Once you’ve reflected on your 2024 performance and gathered key insights, it’s time to move into the next crucial phase—formulating your strategic plan for 2028 and your 2025 Yearly Plan.
Your strategic plan for 2028 and your 2025 Yearly Plan needs to be more than just sitting around a table with your First Team doing a financial exercise.
Here’s how to approach this process effectively:
1. Vision – What is your vision for the company?
You need to go to the future, to see the future. Your vision for the company needs to be something at least 10 years out.
2. Strategic Intent
A 10-20 Year Vision (depending on the industry) can be hard for an organization to execute on. I’m a big fan of breaking it down to focus on the Strategic Intent. Where do you want to be by the end of the 3-year plan?
3. Insight
You need insight from your top customers at a decision-maker level, employees, and key stakeholders as well as market intelligence. This insight informs your SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats)
4. SWOT
The CEO and First Team need to look at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats to determine the key pillars in which the company needs to focus.
5. Strategic Pillars
Once the pillars are identified, then the CEO and First Team need to build out what needs to be done in the next three years that is aligned to the Strategic Intent to accomplish the vision and the critical success factors for each.
6. 2025 Plan
Now that the 3-year plan is done, the team can focus on what are the must-do’s for 2025. Who is responsible for each and what are the critical KPIs that will be measured? This plan is meant to be more tactical in nature.
These aren’t hard steps, but it takes time and some effort from the CEO and the First Team. Once the 2028 plan and the 2025 are complete, the key is communicating it early and often to maintain alignment.