Strategy done right builds prepared minds, provides a framework for effective decision-making, and acts as a catalyst for employee engagement – the real competitive advantage for a business.

Strategic planning is the North Star that drives an organization’s actions – it shows where you are going, how everyone contributes, and how to navigate.

Unfortunately, most organizations (and teams of all sizes) do not do strategy well.

A recent Harvard Business Review report indicated that only 8% of strategic plans actually achieve (or exceed) the expected results – 37% fail completely!

Our own research determined that organizations assessed their leaders as 69% in terms of effectiveness of translating strategy to performance.

Why is strategic planning so difficult?

Firstly, are we clear on what strategy is? Further, do we know how to “do” strategy? Lastly, do we invest the time to be strategically effective?

The answers are generally – not really, maybe, and never.

It is human nature to talk about the future and then move directly to short term tactics – the daily actions. Sadly, the consequences of this shift to short-term are wasted time, effort and resources. We do not perform to our potential and risk being trounced by the competition.

Research shows that organizations are producing 67% of the potential financial results. How do we bridge the gap between where we are and where we want to be with effective strategic planning?