Strategy Committee

What is a Strategy Committee?

A strategy committee is a group of individuals (typically comprised of leaders from the organization) that represent the board of directors or key decision leaders in a business or non-profit organization. The strategy committee has the primary responsibility and task to formulate strategy by deciding where the firm should compete (what markets, lines of business, and geographies). However, in most organizations, it is the responsibility of leaders from business units or divisions to decide how to compete or how to achieve the overarching goals and mission of the enterprise. The strategy committee reviews, approves and synchronizes the strategic plans of business units or divisions. It is the committee’s job to make recommendations and provide guidance to the board regarding both division level strategies and the overarching strategy of the corporation. This allows the board to give the strategy development responsibilities to those who have greater knowledge about the firm and the industry and focus on the strategy review process and oversight.

What does a Planning Committee do?

A planning committee primarily does the work of researching and developing the overarching strategy of the enterprise. This includes:

• Defining major goals (what to achieve) with corresponding targets.
• Setting objectives (a more detailed and specific set of achievements and outcomes within the major goals).
• Formulating key initiatives or the actual strategic plan (how to achieve the goals at a higher, more conceptual level).
• Tactics (specific details about how each initiative or element of the strategic plan will be accomplished).

It is the planning committee that communicates and explains how the firm will “operationalize” the strategy and move forward with the implementation of the strategy.

What are the Five Steps in the Strategic Planning Process?

Step One: Awareness

Awareness is about collecting data and analyzing information about the environment the organization operates in. Having adequate information about the internal strengths and vulnerabilities as well as external variables such as industry and global environment factors that may impact the health and well-being of the enterprise is essential to the planning process.

Step Two: Translation

Translation requires that you take the external and internal information (collected in step one) about the business landscape and identify opportunities to exploit and risks to mitigate. Translation enables an organization to articulate and explain the implications and meaning of the changes occurring (internally and externally) to the business. An example of translation would be determining if a change in global monetary policy might have a positive or negative impact on the organization’s strategy.

Step Three: Formulation

Formulation is assembling the plan of action and represents what the organization intends to do or accomplish to ensure it remains relevant and competitive in the short and long term. The plan that is devised should explain how the organization intends to achieve the strategic plan, create value for customers and stakeholders and how the business will differentiate itself from rivals who compete in the same space.

Step Four: Implementation and Execution

This step involves the precise implementation of the plan, allocation of resources and delegation of authority to take action that will produce results and help the organization achieve the outcomes and milestones contained in the strategy plan. This step also involves the monitoring process, accountability and measurement based on clearly defined performance indicators.

Step Five: Revision

The strategic plan of action is like a playbook and gives the members of the organization a line of sight into the organization’s direction and intention. However, revision is an often-missed step in strategy. It is critical to anticipate and prepare for adjustments that will inevitably need to be made due to the disruptions and changes in the business environment. Successful organizations are agile and can adapt to new information, leverage success, learn from failures and make course corrections to seize opportunities and manage challenges.

Who Makes up a Strategy Planning Committee?

For a well-functioning Strategy Planning Committee, there should be a representation from the major functions or activities in the organization and it may also include internal and external board members (or subject matter experts) with relevant knowledge and insights about the business environment. Normally, a planning committee would be comprised of leaders with experience in functions such as

• Finance
• Operations
• Supply Chain Management
• Sales
• People Management

A planning committee should reflect the key functions that drive your business. Most strategy planning committees have 5 to 10 people with diverse perspectives who can think creatively and critically about future opportunities and areas of exposure for the organization.

What is Organization Strategic Planning?

Organization Strategic Planning is a process that helps leaders create and envision the future. The process focuses on how the organization can adapt and remain relevant in an endlessly changing world that provides new opportunities as well as emerging disruptions and risks. All of the forces impacting an organization can be managed better with a well thought out plan of action that will enable it to take advantage of favorable circumstances that arise as well as vulnerabilities and perils that may challenge the very survival of an organization.

What is an Organization Strategy Plan?

The organization strategy plan focuses on the ways and means to secure a supply of talent to drive the long-term sustained growth of the business. This includes how the organization intends to recruit, develop and retain the best talent. In addition, the organization strategy plan must anticipate the need for new or different activities, functions, and capabilities needed to transform the business and move it forward as the business environment shifts and changes.