near future. It typically includes less than a year and focuses on short-term solutions that serve the organization’s day-to-day needs. 

This planning process is also dynamic by nature and requires constant adjustments. Your focus should be on managing resources, executing projects, and getting quick wins to spur momentum for the organization.

Organizations often need help reconciling the needs of their short-term and long-term plans. This could mean they’re focusing too much on one and not the other. Or that the goals being set are simply in contention with one another.

The art of planning is balancing both short-term and long-term goals, resource allocation, KPIs, and more. Your organization might be subject to changing market dynamics, unforeseeable challenges, and new technologies. You have to stay nimble in the short term without losing sight of the long term. It’s a delicate balancing act.

But according to a study by McKinsey & Company , it’s effective. Organizations that take this balanced approach experience 47% higher revenue growth and 36% higher profitability than companies that focus predominantly on one type of planning over the other. 

Let’s dive a little deeper into the art of planning so you can learn how to implement this balancing act in your own organization.

Time frames in planning

Let’s begin by defining their scope to understand the planning processes better.

Long-term planning time frames

Long-term planning typically covers three to five years but can span as far as decades. Companies will want to consider more significant projects with longer time horizons during this stage in the planning process.

Short-term planning time frames

Short-term planning covers a period of up to one year and is often broken down into quarterly, monthly, and even daily actionable goals and KPIs.

Bridging the gap with medium-term planning

Medium-term planning is another essential function bridging the gap between the immediate actions defined in short-term planning and the blue-sky ambitions of long-term goals.

This type of planning focuses on implementing strategies and initiatives that ensure short-term fixes are not just temporary patches to more significant problems.

For example, an organization might solve a software issue with a quick fix in the short term but secure a service contract with an IT company to receive ongoing maintenance and regular updates as a medium-term approach.

Long-term goals help to chart a path toward your organization’s future vision. They’re broad and ambitious by nature and include projects such as expanding into new markets, establishing partnerships, and investing in product development. They’re also set over a longer time horizon than short-term goals and often face more risk and uncertainty.

Short-term goals , on the other hand, are about continued progress. When leveraged correctly, they establish momentum for the organization through quick wins and act as stepping stones from short-term success to achieving long-term goals.

Long-term planning takes your organization out of the day-to-day hustle and into the future. Successful organizations start this process with a crystal clear vision in mind. As Jeff Bezos once said, “ Be stubborn on the long-term vision but flexible on the details .” Now, how do you begin thinking about those details? First, you have to be able to see the forest for the trees. 

That’s why strategic analysis should form the foundation of your long-term planning process. Here’s what that should look like:

• PESTEL and SWOT can help you analyze the external market environment and your internal capabilities. 
• Then, you can leverage this data to begin setting objectives for your organization in alignment with your vision. 
• After that, establishing the right KPIs will help you measure your progress and develop short-term goals that keep you on track for achieving these broader objectives. 

Let’s look at an example of how a PESTEL and SWOT analysis can be effective in long-term goal setting.

PESTEL Analysis Example

We’ll use a fictional technology company called Flowbar in this example. Imagine Flowbar is exploring expansion into a new market and needs to understand the macro-environmental factors. A PESTEL analysis would be the perfect tool. 

• P olitically, they would assess the stability of markets and government regulations.
• E conomically, they would look at economic growth, currency exchange rates, and consumer purchasing power.
• S ocially, they might examine cultural attitudes toward technology, digital literacy, and consumer behaviors.
• T echnologically, factors such as the availability of the proper infrastructure would be necessary.
• E nvironmentally, Flowbar should assess regulations and public sentiment towards sustainability practices in their industry.
• L egally, they would review intellectual property laws, data protection regulations, compliance requirements, and the company’s quality control program.

SWOT Analysis Example

In this example, we’ll continue with Flowbar.

• Strengths: This could include Flowbar’s strong brand recognition in current markets and its competitive R&D capabilities.
• Weaknesses: Flowbar will need a more comprehensive understanding of local culture and consumer preferences. Their product offering may also need to be more well-suited to their domestic market, causing a lack of product-market fit in new regions.
• Opportunities: Rapidly growing economies and new available partnerships are potential opportunities for Flowbar when entering these new markets.
• Threats: Flowbar should know the competitive and regulatory landscape in the new markets they hope to enter.

