RESULTS-DRIVEN
STRATEGIC PLANNING:
USING THE 3 PILLARS TO ANSWER THE 5 QUESTIONS
Ben Swinney | Texas Security Bank | Treasurer & SVP – Planning and Analysis
WHITE PAPER
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 2
There are many approaches to Strategic Planning. Many different models can be effective. The one truth that
applies universally is that the approach you use needs to t your business.
With that said, the approach supplied in this white paper has worked in many small-to-medium-sized businesses
and provides the foundation to build a successful strategic plan. You are encouraged to use it as a framework
and customize it for your business as appropriate.
A key tenet of successful strategic business planning is practicality. If it does not guide your business decisions,
get used throughout the year, and drive better results, it is just a “feel-good, check-the-box” activity. And who
has the time or energy for that?
To increase the usefulness of this white paper, many templates and schedules are provided.
STRATEGIC
PLANNING
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 3
The Five Questions (Why, What, How, Who, When)
At its essence, strategic planning is about answering ve questions about your business.
1) Why you do what you do?
A company’s mission statement is the most important part of the strategic plan. An effective mission statement
isn’t just an exercise in wordsmithing. It should reveal what is in your heart about your business. You are sharing
it with the people that matter, your employees, your customers, and your investors.
Your mission statement should be something other than the trite “be an industry-leading [ll in the blank busi-
ness category]” and it should be about more than just making money. This is why you get up in the morning and
go through the blood, sweat, and tears that running a business entails. It is what you want your legacy to be. It
is how your business helps people and the world. If it is not inspirational, then your business is not inspirational
and frankly, you should do something else.
An effective mission statement engages the hearts and minds of current and prospective employees, customers,
and investors and provides them the clarity of whether your business is something they want to be a part of.
2) What are you going to accomplish?
By laying out in detail your 10-year vision, you provide a north star of where you are going. This 10-year vision
is also known as a BHAG (pronounced bee-hag) which stands for “Big Hairy Audacious Goal”. It should include
a stretch that is a bit uncomfortable. Your rst thought might be “I don’t know how the hell we are going to get
there.” That is okay. It shows you are on the right track.
In addition to uneasiness, an effective BHAG also provides excitement. It also forces creative out-of-the-box
thinking. If the following questions come after the discomfort, you know you are on the right track: “You know, I
don’t know how the hell we are going to get there, but wouldn’t it be amazing if we made that happen?” and “I
wonder if other people would be as excited about this kind of vision as I am starting to be?”.
After setting this 10-year vision down, you further break it down into a 3-year plan, a 1-year plan, and quarterly
plans.
3) How are you going to accomplish your vision?
This isn’t about what you are going to do to make your vision happen. That will come later in the strategy and
tactics. First, you need to determine the Core Values which will guide your business decisions. These principles
will guide decisions such as: what employees to hire, what behaviors to reward, what decisions to make, what
actions to take, and what to focus on.
Think deeply about these Core Values. They are the guiding lights that will keep you on the right path.
4) Who will I serve and who will I work with to achieve the vision?
An important part of your strategic plan is a clear understanding of your target customer market. It is critical
that this target customer denition be specic and detailed. It is important to be empathetic and see and feel
things from the perspective of your target customer. Get out and visit with your target customers, get to know
them, what their day looks like, what their biggest challenges are, what they are trying to accomplish, and what
they need to reach their goals. It is essential that you love your customers and have a burning passion for making
their lives better. Only with this combination of a clear view of who your target customer is combined with an
empathetic understanding of their needs and a burning passion to fulll them will you be a successful business.
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 4
A successful business plan is about choosing the things to focus on, so you aren’t distracted by less important
things or things you aren’t built to do. Clearly dening your target market and understanding your customers’
needs will make decisions such as whether you should add this new product or service clearer. You should ask
yourself “how will that benet my target market?” and “what is my capability to provide that benet better than
others?”.
In addition to answering the question about your target market, it is important to determine who will be on your
team helping you accomplish the mission. Your vision will determine the type of organizational structure you
need to accomplish your goals. Your core values will determine the type of people you need in the organization
to accomplish your goals. Once you’ve answered the key questions of who you will serve and you will serve with,
you can then answer the important question of who is responsible for the specic parts of the plan.
5) When will we accomplish the key milestones?
