1We record the starting point
Economics, resources and the constraints that can't be avoided.
Strategic Planning
A strategy you can execute. We tie priorities to money, people and deadlines so that the plan changes what people do as soon as next Monday.
Sound familiar?The strategy exists separately from the budget and from what the team is busy with, The team is loaded with tasks but can't name the priorities, Plans change without clear criteria
Strategy and Consulting
How we work
1
2We build scenarios
Two or three options with the cost of each, including the option of changing nothing.
3We choose and give things up
Three to five priorities for the year, each with an owner, and an explicit list of what the company won't do.
4We build it into management
Budget, a review rhythm and the conditions under which the document is revisited early.
Sound familiar?
- The strategy exists separately from the budget and from what the team is busy with.
- The team is loaded with tasks but can't name the priorities.
- Plans change without clear criteria.
What usually lies behind it
Planning works when it connects goals, constraints, resources and decision owners. Without that connection, the document is read once and the work goes on out of inertia. Usually two things are missing: a list of refusals and criteria that would show within a quarter that the choice was a mistake.
What you get
A strategy on one or two pages: priorities, refusals, one main constraint.
Scenarios with the conditions for switching between them.
A budget aligned with the priorities.
A review rhythm: what gets checked and when.
The cost of waiting
If nothing changes
- 01
Resources will keep being spread thin.
- 02
The team will keep changing direction without a shared criterion.
- 03
Strategic decisions will keep being crowded out by operational tasks.
When you don't need this service
- The economics of a single customer haven't been calculated. It's too early to choose a direction for growth; finances come first.
- There are no people able to execute a strategy. The management system comes first.
How to tell it worked
Resources match
whether the budget is allocated the same way the priorities are named.
Shared understanding
whether three managers, asked separately, name the same priorities.
Refusals
what the company actually gave up during the quarter.
Questions
What period does the strategy cover?
Priorities cover a year; the review rhythm is quarterly. We describe longer horizons with scenarios.
Why no more than five priorities?
With more, there won't be enough resources for any of them. It becomes a task list.
Who takes part?
The owner and the managers who will execute the strategy. Without them, the document won't turn into action.
Related
Services: Strategy Session · Business Model Review · Financial Model Materials: Strategy as a list of refusals · The owner's glossary
Related to this service
Article · 5 min
The cost of doing nothing
Companies know how to calculate the cost of a project and almost never calculate the cost of changing nothing. That asymmetry costs more than any contractor.