After conducting a PESTEL and SWOT analysis, Flowbar will want to ensure any set goals align with its vision and establish clear KPIs for measuring its success.

When done correctly, short-term planning addresses the organization’s immediate business needs and challenges while keeping sight of the long-term vision. It involves setting daily, monthly, and quarterly goals that create momentum for the organization and act as stepping stones toward longer-term goals. 

A recommended framework for setting practical short-term goals is SMART goal setting . 

SMART is an acronym that describes the five essential components of a practical goal.

Let’s take a look at what they are:

• S pecific: Being clear and detailed will help you focus resources and achieve desired outcomes.
• M easurable: Having KPIs tied to your goals allows you to effectively track your progress towards achieving them.
• A chievable: Setting realistic and attainable goals will motivate your teams and increase momentum across the organization.
• R elevant: Short-term goals should always connect to your organization’s long-term objectives. 
• T ime-bound: A precise timeline is crucial for prioritizing tasks and resources and creating a sense of urgency. 

Now that we’ve defined SMART goal setting, let’s look at a real-world example of how to use this framework properly.

Examples of SMART goals

Imagine you’re a software company’s marketing manager wanting to increase monthly product page traffic. A SMART goal would look something like this: 

Increase monthly traffic to the product page by 10% over the next quarter.  

This goal is specific, measurable with standard analytical tools, achievable, relevant to a longer-term goal of increasing market share, and set over a clear time frame of one quarter. 

The SMART framework can be helpful for all kinds of organizations with goals. And now that you’re familiar with how to use it, you’re ready to begin setting short-term goals in your own business.

So far, we’ve laid out the difference between a short-term and long-term objective and analyzed the best practices for each. But how do you maintain a balance when implementing them into your organization?

Here are a few well-loved strategies: 

• Ensure you align the short-term business goals with the long-term objectives and desired outcomes. Failing to do so would result in misallocating time and other precious resources. 
• Be flexible. The market changes on a day-to-day basis. Short-term goals should remain Agile and adaptable without losing sight of the longer-term goals they’re working towards. 
• Regularly review and re-prioritize based on stakeholder alignment and available resources. 
• Foster a culture that values and understands the relationship between short-term and long-term goals.

By implementing these strategies, organizations not only achieve successful results in the short term but also lay the groundwork for sustained growth toward their future vision.

It’s clear at this point that understanding and balancing long-term objectives and short-term planning is vital for achieving success within your organization. And whether it’s Sun Tzu or Jeff Bezos, we’re not the only ones who think so.

By bringing the art of planning into your organization, you can build momentum toward your long-term goals and vision. The result will be a lasting legacy that puts you on the right side of history’s great strategic organizations.

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Tying short-term decisions to long-term strategy

For years, we’ve pointed to best—and worst—practices  in resource allocation. 1 Aaron De Smet and Tim Koller, “ Capital allocation starts with governance—and should be led by the CEO ,” McKinsey, June 22, 2023. To maximize cash flow over the long term, organizations need to shake free from an incremental approach and shift resources now to invest where the growth will be. Studies show that companies that actively reallocate resources outperform those that don’t. 2 Marc de Jong, Nathan Marston, and Erik Roth, “ The eight essentials of innovation ,” McKinsey Quarterly , April 1, 2015; see also Stephen Hall, Dan Lovallo, and Reinier Musters, “ How to put your money where your strategy is ,” McKinsey Quarterly , March 1, 2012. Yet making bold moves is a lot harder than it sounds. Inertia inevitably takes hold in most organizations. Leaders default to allocating resources in the same old ways, failing to champion growth; teams get lost in the details rather than highlighting the few most important sources of value creation; and even the most brilliant executives fall prey to common decision biases —which become magnified in an organizational setting.

Our latest survey strongly confirms these long-held observations about resource allocation and identifies some practices that can help leaders address them: too many companies do not effectively follow through on their strategies, thereby hindering their chances of outperforming competitors in the long run.

