They look great in slide decks, but by February, the PowerPoint is forgotten, and teams are back in fire-fighting mode.
If you’ve ever walked out of a “strategy offsite” with 200 sticky notes and no clue what happens on Monday… you know the pain. I’ve been there. One time, we spent three days brainstorming “transformational ideas,” and six months later, the only thing that got transformed was the budget.
That’s why strategic planning matters—but only if you do it differently.
Why Most Goal-Setting Fails
Too vague: “Be more innovative.” What does that even mean?
Too many priorities: 12 “top goals” = no goals.
Too rigid: Plans collapse the first time the market shifts. (Remember 2020?)
Too disconnected: Leadership sets strategy. Teams never see it again.
📊 HBR reports that 70% of strategic plans fail to deliver results. Not because people don’t work hard, but because they don’t know what to work hard on.
The GPS Method: A Modern Framework for Strategic Planning
Forget endless SWOT exercises. Here’s a simpler way:
The GPS Method = Goals → Priorities → Scoreboards
Goals: Where we’re going. The vision, the North Star. Clear enough to fit on a Post-it.
Priorities: The 3–5 bets we’ll actually make this year. Strategy is as much about what you won’t do.
Scoreboards: Visible measures of progress. People play differently when the score is on the wall.
A Story From the Trenches
At one company, we set a lofty strategic goal: “Expand into three new markets by year-end.”
The problem? No one defined which markets, what resources we had, or who owned what. It floated around like a balloon until it popped.
The fix: we reframed into one concrete bet: “Expand into Germany with a localised product + dedicated sales team by Q3.”
The result? Germany delivered 25% of the new revenue that year. The other markets followed naturally.
Lesson: A focused goal beats three vague ones.
The Modern Twist: Strategy in 2025
Strategic planning today isn’t just off-sites and whiteboards. It’s changing fast:
AI forecasting: Tools now simulate scenarios, stress-test assumptions, and predict bottlenecks.
Remote teams: Visibility and alignment matter more—your plan must be transparent across time zones.
Agility beats rigidity: Quarterly OKRs and rolling reviews outperform the annual “big bang.”
If your strategy can’t flex with the market, it’s a liability.
Free Resource
📥 Download the Strategic Planning Cheat Sheet (Free PDF)
Inside:
GPS Method Framework (Goals → Priorities → Scoreboards)
SMARTER Goal Template (impact-driven)
“What We Will NOT Do” Worksheet
Strategy isn’t the plan you write; it’s the habits you keep.
A goal without a system is just a wish.
Choose less. Align your teams. Make progress visible.
That’s how strategy survives Monday morning.
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