The nal question to be answered is when. You began answering this question when you identied your 10-year
vision. You further rene your answer by breaking the 10-year vision down into 3-year goals, 1-year goals, and
quarterly goals.
After identifying these goals, you next dene the key action items you will take and milestones you will achieve
each quarter.
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 5
The Three Pillars
The pillars of a good strategic planning process are analysis, creativity, and organization. In strategic planning,
you need both the left and right sides of your brain engaged. The foundation under these pillars is teamwork. It
is important to seek and consider a broad spectrum of perspectives and interests in the planning process. This
can include the management team, employees, customers, strategic partners/vendors, investment advisors, and
shareholders.
STRATEGIC
PLANNING
TEAMWORK
(Management team, employees, customers, strategic partners/vendors, investment advisors, and shareholders)
ANALYSIS
CREATIVITY
ORGANIZATION
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 6
Phase One: Planning the Plan
This section contains big-picture things to consider as you start working on your plan.
The rst thing is to prioritize and provide enough time for planning. The strategic planning process is one of the
most important things you’ll do as a company and like most things, you’ll get out of it what you put into it. Give
yourself enough time to do it well without being rushed by deadlines.
Creating a strategic plan may seem overwhelming at rst. The good news is that it is very doable if you follow a
systematic process (like the one outlined here) and consistently pursue it in bite-sized pieces. Before you know
it, you will have created a valuable resource for your company and improved team unity.
Typically, strategic planning will involve four sessions as a group and will take two to three months. Sessions
should have some time between them to allow for thinking and preparation, with roughly two weeks between
sessions. The planning team should include leaders responsible for each area of the value chain: nancial man-
agement, operations management, organizational development, and revenue generation.
A useful rst step is to build a planning calendar upfront and secure commitment from the executive team. It
doesn’t have to be anything fancy, just enough detail so everyone knows what you are doing and agrees it is the
right approach.
Example Planning Calendar
It is important to include the board, managers, and employees in the vision and journey of creating your plan.
Communicate often regarding the building of your plan and your progress.
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 7
Give yourself time between the stages of the planning process for people to work on the details. Take time to
think individually and together. This will result in a better, more aligned plan and a stronger commitment. Strike
a balance so that planning doesn’t get too complicated or take too much time. It is helpful to have an agreement
upfront with the team on how much time should be spent on the strategic plan.
Appoint a Strategic Planning Czar, someone who is responsible for pulling everyone together to accomplish
the planning mission and execute the process. Ultimately, the Board and CEO are responsible for the strategic
plan, its execution, and its success. Planning is best done collaboratively but at the end of the day, the CEO and
board make the nal call. This Strategic Planning Czar is responsible for project management including meeting
scheduling, communication, and document preparation. Supported by the CEO and Board, this person needs to
be someone who earns the commitment and respect of the team through their contribution and understanding
of the business. He or she will use about two months of their time on this process (1/6th of a full-time position)
between building the plan and tracking progress throughout the year.
The Two-Page Strategic Plan Summary
The remainder of this paper lays out a roadmap for the team to develop a strategic plan using the 3 pillars
(analysis, creativity, and organization) to answer the 5 questions (Why, What, How, Who, and When).
This plan uses a 2-page Strategic Plan Summary format that borrows heavily from the Entrepreneurial Operating
System (EOS) outlined in Gino Wickman’s book “Traction – Get a Grip on your Business.”
Page 1 of the 2-page Strategic Plan Summary focuses on the longer-term (the 3-to-10 year view). This is the vision
part of the plan. It focuses on answering the Why, What, How, and Who questions of why we are in business,
what results we want to achieve, how we serve, and who we serve.
Page 2 of the 2-page Strategic Plan Summary focuses on the 1-year time frame. This is the execution part of
the plan. It focuses on identifying the goals and key initiatives for the next year, and who will be responsible for
accomplishing these goals.
For each section (Page 1 Vision and Page 2 Execution) the summary format is provided along with the process
and detail you will use to generate the plan.
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 8
Phase Two: Creating the 2-page Strategic Plan Summary
Phase 2A: Creating the Long-Term Plan (Page 1)
Page 1 of the 2-Page Strategic Plan Summary focuses on the long-term plan.
Below is an example of one with completed information.