In our new McKinsey Global Survey  on resource allocation, we find that only about half of the 617 executives and managers surveyed say their companies effectively align their budgets with their corporate strategies. 3 The online survey was in the field from October 3 to October 13, 2023, and garnered responses from 617 participants representing the full range of regions, industries, and functional specialties. The survey included only respondents working in midlevel-manager, senior-manager, and C-level positions at companies with reported revenues of $500 million or more. To adjust for differences in response rates, the data are weighted based on each respondent’s nation, taking into consideration its contribution to the region’s share of the global GDP. Just over half of the respondents say that their companies often or consistently transform strategic goals into three- to seven-year strategic financial plans. A similar share say their organizations’ annual budgets are aligned with their strategic financial plans, and we know from experience that, at many companies, the previous year’s budget drives decisions for the following year. What’s more, just 53 percent say their organizations are in the habit of fully funding the priorities they’ve identified. Respondents report that their organizations are not taking enough risk with their investments, suggesting that leaders may not be sufficiently planning for the long term. Yet those who indicate that their organizations succeed at linking their budgets to their corporate strategies—and at taking appropriate levels of risk—are much more likely than others to report that their organizations outperform on both revenue growth and return on capital.

In particular, the survey results suggest that better approaches in four areas—governance, processes, analytics, and decision making—can position companies for better long-term performance.

Governance: The importance of influential and involved leadership

In our experience, effective governance  can make or break a company’s ability to achieve its strategic goals. The impact is most significant when the CEO is supported by a strong financial-planning and -analysis (FP&A) or corporate strategy team. 4 Aaron De Smet and Tim Koller, “ Capital allocation starts with governance—and should be led by the CEO ,” McKinsey, June 22, 2023.

However, a previous survey of strategy leaders  found that only about one-quarter reported having a clear mandate aligned with the rest of the company, and many struggled to enhance their companies’ performance. 5 The 2022 McKinsey survey on the role of the strategy leader surveyed more than 300 strategy leaders. Forty-two percent of respondents said they were not fully successful at improving company performance. Our latest research reinforces the significance of having an influential FP&A or corporate strategy leader, as well as senior managers who actively participate in carrying out corporate strategies.

Respondents who say that the leader of the team responsible for developing the organization’s three- to seven-year financial plan holds influence—meaning they have significant influence on C-suite leaders and throughout the organization—are much more likely than their peers to say their organizations outperform their competitors. Those who say that this leader, who is typically from the FP&A or corporate strategy team, has significant influence on the CEO’s and CFO’s thinking on strategy and resource allocation are 1.8 times more likely than those who deny such influence to report that their organizations outperform on revenue growth, and they are 1.9 times more likely to report that their organizations outperform on return on capital (Exhibit 1). Similarly, respondents who agree that the leader is highly influential throughout the organization are 1.4 times more likely than those who disagree to say their organizations outperform on revenue growth and 1.7 times more likely to say their organizations outperform on return on capital. Overall, 51 percent of respondents report that this leader is highly influential across their organization.

The leadership’s level of involvement within an organization also matters. Respondents who say that their corporate senior management often or almost always gives clear strategic direction to business units and product lines are more likely than others to report financial outperformance.

Processes: The nimbler, the better

Companies often move slowly to create plans and reallocate resources, with prolonged timelines for financial planning that can diminish the process’s value. Nearly half of respondents say it usually takes their organizations at least four months to develop and approve their three- to seven-year strategic financial plans, and one-third say it takes at least four months to finalize their organizations’ annual budgets. The survey results suggest that the shorter the process, the better. Respondents who say their organizations develop and approve their three- to seven-year strategic financial plans in three months or less are more likely than others to say their organizations outperform on revenue growth and return on capital, and the same is true of respondents who say their organizations create and approve their annual budgets in two months or less (Exhibit 2).

