Although every strategic planning session is different depending on the needs of each organization, most strategic planning agendas have a similar structure.
Below is a sample strategic planning agenda that you can use and customize to your needs. We recommend including your team in the planning process as early as possible to increase company wide buy-in and implementation after the session.
We also recommend using a strategic planning facilitator to help guide the conversation, to ask tough questions, encourage those who may not participate as actively, and to keep the agenda on track.
Below is a sample strategic planning agenda for a two day off site planning session that we have adapted for this article.
Strategic Planning Meeting Agenda Day 1:
9:00-9:45
- Team Introductions/individual background/history of the organization
- Who is the facilitator, what is their role?
- Ground rules for the facilitation
- What are our goals for the next 2 days?
9:45-10:30
- Presentation of the last strategic plan.
- Measures of success, things to build on.
10:30-11:00
- Ice Breaker game. Sets the tone for the 2 days.
- Game: Survival. (Making Strategic Choices)
11:00-11:30
- What makes our organization?
- Core Competencies/ competitive advantages
- (Core Strengths/values) in small groups
- SWOT (Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats)
11:30-12:15
- Open discussion
- Where are we at right now as an organization internally?
- What do we do well, where can we improve, what would we like to see in the future? ( If you had 3 wishes,what would they be?)
12:15-1:15 Lunch
1:15-2:15
- Organizational values | Guiding principles.
- Values and behaviors are: “The way we do things around here.”
- What negative behaviors might be addressed with a statement of values?
- To what degree do the stated values differ from actual behavior?
2:15-3:00
- External Analysis.
- Environmental scan
- Competitors
- Trends: PESTLE (political, economical, social, technological, legal, environmental)
3:00-3:15 Break
3:15-4:15
- Vision- where are we going? (1 year, 3 year, 5 year, 10 year, 25 year)
- Why should we go there?
- What is winning?
4:15-5:00
- What is the mission of the organization
- What are we here to do?
- For who (Stakeholders)
- How?
5:00-5:30 Recap of the day.
- Questions/concerns and thoughts
End of Day One!
Don't have a full two days?
Check out our
one day strategic planning meeting agenda
Strategic Planning Meeting Agenda Day 2:
9:00-9:30
- Good Morning- Thoughts from yesterday. (Discussion and energizing game)
9:30- 10:15
- Organizational values & guiding principles
- Identifying values and behaviors as "the way things are done around here" (whether positive or negative)
- How do desired values compare and/or differ from actual values and behaviors?
10:15- 11:00
- Roadblocks (Brainstorm)
- What is going to try and get in our way?
- Potential risks
- How to stop it?
- What needs to be addressed?
11:00-12:00
- Goal setting
- What’s one HUGE over arching goal that if successful would impact all areas of the organization?
- measurable, time bound, and can be impacted by all employees and teams.
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:00-2:00 Moving the needle:
- Internal strategies/plans
- Strategic themes (as headlines) with scorecards
- Why Change? What is the Value? What will happen if nothing changes?
- Performance measures
Video walkthrough of this agenda and the strategic planning process.
2:00-3:30
- Goal setting for the strategic themes
- Action plans and next steps. (Project Plan)
3:30-3:45 Break
3:45- 4:30
- Communication plan/ Knowledge transfer / Uniting the rest of the organization.
4:30 Recap of SWOT and internal plans:
- Vision
- Mission
- Objectives
- Strategies
- Tactics
End of Day Two!
Every organization has their own strategic priorities and every strategic planning facilitation agenda is unique to different organizational needs.
Hopefully this sample strategic planning agenda is helpful in developing your 2 day off site strategy meeting, or any other strategic work you might do.
If you're looking for a facilitator for your upcoming strategic planning session, get in touch!
