Some strategic plans are heavy on plans, but light on strategy. Some have beautiful strategy descriptions and diagrams, but no roadmap for execution. There are two words in “strategic plan”, and you need both of them.

The strategy bit

Lafley and Martin (Playing to Win, Harvard Business School Press, 2014) suggest strategy is about describing an integrated and coherent response to five key questions:

• What are our winning aspirations?
• Where will we play?
• How will we win?
• What capabilities are critical to our success?
• What systems and enablers are required?

From my experience, this model works extremely well in professional services. It’s simple, practical and not overly jagonised. It can be used at multiple levels – the firm overall, for practice groups and individual practitioners. When challenged by a sceptic there’s a strong body of research evidence to support it.

The plan bit

The plan element describes your strategic priorities, where you will (and won’t) be investing, what key initiatives will be actioned, who, when and how things will be done. There are five frameworks that you might find helpful to organise and present your thinking:

#1 McKinsey Three Horizon Growth Model – listing key strategic initiatives around the expected timing and certainty of benefit. H1 is around defending and extending core business; H2 building the momentum of emerging new business; and H3 creating options for future business. The graphic below illustrates the use of the Three Horizon model in a strategic plan for a key client.

#2 Kanban Boards – a visualisation tool that enables you to categorise and optimise the flow of work, be it a specific project, a program of work or a major strategic initiative. This agile-friendly tool is brilliant for cross-firm collaboration, accountability and transparency. The graphic below shows a Kanban Board, using Trello software, for a specific strategy project.

#3 Strategy Roadmaps or Infographics – expressing the strategy in the form of a journey, noting key events and milestones on the way. When the strategy is expressed as a narrative, one often finds there’s much greater understanding and buy-in. The graphic below shows a roadmap for an innovation strategy.

#4 Past Present Future – detailing the specific things that will be changed and those things that will be preserved. This is a simple device to explain the implications of a particular strategic direction. The graphic below shows the changes an engineering firm is seeking in adopting a client-centric strategy and culture.

#5 Strategic Pillars – a graphic device summarising the key areas that will be focused on in strategy execution. The symbolism of the pillar model is that each component is necessary for success – missing one pillar compromises the integrity of the whole. The graphic below shows a pillar model for a strategic account management program.

Call to action

Take a quick look at your current strategic plan and ask yourself these three questions:

1. In light of market, client and competitor trends over the next few years, have we put enough thought into where will play and how we will win?
2. Are we crystal clear on our major priorities, investments and actions?
3. Have we presented our strategic thinking in a coherent and compelling way?

If the answer is ‘not really’ to any or all of the questions, then it’s appropriate to invoke another famous two-word phrase: IT’S TIME.