Executive Summary 

Strategic planning has always been a critical discipline, but in times of uncertainty and rapid change, it becomes absolutely essential. This article outlines why organizations that lack a clear 12–18-month strategy risk falling behind—or failing altogether. A strong strategic planning process has three core elements: (1) asking and answering big-picture questions, (2) narrowing down to a short list of clear priorities and a unifying theme, and (3) committing fully to implementation.

Organizations often falter by either skipping steps, overcomplicating the process, or failing to follow through. The consequences can include leadership erosion, wasted resources, and low morale. With a proven three-part framework, any organization can gain clarity, align teams, and execute successfully—even in tough times.

Table of Contents 

• Why Strategic Planning Matters Now

• The Cost of Incomplete Planning

• Three Essential Components of Strategic Planning

  • 1 Answer the Big Questions

  • 2 Set Clear Priorities and a Strategic Theme

  • 3 Implement with Discipline

• Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

• Self-Assessment: How Strong Is Your Strategic Planning Process?

Strategic planning is important in every organization at any time. However, at this present time, it’s more important than ever. Firms that don’t have a solid plan for the next 12 – 18 months will not come through this challenging period with clarity of purpose and direction. The lack of a good plan that the entire organization can get behind could prove fatal for some firms.

A good strategic planning process includes three components. If your company skips or fails to execute well any one of these components, it is unlikely to get strong results from a strategic plan.

How bad can it be? There are serious costs associated with an incomplete planning process:

• Erosion of leadership in the market and a sense of falling behind.
• Failure to achieve desired financial and operational results.
• Frustration throughout the organization and the perception that strategic planning is a waste of time.
• Loss of credibility of the leadership team.
• Misdirection of firm’s vital remaining resources resulting in the firm’s demise.

You need to get this right. Especially now. Here are the three elements of a sound strategic planning process:

One: Answer the “big” strategic planning questions. The big questions include: Who are our customers and how can we better serve them? Who are our competitors and how can we beat them? What do we do best and how can we build on that core strength? How can we prepare the organization to defend against threats and seize opportunities? Yes, there actually are opportunities, even now. What are potential scenarios that we need to consider for the future, and how will we prepare for them?

Unfortunately, many organizations debate these issues with academic discussions that endlessly lead to more and more data queries. On the other hand, some organizations come up with brilliant answers to these questions but can’t quite take them to the point of clear initiatives that get done.

The big strategic planning questions are worthless if they don’t result in a few clear, compelling strategic initiatives to strengthen the organization.

Two: Establish a short list of clear priorities and an overall strategic theme. The most important outcome of the first part of the strategic planning process is to identify the most important priorities for the organization. Starting with a list of potential priorities, pointed and purposeful discussions determine the relative value of each, then hones in on only a few key priorities. This discussion can also lead to greater clarity about the big strategic planning questions, especially about what the organization should do best.

Once a list of three to five priorities is agreed upon, the organization can discover a unifying strategic theme. This works best as a one-line statement that conveys the overall strategic push for the organization. Examples could include: “Beat our #1 competitor!” “Expand to China.” “0% medical errors.” “Become a magnet for talent.”

When this step goes awry, organizations settle for a long list of priorities. This has the benefit that nobody feels excluded or insulted. But the downside is it will be highly unlikely that the organization will get any of the initiatives done completely.

Three: Implement. The biggest complaint we hear about strategy is that it never seems to get fully executed. There are a few reasons why this tends to happen in organizations large and small:

• Neglecting to commit essential resources to the strategy, including capital, training, technology, and people.
• Failing to take things off the plate of busy employees, and instead just stacking more work on them.
• Having lack of will to stop old initiatives that compete with the new.
• Not setting clear roles, responsibilities, accountability, and rewards systems.
• Giving up after a few setbacks or initial resistance.

Sound familiar? This doesn’t have to be the case with your company! A sound strategic planning process invests as much time on implementation planning as it does on the more interesting work of answering the key strategic questions and setting priorities.

Now, a tough but necessary question. Which of the above areas is weakest in your organization? Some organizations are strong at asking the big picture questions but fail to follow up. Some set too many priorities and can’t say “no” to good ideas. Others are strong at executing but lack the vision to develop compelling strategic initiatives.

If you’re not sure you can execute a sound strategic planning process without able guidance and support, we can help. We have a proven 3-part strategic planning process that is simple for you to implement and gets results efficiently.

To learn more, complete a self-evaluation of your firm’s grasp (just below) on strategic planning or contact us to have a no obligation conversation about how we can lead your firm through our proven process.

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If you answered any of the above statements with a 3 or less, we should talk. We have a comprehensive 3-part strategic planning process that is efficient and leads to results. It is efficient, non-invasive, and gives you peace of mind that you are covering all of the issues for ongoing success.  This assessment was provided to us by ATN Associates, LLC.

As your strategic planning skills increase, you will undoubtedly turn to workforce optimization. Assessments can help! Read our article The Use of Software for Talent Management and Selection is Growing. Want to see strategic planning in action? Check out our case study, Bringing a Team Together For Strategic Planning Success, and our video, What Should You Do as the Leader of a Stagnant Organization?

Key Takeaways

• Strategic planning is mission-critical, especially during uncertain or volatile times. Without a clear plan, organizations risk losing direction and relevance.

• Three essential components define an effective strategic planning process:

  1. Big Strategic Questions – Understand your customers, competitors, strengths, and future scenarios.

  2. Clear Priorities and a Strategic Theme – Identify the 3–5 most important goals and unite them with a simple, compelling message.

  3. Implementation Discipline – Allocate resources, define roles, eliminate distractions, and commit to follow-through.

• The cost of poor planning is high—missed results, wasted time, lost credibility, and organizational frustration.

• Many organizations fail not due to lack of vision, but due to weak execution or trying to do too much at once.

• A quick self-assessment can help reveal where your organization is strong or needs improvement in strategic planning.

• Support is available: An experienced partner can streamline the process and ensure it drives meaningful, measurable outcomes.

Featured photo is from ©JESHOOTS.com via Pexels. Secondary photo is from ©Pixabay via Pexels.