What’s more, survey responses link nimble reallocation of resources with self-reported financial outperformance. 6 For more about in-year flexibility with allocation and other processes for effectively allocating capital, see “Keep calm and allocate capital: Six process improvements,” forthcoming on McKinsey.com. Respondents who report that their organizations reallocate resources across business units within the year are much more likely than respondents who report no in-year reallocation to say their organizations outperform on both revenue growth and return on capital. Additionally, when respondents say that their organizations incentivize executives to free up resources for higher-value-creating opportunities elsewhere in the enterprise, they are 1.8 times more likely than others to report outperformance on revenue growth and 1.7 times more likely to report outperformance on return on capital.

Analytics: Rigorous financial analysis of projects is mandatory

Organizations that use rigorous, standardized analytics to assess initiatives’ performance and their potential to create value can ensure consistent evaluation across different parts of the business, which can help them effectively prioritize strategic initiatives. Respondents who say most or all of their organizations’ projects are evaluated using financial metrics (such as net present value or internal rate of return) are much more likely than those who say half or fewer projects use those metrics to report that their organizations outperform on revenue growth and return on capital. The survey results also suggest that the acknowledgment of uncertainty in forecasts matters. Respondents who say their organizations’ financial forecasts for all projects include a range of outcomes are 1.7 times more likely than those who don’t to say their organizations outperform on both revenue growth and return on capital.

The findings also suggest that ranking strategic programs based on financial outcomes can help guide effective resourcing decisions—but only if companies do so consistently (Exhibit 3). Just 28 percent of all respondents say that their organizations almost always rank their top ten to 30 most important strategic programs based on financial metrics, but those who report that frequency are much more likely than those who say they do so “sometimes” or even less frequently to report that their organizations outperform on revenue growth and return on capital.

Decision making: Debias to pursue bold investments

Human nature is remarkable. It makes innovation possible—along with a multitude of invaluable advancements (not least in healthcare, agriculture, and standard of living) that benefit billions of people. But human nature is prone to biases, which can impede innovation itself, particularly in a corporate, organizational setting. One such bias is striving to achieve consensus across a large number of executives, which can stifle debate and hinder strategic-planning decisions. If not addressed, groupthink and loss aversion —the tendency to experience losses more acutely than gains—can easily prevent companies from making bold investments in initiatives that have the potential to create more value than lower-risk investments. Breaking out of this groupthink starts at the top, and several management practices that help companies do so are ones that survey responses commonly link with outperformance.

Our survey results support previous research that suggests the importance of rigorous debate, particularly as a predictor of success in making “big bet” decisions. 7 “ Decision making in the age of urgency ,” McKinsey, April 30, 2019. In the latest survey, respondents who say their organizations’ critical resource allocation decisions are often or almost always preceded by the management team engaging in active debate are 1.3 times more likely than others to say their organizations outperform on revenue growth and 1.4 times more likely to report outperformance on return on capital (Exhibit 4). Furthermore, when respondents say C-suite and division leaders at their organizations often or almost always discuss multiple outcomes, including unfavorable ones, they are 1.7 times more likely than others to say their organizations outperform on revenue growth and 1.8 times more likely to report outperformance on return on capital.

Employees at any level of an organization sometimes hesitate to speak up in meetings, particularly if they disagree with a senior leader. But there is a body of research that suggests that decision making is more effective when more voices are included. Respondents who say executives at all levels are often or almost always comfortable disagreeing with their leaders are 1.8 times more likely than others to report outperformance on revenue growth and 1.6 times more likely to report outperformance on return on capital. The importance of this comfort seems to extend beyond just executives: respondents who say their organizations’ employees are comfortable expressing contrarian points of view to senior colleagues are nearly twice as likely as others to report outperformance on revenue growth and return on capital.

The results also suggest that overcoming loss aversion , a common decision-making bias, serves companies well. To overcome loss aversion, some companies reward noble failures—that is, courageous, responsible, and well-executed initiatives that don’t ultimately achieve their goals but can provide valuable lessons. Taking on what respondents deem “the right level of risk” with a company’s portfolio and investing for the long term are correlated with self-reported outperformance. Strikingly, though, the share of respondents who say their organizations take too little risk in certain areas is nearly as large or larger than the share saying their organizations pursue the right level of risk (Exhibit 5).