To create the long-term plan (Page 1 of the 2-Page Strategic Summary), you will go through the process below.
You will capture the details of this process in an appendix to your 2-Page Strategic Plan Summary.
Planning Process – Session One
The rst planning session is to review the plan for the plan. This session will typically take one to two hours. The
objective is to meet with the management team, and go over the planning calendar, how the work will proceed,
what the outcome or output from the planning process will be, and what everyone’s roles and responsibilities will
be. It is important for everyone to be involved and understand, be bought in, and understand what is expected
and needed from them. This is your chance to sell the wisdom of making the investment in building the strategic
plan.
2 PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY
[COMPANY NAME]
Page 1 | 2
LONG-TERM VISION
FOCUS
CORE VALUES
Mission
Providing the Resources to Help Small-
Medium Sized Businesses Realize Their
Dreams
• Integrity
• Growth
• Team Players
• Independent Thinking
• Exemplary Customer Service
• Winning
• Innovation
• Collaboration
• Discipline to Process
• Diligence
.
Target
Market
Owner-Managed businesses in the D/FW
metro area with Revenue $5-$100 million
Universal
Selling
Proposition
You will receive exemplary customer service
and business resources at a better value
than you can receive anywhere else
10 YEAR BHAG
3 YEAR VISION
• NPS Score of 70 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 80% or greater
• Net Income of $5 million
• Revenue of $25 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $5.00 or greater
• EPS Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10% or greater
• NPS Score of 60 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 70% or greater
• Net Income of $2 million
• Revenue of $10 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $2.00 or greater
• EPS Compound Annual Growth Rate of 15% or greater
2 PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY
[COMPANY NAME]
Page 1 | 2
LONG-TERM VISION
FOCUS
CORE VALUES
Mission
Providing the Resources to Help Small-
Medium Sized Businesses Realize Their
Dreams
• Integrity
• Growth
• Team Players
• Independent Thinking
• Exemplary Customer Service
• Winning
• Innovation
• Collaboration
• Discipline to Process
• Diligence
.
Target
Market
Owner-Managed businesses in the D/FW
metro area with Revenue $5-$100 million
Universal
Selling
Proposition
You will receive exemplary customer service
and business resources at a better value
than you can receive anywhere else
10 YEAR BHAG 3 YEAR VISION
• NPS Score of 70 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 80% or greater
• Net Income of $5 million
• Revenue of $25 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $5.00 or greater
•
EPS Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10% or greater
• NPS Score of 60 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 70% or greater
• Net Income of $2 million
• Revenue of $10 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $2.00 or greater
• EPS Compound Annual Growth Rate of 15% or greater
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 9
Planning Process – Session Two
The second session of your planning process should focus on answering four items: your mission statement,
your 10-year vision, your core values, and your strategy (your target market and your USP or universal selling
proposition for that target market). This session will typically take four to eight hours. You will likely not need to
update these items every year. Since they are universal truths and guiding north stars, they should remain fairly
constant. You should, however, revisit them every planning cycle to ensure they continue to make sense for your
business and your situation.
For the 10-year vision, be specic. Include nancial metrics such as the size of the company, market share posi-
tion, protability, efciency, and value of the company. It is important to dene protability goals as well as top-
line revenue or market share goals to ensure your plan focuses on both growth and protability. You should also
use non-nancial goals such as customer satisfaction and employee engagement. These should be quantied as
well (examples include Net Promoter Score for customer satisfaction and survey employee engagement scores).
Your vision should follow the SMART method of goal setting. It should be Specic, Measurable, Achievable, Rel-
evant, and Timed.
The Universal Selling Proposition or USP is an important part of your Strategic Plan. This is the value you provide
your target customer and the reason your business generates a prot. It should reect the important problem(s)
that you solve for customers at a better value than nearly anyone in the market. Think hard about your USP with
your team. If you get this right and everyone is on the same page, it makes the rest of the process much easier.
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 10
Planning Process – Session Three
Now that you have completed your Mission Statement, Vision, Core Values, and Strategy, you will begin work
on the process that bridges your long-term plan with your short-term plan. This session will typically take four
to eight hours.
