7 Key Strategy Questions Every Leader Should Answer

7 Key Strategy Questions Every Leader Should Answer

According to Gartner, organisations that effectively unlock the capacity to implement new growth strategies increase their bottom line by 77%.

But the question is - where to begin??

Annual Strategy Meeting?is the best place to start with.

Annual strategic discussions are the compass that ensures an organisation stays on course for success. Leaders cultivate a shared understanding by reviewing the past, envisioning the future, and aligning actions with goals, fostering adaptability and driving sustained growth.?

Most companies hold strategy meetings around December or January every year to plan for the following year. It could be an offsite, a retreat, or even in your office.?

When and where is not as important as?how you do it.

The success of a strategy meeting lies in the depth of the questions you ask and in finding clear strategies and action plans.


7 Key Strategy Questions Every Leader Should Answer:

Q1. Where Are We Now?

  • What:?Provide a snapshot of the organisation's current state.?
  • How:?Analyse key performance indicators, market trends, and the competitive landscape. Identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Celebrate the wins and be ruthlessly honest in accepting the failures.


Q2. Where Do We Want to Be?

  • What:?Define your organisation's long-term vision and goals. Realign with your vision and mission.
  • How:?Clearly articulate the desired future state. Do a visioning exercise on where you want to be by the end of next year. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) objectives.


Q3. What's Our Unique Value Proposition?

  • What:?Clarify what sets your organisation apart in the market.
  • How:?Identify your unique strengths and capabilities. What's the best that you can do in the marker? Determine how these qualities address customer needs better than competitors.


Q4. Who Are Our Key Stakeholders?

  • What:?Recognise the groups or individuals crucial to your success.?
  • How:?List and prioritise stakeholders. Understand their expectations, concerns, and how your strategy aligns with their interests.


Q5. What Could Deviate and Derail Our Plans?

  • What:?Anticipate potential obstacles and risks.
  • How:?Think about what could distract and go wrong. Conduct a thorough risk analysis. Develop contingency plans for likely challenges. Be proactive in addressing and mitigating risks.


Q6. How Will We Measure Success?

  • What:?Clearly define the metrics that indicate progress and achievement.
  • How:?Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) aligned with your goals. Regularly track and evaluate performance against these metrics. Have clearly defined intermediate milestones.


Q7. What Are Our Top Three Strategic Initiatives?

  • What:?Identify the critical projects that will drive success.
  • How:?Select three high-impact initiatives that align with your strategy. Outline clear action plans, responsible people, and timelines. You will have a long list, but picking the highly impactful top three long-term initiatives is essential.?


Bonus Tip - Hire an Experienced Strategy Facilitator

Most of the time, the CEO or the head of HR facilitates these strategy meetings, and it's going to be really hard balancing the hat of the facilitator and your own role in the organisation. You won't be able to participate fully in the strategic discussions.?

Moreover, participants will have difficulty being honest and transparent with a facilitator already in the system.?

Hiring an experienced strategy facilitator from outside brings a structured approach, neutral perspective, and expert guidance. This ensures leaders navigate discussions effectively, extract valuable insights, and generate actionable plans for future success.


#leadership #strategy #leadershipexcellence #leadershipmindset



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S Venkattesh Prasanna

Build your Confidence on stage in 4 weeks| Become a confident professional Speaker by learning advanced Presentation & Communication skills with EI| Founder | Corporate Trainer|

1 年

Very good points Sir As I am studying leaders and leadership Can you please help elaborate on these points below which are needed by a leader How to become a large organization leader? Focus on effective stakeholder management. Crucial conversation with the team and stakeholders Influencing Value creation Impactful communication to business stakeholder

Parthibhan Kesavaraj

Managing Director of Nithya Amirtham Indian Food Pvt Ltd | Nithyam Foods-Wedding Catering | Redefining “Goodness” in Food Industry | Entrepreneur | Food Innovation

1 年

Absolutely Sivakumar Palaniappan! Annual Strategy Meetings set the stage for innovation and growth excited to delve into new strategies and possibilities!

Kamesh Sundaram

I love inventing, innovative design, intelligent manufacturing and efficient processing. I love to train people to achieve these goals.

1 年

Interesting article. When discussing what could derail the process, I feel, a leadership that does not clearly define the path forward, a management that doesn't set realistic goals that reflect the vision and set "safe" targets that protect themselves at the cost of the loosing opportunities, will derail the goal setting process and throw a wrench into the spinning wheel. Integrity should be at the core of goal setting.

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