Respondents who indicate that their organizations take on appropriate risk with capital expenditures are 1.6 times more likely than those reporting too little risk to say their organizations outperform on revenue growth and 1.6 times more likely than others to say their organizations outperform on return on capital. What’s more, the more often respondents say their organizations invest in low-probability, high-payoff projects within R&D and marketing and sales, the more likely they are to say their organizations outperform on revenue growth and return on capital.

While there are also well-established benefits to encouraging individuals to take risks, just 28 percent of respondents say top management at their organizations encourages high-potential, risky projects. Respondents who say that their management does support employees in taking on these efforts are also more likely than others to report outperformance, both on revenue growth and return on capital.

Lessons for today—and the long term

The findings suggest that organizations that take a long-term approach are turning strategy into value more effectively. Organizations that respondents say prioritize long-term value creation over short-term profits are much more likely than their peers to effectively translate strategic goals into a strategic plan and budget. They are also almost two times more likely to outperform competitors on growth and return on capital than organizations that respondents say do not prioritize the long term. We see a similar connection between innovation and effectively executing strategy: for example, respondents who agree that their organizations are more innovative than competitors are twice as likely as those who disagree to say their organizations effectively translate strategic goals into their three- to seven-year strategic financial plans.

Companies can’t stand still ; innovation and creative destruction are always on the march . The most spectacular growth stories are those made possible by unshakable commitments to bold resource allocations over long time horizons. As technology races forward  and the future seems even more unpredictable, today’s leaders are reaffirming what’s been fundamental for years—and strikingly so, as our survey finds.

The survey content and analysis were developed by Andy West , a senior partner in McKinsey’s Boston office; Tim Koller , a partner in the Denver office; and Rishabh Bhargava , a consultant in the New York office.

They wish to thank Zev Mayer and Derek Schatz for their contributions to this research.

This article was edited by Heather Hanselman, a senior editor in the Atlanta office.

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BLM Yuma Field Office Long-Term Visitor Areas Draft Business Plan

This draft business plan was prepared by the Bureau of Land Management’s Yuma Field Office pursuant to the Federal Lands Recreation Enhancement Act of 2004 (16 U.S.C. 6801-6814) and BLM recreation fee program policies. It establishes future management goals and priorities for the Long-Term Visitor Area Program within the Yuma Field Office .

Public comment period now open

We announced a public comment period on Sept. 6, 2024.

You can provide comment on this draft business plan by emailing  [email protected]  with the subject line "LTVA Fee Proposal Comment" or by delivering/mailing comments to:

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Eight Key Principles for a Successful LMS Implementation

By Kathleen Bosworth

I have had the pleasure of implementing hundreds learning management systems for organisations of all types and sizes. The ultimate measure of success client success.  A project director once impressed upon me that his job depended on a successful implementation and it is something I remember to this day.

Ensuring the success of an LMS requires more than just project management and communication plans. There are strategic considerations that will drive adoption, engagement, and long-term value.

Here are the key principles I have found are important for a successful LMS implementation:

1. Define how the LMS will Align with Your Organisational Goals

As part of the implementation planning, it is crucial to define how the LMS will support your broader business objectives. An LMS implementation must be designed with the outcome in mind; whether your goals are improving performance, ensuring compliance, or fostering a culture of continuous learning. A well-aligned LMS is a strategic asset that directly supports key organisational priorities.

How to do this:

• Create learning pathways that are directly connected to business goals and team objectives.
• Design how to track the impact of learning on job performance and team objectives.

2. Prioritise the Learner Experience

User adoption is one of the most important success factors in any LMS implementation. If the system is difficult to navigate or the content is unengaging, learners are less likely to use it. A focus on user experience can make the LMS an intuitive and enjoyable part of the employee experience.

Key considerations:

• Ensure the interface is simple, clean, and user-friendly.
• Incorporate features like microlearning to make content more accessible and engaging.
• Personalise learning paths to cater to different roles, departments, or individual skill gaps.

3. Plan for Stakeholder LMS needs

Depending on the solution design and implementation, there are other important stakeholders to consider: manager, subject matter experts or course administrators.