The rst item of this part of the planning process consists of an external and internal scan and assessment. The
external scan focuses on the market, industry, and competitors. The internal scan focuses on your company,
people, systems, and processes. You will want to have identied the information you need for this work and
create as much of it as possible before the session. You will use this information to create a SWOT (Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats). There is a progression that goes with the identication of the informa-
tion. Your external and internal scan shows you where you have weaknesses and threats (where you may need to
play defense) and shows you where you have strengths and opportunities (where you can go on the offensive).
These SWOT items then show you what your Strategic Initiatives should be to deliver the Strategic Objectives
you want to accomplish.
Below is an example of the things to include in an External and Internal Scan.
• External Scan & Assessment (Market, Industry, Competitors)
– Economic Environment Analysis
» Economic Trends & Forecast
– Industry Analysis
– Competitor Analysis
– Customer Target Market Analysis
• Internal Scan & Assessment (Company/People/Systems/Processes)
– Trend Analysis
– Benchmark Comparison
• Data Sources
– Internal Financial & System Reports
– External Sources (Investment Analyst Community, Industry Groups)
– Employees (ask for their opinions)
• Results in the identication of Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT)
• Categorize the SWOT Items by Value Chain Categories: Financial Management, Operations
Management, Organizational Development, and Revenue Generation
You will also use this session to set your 3-Year Plan Objectives. These should be in sync with the goals you iden-
tied in your 10-Year Vision. They should include nancial and non-nancial goals. They should use the SMART
goal-setting approach and should be Specic, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timed.
As you identify your Opportunities and Threats, categorize them into the four value chain categories (Financial
Management, Operations Management, Organizational Development, and Revenue Generation) and prioritize
them collectively using a systematic approach. A good method is to use a cost-benet matrix where you grade
the cost on a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being least costly and the benet on a scale of 1 - 10 with 10 being the most
benet. You add the two numbers together to get your overall prioritization score. Approximations are okay,
this is a strategic exercise not an accounting one. You may want to weight the benet score twice to get a more
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 11
aggressive approach. It depends on your situation. If you are in a more risk-tolerant, less cost/capital-constrained
situation weighting the revenue twice makes good sense.
You should do this prioritization exercise as a group to get a broad perspective on the cost-benet and to gain
consensus. This prioritization of opportunities and threats is one of the most critical things you will do in the
planning process as it will lead to the identication of the Strategic Initiatives.
This completes your work on Page 1 of the 2-Page Strategic Plan Summary. Step back and scan what you have
accomplished as a team. Let it seep in and ruminate on it collectively and individually for a week or so. Encourage
your managers to share it with select employees as appropriate for their feedback. Is there anything that does
not feel right, or doesn’t feel true to your values, passion, or situation? It should be uncomfortable, exciting,
challenging, and thrilling all at the same time. If there is anyone on the executive team that does not agree with
the vision it is best to address that now (through clarication, an adjustment to the plan, or a change in the ex-
ecutive team).
With this key milestone accomplished, you can move on to Page 2 of the 2-Page Strategic Plan, the execution
plan.
Phase 2B: Creating the Current Year Plan (Page 2)
Page 2 of the 2-Page Strategic Plan Summary focuses on the current year plan.
Below is an example of a completed Page 2.
2 PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY
[COMPANY NAME]
Page 2 | 2
CURRENT FOCUS
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
• Access to Capital
• Business Development
• Experienced and Engaged Management Team & Employees
• Healthy Company Culture
• Highly Satisfied Customer Base
• Technology
• Expense Management Culture
• Management Depth
• Lack of Written Processes
• Product offering is Middle of the Pack
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
• Leverage customer referrals
• Leverage employee referrals
• Systematize business development process
• Increase number of sales staff
• Staying competitive to meet customer preferences for digital
experiences
• Economic downturn
• Employee turnover
1 YEAR GOALS
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
• NPS of 60 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 65% or better
• Net Income of $1.5 million
• Revenue of $8 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $1.50 or greater (15% year over year growth)
• Create Customer Referral Program (Champion: Smith,
Manager: Jones)
• Create Systematic Business Development Process
(Champion: Smith, Manager: Williams)
• Build Digital Product Capability (Champion: Reeves, Manager:
Jackson)
• Document Processes & Create Staffing Models (Champion:
Sparks, Manager: Levin)
2 PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY
[COMPANY NAME]
Page 2 | 2
CURRENT FOCUS
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
• Access to Capital
• Business Development
• Experienced and Engaged Management Team & Employees
• Healthy Company Culture
•
Highly Satisfied Customer Base
• Technology
• Expense Management Culture
• Management Depth
• Lack of Written Processes
• Product offering is Middle of the Pack
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
• Leverage customer referrals
• Leverage employee referrals
• Systematize business development process
• Increase number of sales staff
• Staying competitive to meet customer preferences for digital
experiences
• Economic downturn
• Employee turnover
1 YEAR GOALS
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
• NPS of 60 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 65% or better
• Net Income of $1.5 million
• Revenue of $8 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $1.50 or greater (15% year over year growth)
• Create Customer Referral Program (Champion: Smith,
Manager: Jones)
• Create Systematic Business Development Process
(Champion: Smith, Manager: Williams)
• Build Digital Product Capability (Champion: Reeves, Manager:
Jackson)
• Document Processes & Create Staffing Models (Champion:
Sparks, Manager: Levin)
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 12
Planning Process – Session Four
In this phase of the planning process, you take your 3-year plan and focus on the rst year. There is a progres-
sion: your 10-year vision should inform your 3-year plan and your 3-year plan should inform your 1-year plan.
They should follow a trend that provides a reasonable roadmap to get to your 10-year vision. You can check back
against this roadmap to see how you are progressing towards your vision.
The Strategic Objectives, or goals, for the next year should follow the same SMART approach you used for your
10-year vision and 3-year plan. These goals should include nancial and non-nancial goals that measure success
across your value chain. Whether nancial or non-nancial, they should be so detailed and specic that there
will be no difculty throughout the year in measuring how you are doing against the goal. An owner should be
identied for each objective. Once you have determined the goals for the year, they should be broken down
further into quarterly goals.
With these strategic objectives set, the next step is to identify the strategic initiatives the company will focus on.
These are the important projects built to leverage the opportunities and/or mitigate the risks you have identied
which will help you achieve your strategic objectives. You will want to identify a manageable number of strate-
gic initiatives so they can receive the proper focus. A good rule of thumb is to have no more than 4-6 strategic
initiatives. There is no harm in having 1-3 if that is appropriate for your company. The bigger risk is having too
many. Having more than six is typically too many to manage well. Remember, a key outcome of effective strate-
gic planning is identifying what you are not going to focus on.
Strategic Initiatives
In identifying and selecting your Strategic Initiatives, you will go back to your prioritized list of Opportunities and
Threats. This is an area where your creativity is needed in the planning process. There isn’t a cookie cutter answer
for what to do to leverage opportunities and/or mitigate risks. But your management team working together
creatively is the best way to nd the answers. Encourage your managers to collect and share input from their
employees as well. Remember, having the team passionately bought in together on the solutions is as important
or more important than having the best solution. Taking action is better than no action and the power of the
team is strong.
In identifying the Strategic Initiatives to focus on, think about getting representation across the four value chain
areas. It is not necessary to have a strategic initiative for each of the four value chain areas but a distribution
across the value chain areas is a good goal. This ensures you are focusing on building value in all areas of your
business. As you did with prioritizing the opportunities and threats, you can use a cost-benets rating and rank-
ing approach to identify the most benecially impactful strategic initiatives.
The next step is to create a Strategic Initiative Charter for each Strategic Initiative. This is a document that out-
lines the purpose of the initiative and how it will be successfully implemented.
It includes:
• Purpose, objectives, key results, and deliverables (i.e., what we must achieve)
• Stakeholders, roles, and responsibilities (i.e., who will take part in it)
• Resource, nancial, and action plans (i.e., how it will be undertaken)
• Authorization (i.e., that the Initiative is approved for implementation)
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 13
The rst step in building a strategic initiative plan is to identify who will ll two key roles for each initiative. The
rst role is the Executive Champion. This is the person on the executive leadership team who will be responsible
for the success of the initiative. The second role is the Initiative Manager who is responsible for building the ini-
tiative plan and executing it day-to-day. The initiative manager also may appoint a 2-3 person Initiative Team who
will work with the initiative manager. How many people you include for each initiative depends on the initiative
and your resources. You may have an initiative where the Champion, Manager, and Team are all one person if you
are a small company. The key is to systematically think through the initiative and drive its success.