3.1 Equip Managers to Support Learning Initiatives in the LMS

Your Managers will be the champions of the learning culture, monitoring team progress, and linking learning outcomes to team objectives.

Key strategies:

• Cater for reporting requirements: This allows managers to have meaningful conversations with their team members about development opportunities.
• Work with managers to align learning with team objectives: Encourage managers to integrate learning into individual development plans (IDPs) and team performance reviews. This helps make learning an ongoing part of performance management.
• Involve managers in content selection: Managers should have a say in what learning resources are most relevant to their teams’ needs, ensuring that the content is directly aligned with the skills required to achieve business goals.

3.2 Empower Subject Matter Experts (SME’s) and Course Administrators with Autonomy and Insights

Subject matter experts (SMEs) and course administrators are the backbone of an LMS, essential in developing content, responsible for ensuring smooth operations, maintaining content, and troubleshooting user issues. The LMS Project Team needs to ensure SME’s and course administrators have right level of autonomy to enable them to manage the LMS more efficiently and keep the learning experience seamless for users.

SME and Course Administrator Empowerment Tactics:

• Content creation tools: Provide SMEs and course administrators with user-friendly content creation tools, allowing them to design, upload, and manage learning materials with ease.
• Automation of routine tasks: Design automation for repetitive tasks like course enrolments, scheduling, and reminder notifications.
• Create flexible content management processes: Plan how SME’s and course administrators will have the autonomy to update or adjust content based on learner feedback or business changes without needing excessive layers of approval

4. Streamline how the LMS will exchange data with existing systems (systems integration)

Your LMS will need to include people data from your HR system and it will be beneficial to streamline the login process through single sign-on.  How people data in the LMS is updated after the initial implementation will depend on several factors, including the state or accuracy of the data in the HR system and the actual number of people changes that happens in a day.   If there are only 1 or 2 people data changes in a week, it may take more time to set up an automations than spending the 2 minutes each week making those people data updates in the LMS. There are many other considerations depending on your situation.

Data strategies:

• Implement Single Sign-On (SSO) for ease of access.
• Consider all aspects of the accuracy and quantity of the source people data when making decisions on this data exchange.

5. Focus on Content Curation and Relevance

The success of your LMS hinges on the quality of the learning content it delivers. To engage your learners effectively, the content must be relevant, practical, and aligned with their needs. Develop a content strategy ensures that employees are provided with materials that are timely, targeted, and engaging. When dealing with a large volume of learning content, it is more effective to implement a phased or staged approach so that learners are not overwhelmed.

Best practices:

• Offer a blend of in-house developed content and third-party materials to cover a wide range of learning needs.
• Keep content updated and aligned organisational goals.
• Divest content development to SME’s and course administrators for quicker and more accurate learning content.
• Use microlearning techniques to deliver content in small, digestible pieces.

6. Leverage LMS Reports and/or Business Intelligence for Continuous Improvement

Review exiting LMS reports and compare them to your administrator and manager reporting requirements.

Data Reporting Decisions:

• Use LMS reporting analytics to track engagement, completion rates, and skill gaps.
• Determine whether the LMS reports are sufficient or whether business intelligence tools, such as Power BI, is needed to combine LMS data with other system data.

7. Develop a Communication Plan

The successful implementation of an LMS relies on clear, consistent communication to ensure that all stakeholders are informed, engaged, and prepared for the transition. A

Communication Strategies for LMS Implementation:

• Create a Phased Communication Timeline
• Tailor Messages for Different Stakeholders
• Highlight the Benefits for Each Audience
• Leverage Multiple Communication Channels
• Involve Leadership and Champions
• Conduct Pre-Launch Awareness Campaigns
• Provide Regular Updates and Status Reports to key stakeholders

8. Develop a Training and Support Plan

A Training Plan will ensure that stakeholders have the knowledge to use the LMS effectively. Ongoing communication keeps users engaged, while training ensures that they have the knowledge and resources to fully utilise the system. LMS administrator training should be provided by the LMS supplier.