An example of a Strategic Initiative Charter and a blank template is included in the appendix to this white paper.
Investment and Financing Needed
With the 2-Page Strategic Plan Summary completed and your vision and plan identied, the next step is to iden-
tify the resources necessary to achieve the plan. This includes determining the operating expenses (primarily
employees and facilities), capital budget, and company nancing (capital and/or debt) needed.
Creating a 3-year nancial model including cash ow is necessary to identify the details of this investment and
how well it syncs up with your long-term vision. The purpose of this paper isn’t to focus on the details of creating
the nancial plan (that is a separate white paper in itself) but this step is important as you go from planning to
execution.
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 14
Phase Three: Approval
The approval phase will differ based on your company. You may need to take your strategic plan to your board,
shareholders, or bankers for approval. Whether it is for approval, consulting, or information sharing, the commu-
nication of your plan to these stakeholders is important and valuable.
Phase Four: Rollout to Your Employees and Execution
Once approved, it is time to share the Strategic Plan with your employees and begin executing the plan. This
is critical to the success of the plan. Employees need to understand the company’s Strategic Plan. They need to
understand the why of the strategic plan and how their job and career goals t in with the strategic plan. They
need time to take in and think about the plan and to ask questions. How you roll out and communicate the plan
to your employees can differ by company. It is recommended to share the plan at a high level with all employees
at a team meeting. Your strategic planning calendar should provide enough time so that you can have this plan
roll-out communication before the start of the planning period. Many strategic plans have been sabotaged by
spending so much time on the strategic plan creation that it is rolled out many months after the start of the scal
year. There is nothing quite as frustrating for employees as starting late. Don’t make that mistake.
When you roll out your strategic plan, make sure you include a healthy cross-section of the team to communicate
the plan. Include your initiative champions and initiative managers in the rollout.
Follow up the all-employee meeting with department team meetings. In these meetings, the department man-
ager should review the company plan and how the department and its employees t into the plan.
Results-Driven Strategic Planning: Using the 3 Pillars to Answer the 5 Questions | 15
Once the plan execution commences, it is important to consistently track progress and results and make adjust-
ments as needed.
A Strategic Plan tracking system should include two items:
• Strategic Plan Scorecard which shows the company results compared to the strategic plan objectives
• Strategic Initiative Tracker which summarizes key initiative activities and results compared to the
initiative plan
This information should be reviewed at least monthly with the executive leadership team and the board (as ap-
propriate). The owners of the Strategic Plan objectives and the Strategic Initiatives should be included in these
reviews.
Summary
This white paper has provided a systematic, proven process to create and execute an effective strategic plan.
The goal of the strategic plan process is to answer ve questions:
1. Why you do what you do?
2. What are you going to accomplish?
3. How are you going to accomplish your vision?
4. Who will I serve and who will I work with to achieve the vision?
5. When will we accomplish the key milestones?
The process is based on three pillars: analysis, creativity, and organization. These three pillars are supported by
teamwork.
Included in this paper are many templates with examples to get you started. Strategic planning takes an invest-
ment of time and energy. Experience shows that it is a wise investment. It will help you and your employees
more condently and effectively create your vision. Your future selves will thank you for making the investment.
Best of luck and go get ‘em!
Appendix | 16
Appendix
1. Strategic Plan Summary
2. Strategic Plan Scorecard
3. Strategic Initiatives Charter
4. Strategic Initiatives Tracker
2 PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY
[COMPANY NAME]
Page 1 | 2
LONG-TERM VISION
FOCUS
CORE VALUES
Mission
Providing the Resources to Help Small-
Medium Sized Businesses Realize Their
Dreams
• Integrity
• Growth
• Team Players
• Independent Thinking
• Exemplary Customer Service
• Winning
• Innovation
• Collaboration
• Discipline to Process
• Diligence
.
Target
Market
Owner-Managed businesses in the D/FW
metro area with Revenue $5-$100 million
Universal
Selling
Proposition
You will receive exemplary customer service
and business resources at a better value
than you can receive anywhere else
10 YEAR BHAG 3 YEAR VISION
• NPS Score of 70 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 80% or greater
• Net Income of $5 million
• Revenue of $25 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $5.00 or greater
•
EPS Compound Annual Growth Rate of 10% or greater
•
NPS Score of 60 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 70% or greater
• Net Income of $2 million
• Revenue of $10 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $2.00 or greater
• EPS Compound Annual Growth Rate of 15% or greater
2 PAGE STRATEGIC PLAN SUMMARY
[COMPANY NAME]
Page 2 | 2
CURRENT FOCUS
STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
• Access to Capital
• Business Development
• Experienced and Engaged Management Team & Employees
• Healthy Company Culture
• Highly Satisfied Customer Base
• Technology
• Expense Management Culture
• Management Depth
• Lack of Written Processes
• Product offering is Middle of the Pack
OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
• Leverage customer referrals
• Leverage employee referrals
• Systematize business development process
• Increase number of sales staff
• Staying competitive to meet customer preferences for digital
experiences
• Economic downturn
• Employee turnover
1 YEAR GOALS
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
• NPS of 60 or greater
• Employee Engagement Score of 65% or better
• Net Income of $1.5 million
• Revenue of $8 million
• ROE of 15% or greater
• EPS of $1.50 or greater (15% year over year growth)
• Create Customer Referral Program (Champion: Smith,
Manager: Jones)
• Create Systematic Business Development Process
(Champion: Smith, Manager: Williams)
• Build Digital Product Capability (Champion: Reeves, Manager:
Jackson)
• Document Processes & Create Staffing Models (Champion:
Sparks, Manager: Levin)
1. Strategic Plan Summary (available separately as a Word document)
Appendix | 17
Accountability
Jan Feb Ma
r
Ap
r
Ma
y
Jun Jul Au
g
Sep Oct Nov Dec
Goal > = 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60
76 54 65 83 72 58
Goal > = 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65 65
55 32 45 52 61 69
Goal > = 100$ 100$ 100$ 110$ 110$ 110$ 130$ 130$ 130$ 160$ 160$ 160$
122$ 89$ 160$ 211$ 132$ 96$
Goal > = 525$ 525$ 530$ 590$ 590$ 590$ 700$ 700$ 700$ 850$ 850$ 850$
577$ 518$ 522$ 599$ 622$ 611$
Goal > = 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0% 15.0%
15.6% 12.6% 16.6% 24.3% 18.3% 13.4%
Goal > = 0.10$ 0.10$ 0.10$ 0.12$ 0.12$ 0.12$ 0.13$ 0.13$ 0.13$ 0.15$ 0.15$ 0.15$
0.11$ 0.07$ 0.14$ 0.19$ 0.16$ 0.08$
Stratetic Initiative Accountability Objective Measure Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Goal > = 0% 0% 50% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
0% 50% 100% 100% 100% 100%
Goal > = 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
0% 0% 0% 100% 100% 100%
Goal > = - - - 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
- - - 6 2 3
Goal > = 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
0% 0% 50% 75% 90% 95%
Goal > = 0% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Goal > = 4 6 7 8 10 12 16 18 20 22 24 28
2 4 6 11 15 19
Goal > = 0% 0% 0% 25% 50% 75% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100%
0% 0% 25% 50% 75% 90%
Goal > = 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 25% 50% 100% 100% 100%
0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
Goal > = -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$ 25$ 50$
-$ -$ -$ -$ -$ -$
Goal > = 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5
4 5 6 5 5 6
Goal > = 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1
- 2 1 1 2 -
Actual
Actual
Actual
Net Promoter Score
Employee Engagement Score
Net Income
Revenue
ROE
EPS
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
Actual
STRATEGIC INITIATIVES
Revenue from New Digital Products
# of Processes Documented
# of Staffing Models Created
Document Processes &
Build Staffing Models
Champion: Sparks
Manager: Levin
Build Staffing Models
Document Processes
Build Digital Product
Capability
Champion: Reeves
Manager: Jackson
Perform Internal & External Scan to
Determine Product Gaps
Develop new digital products
Generated Revenue from New
Digital Products
% of Completion
% of Completion
Number of Closed Won
% of Completion
% of Completion
Create Systematic