Stakeholder Training Strategies:

• Provide stakeholder training: Equip stakeholders, such as managers, SME’s or course administrators to become champions who can provide frontline support to end users.
• Create a Long-Term Support Plan: Develop a roadmap that includes regular feature updates, user training sessions, and ongoing feedback mechanisms.
• Provide Knowledge Resources: Create a central repository of learning materials such as user manuals, video tutorials, and FAQs. This ensures that users can access support content on-demand.

By focusing on these seven key principles, you can ensure that your successful LMS implementation meets its functional objectives and adds value in driving employee engagement, improving performance, and fostering a culture of learning.

WorkPlan has extensive LMS implementation experience to ensure your success.

Contact us for more information.

Phone: 1300 726 708

Email: [email protected]

Web: https://workplan.com.au

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Emaar The Economic City unveils SAR8.7bn COP, focuses on transformation

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The plan, developed based on extensive assessment and analysis, aims to provide a comprehensive solution to stabilise the company’s financial and operational platforms

Emaar The Economic City (EEC), the master developer of King Abdullah Economic City (KAEC), announced a SAR8.7bn capital optimisation plan (COP) aimed at driving a strategic turnaround aligned with Saudi Vision 2030.

KAEC is an emerging destination centrally located on the Red Sea coast of Saudi Arabia stretching over 42 kilometres.

The area is also home to the King Abdullah Port — recently named by the World Bank as the most efficient port in the world — and KAEC Industrial Valley.

Plan approved by board

The plan, approved by EEC’s board, is designed to stabilise EEC’s financial platform and position the company for long-term growth.

The strategy will focus on key sectors such as industrial and logistics businesses, non-industrial knowledge-based sectors, tourism, and residential real estate.

Fahad Al Saif, chairman of EEC, commented: “EEC stands at a vital inflexion point, as we pivot from a period of transition to one of opportunity. The implementation of the COP, which underpins EEC’s board-approved strategy, will enable the company to capitalise on available opportunities to align its direction with Saudi Vision 2030.

“It also provides the blueprint for a stable platform for growth, focused on unlocking the full potential of KAEC and enhancing the sustainability of our business. We are setting the stage for a transformation that will not only drive value creation, but also redefine our role in the kingdom to achieve the goals of Vision 2030.”

Emaar The Economic City’s COP includes:

– Restructuring SAR3.8bn in debt with Alinma Bank, Saudi Awwal Bank, Banque Saudi Fransi, and Saudi National Bank into a Shari’a-compliant syndicated facility. – Conversion of SAR4bn in debt to share capital, including SAR2.9bn from the Ministry of Finance and SAR1.1bn in loans from PIF , reducing EEC’s leverage. – A new SAR1bn convertible shareholder facility from PIF to support liquidity and future growth initiatives. – A capital decrease to offset accumulated losses, subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals.

Growth plan: Achieving strategic priorities

The company’s CEO Abdulaziz Ibrahim Alnowaiser noted that the plan strengthens EEC’s balance sheet and enables the company to pursue transformative initiatives.

As part of its strategy, the developer aims to enhance KAEC’s industrial, tourism, and real estate offerings, with notable projects underway, including a 45,000-seat stadium and multiple hospitality developments.

The company’s strategic focus encompasses both real estate and operational excellence. The company’s real estate business is built on three core pillars: city master development, real estate development, and asset management. In these areas, the developer aims to attract and retain reputable real estate developers and investors, while optimising the KAEC master plan for greater efficiency.

Signature projects will be selectively executed, either independently or through partnerships, as the company upgrades and monetizes its existing real estate inventory. Additionally, EEC seeks to enhance asset performance by collaborating with top-tier operators.

For the special economic zone (SEZ) operations, EEC plans to leverage its current Industrial Valley tenants to attract new businesses, further boosting the city’s economic ecosystem.

Looking ahead, EEC’s longer-term strategy is centred on achieving positive cash flows through targeted investments in residential projects and expanding its asset management business to drive sustainable performance. The company also remains committed to upgrading KAEC’s infrastructure, creating a more stable and efficient operating environment that encourages further investment.

EEC has engaged Moelis & Company as an independent advisor, SNB Capital for the capital decrease and debt conversion, and Khoshaim & Associates for legal advisory services.

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