Business Development
Process
Champion: Smith
Manager: Williams
Document Best Practices Business
Development Process
Train & Implement Program
Increase Leads, Opportunities &
Closed Won
Design Customer Referral Program % of Completion
% of CompletionTrain & Implement Program
Create Customer Referral
Program
Champion: Smith
Manager: Jones
Generate Customer Referrals Customer Referrals Generated
Taylor
Perkins
Lawton
Smith
Sparks
Sparks
STRATEGIC PLAN SCORECARD
STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES
Strategic Objective
$ in 000's
2. Strategic Plan Scorecard (available separately as an Excel document)
Appendix | 18
3. Strategic Initiatives Charter (available separately as a Word document)
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE CHARTER
Page 1 | 5
Click here for Strategic Project Charter Definition
GENERAL INITIATIVE INFORMATION
Initiative Name
Initiative
Champion
Initiative
Manager
Planned Initiative
Start Date
Planned
Initiative End
Date
INITIATIVE OVERVIEW
Initiative
Objective
Company
Strategic
Objective(s)
Supported
Objective 1
Key Result
(metric)
Key Result
(metric)
Key Result
(metric)
Objective 2
Key Result
(metric)
Key Result
(metric)
Key Result
(metric)
Objective 3
Key Result
(metric)
Key Result
(metric)
Key Result
(metric)
Deliverable(s)
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE CHARTER
Page 2 | 5
CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS OR FAILURE
• This Initiative will be deemed a success if all the following criteria are met
• This Initiative will be considered a mixed result if some but not all the following criteria are met
• This Initiative will be deemed a failure if none of the following criteria are met
Criteria
Result
Criteria
Result
Criteria
Result
INITIATIVE MILESTONES
MILESTONE OWNER
START
DATE
FINISH
DATE
STATUS
(Not Yet
Started, In
Process, or
Complete)
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE CHARTER
Page 3 | 5
DEPARTMENTS IMPACTED
DEPARTMENT
IMPACT
(None, Low, Med, High)
DEPARTMENT
IMPACT
(None, Low, Med, High)
Human Resources
Project Management
Information
Technology
Customer Service
Finance/Accounting
Operations (Group 1)
Sales (Group 1)
Operations (Group 3)
Sales (Group 2)
Operations (Group 3)
Sales (Group 3)
Marketing
COMMUNICATIONS & TRAINING PLAN
RESOURCES
Initiative Team
Members
Support Resources
Other Resource Needs
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE CHARTER
Page 4 | 5
BUDGET COSTS
SPENDING CATEGORY
AMOUNT
DETAIL
Technology
Vendors
(Consultants/Contractors/etc.)
Other Costs
TOTAL COSTS
SIGNATURES & APPROVALS
ROLE
NAME
SIGNATURE
DATE
Initiative Manager
Initiative
Champion
Executive
Leadership Team
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE CHARTER
Page 5 | 5
What is an Initiative Charter?
An Initiative Charter is a document which outlines the purpose of the Initiative, the way the Initiative
will be structured, how it will be successfully implemented, and the Initiative authorization.
It describes the Initiative:
• Purpose, objectives, key results, and deliverables (i.e., what we must achieve)
• Stakeholders, roles, and responsibilities (i.e., who will take part in it)
• Resource, financial, and action plans (i.e., how it will be undertaken)
• Authorization (i.e., that the Initiative is approved for implementation)
Click Here to Go Back to the Top of the Document
Appendix | 19
4. Strategic Initiatives Tracker (available separately as an Excel document)
INITIATIVE UPDATES ARE DUE BY THE 3RD BUSINESS DAY OF EACH MONTH
Strategic Initiative
Initiative
Champion
Initiative
Manager
Initiative
Update
Version
Initiative
Update
Date
Initiative
Status
Put Initiative Update Comments Here for Current Month
Put Initiative Update Comments Here for Current Month
Put Initiative Update Comments Here for Current Month
Put Initiative Update Comments From Last Month Here (to see progression)
Put Initiative Update Comments From Last Month Here (to see progression)
Put Initiative Update Comments From Last Month Here (to see progression)
Document Processes & Create Staffing Models Sparks Levin
Most
Current
Build Digital Product Capability Reeves Jackson
Most
Current
Previous May Green
Most
Current
June Green
Previous May Green
Green
Previous May Green
June
GreenJune
Create Systematic Building Development Process Smith Williams
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE TRACKER
Initiative Update (Key milestones completed, upcoming, roadblocks, etc.)
Create Customer Referral Program Smith Jones
Most
Current
June Green
Previous May Green
