Most strategy review meetings end with a slide deck nobody looks at again and a vague promise to “do better next quarter.”
An effective OGSM strategy review meeting follows a fixed agenda: review your measures first, diagnose why goals are on or off track, agree on one to three concrete actions, and assign ownership before anyone leaves the room. Done monthly or quarterly, a 60–90 minute meeting is enough to keep a team aligned and a strategy alive.
The difference between a review that drives change and one that just takes up calendar space is structure. Here’s exactly how to run it.
Why Most Strategy Reviews Fail
Strategy reviews fail for predictable reasons. The meeting is too long, too unfocused, or too comfortable. Teams report on what happened without asking why it happened — and leave without agreeing on what to do differently.
The OGSM framework actually makes this easier to fix. Because OGSM separates your Objective (direction), Goals (measurable targets), Strategies (choices), and Measures (leading indicators), you always have a clear agenda. You’re not reviewing a vague “progress update.” You’re reviewing specific numbers against specific targets and asking specific questions.
Who Should Be in the Room
Keep it small. A strategy review is not an all-hands or a status report. It’s a decision-making session.
The right people are those who own a Goal or a Strategy on the OGSM — typically your leadership team or department heads. If you’re a small business owner, this might just be you and one or two key team members.
A useful rule: if someone can’t directly act on what’s discussed, they probably don’t need to be there.
The Agenda That Works
Step 1: Open With the Objective (5 minutes)
Start every meeting by reading the Objective out loud. Not as a ritual — as a reset. It refocuses the room on direction before anyone dives into numbers.
Ask one question: “Are we still headed in the right direction?” If the answer is genuinely no, the agenda changes. Otherwise, move on.
Step 2: Review the Measures (15–20 minutes)
Your Measures are the leading indicators that tell you whether your Strategies are working before it’s too late to adjust. Go through them one by one.
For each Measure, ask:
- What is the current status versus the target?
- Is it green, amber, or red?
- If it’s amber or red, why?
Keep this factual. No blame, no defensiveness. You’re diagnosing, not judging.
Step 3: Review the Goals (15–20 minutes)
Goals are your lagging indicators — the outcomes you’re working toward. They tell you whether your Strategies are delivering results.
Walk through each Goal:
- Where do we stand against the target?
- Are we on track for the period-end figure?
- Which Strategies are contributing, and which aren’t?
This is where the connection between strategy and outcome becomes visible. If a Measure is green but the related Goal is red, something in your diagnosis or strategy logic is off.
Step 4: Agree on Actions (15–20 minutes)
This is the most important part of the meeting — and the one most often rushed.
Based on what you’ve just reviewed, agree on one to three specific actions to take before the next meeting. Not themes. Not intentions. Actions, with a named owner and a due date.
A useful format:
“By [date], [name] will [specific action] in order to [expected impact on Goal or Measure].”
Three concrete actions with owners will do more for your strategy than ten discussion points with no follow-through.
Step 5: Update the OGSM (10 minutes)
Before the meeting closes, update your OGSM document with:
- Current status on each Measure and Goal (RAG rating)
- Actions agreed, with owners and dates
- Any changes to a Strategy if one has clearly stopped working
This keeps your OGSM a living document rather than a snapshot from last quarter. If you’re working from a shared template — a PowerPoint or Excel version — update it during the meeting so everyone leaves with the same picture.
Step 6: Close With One Sentence (5 minutes)
End every review with a one-sentence summary: “Our strategy is [on track / needs attention in one area / requires a course correction] — our priority action is [X].”
It sounds simple, but a clear verbal close does two things: it reinforces alignment, and it gives anyone who needs to communicate the outcome to their teams a ready-made message.
How Often Should You Meet?
For most teams, a monthly rhythm works well during the first year of an OGSM cycle. Monthly is frequent enough to catch issues early, and infrequent enough to allow time for actions to take effect.
If your strategy is in a critical period — a turnaround, a major launch, a tight quarter — move to bi-weekly. If things are running smoothly and your Measures are consistently green, quarterly is fine.
The worst cadence is no cadence. A strategy that’s only reviewed when something goes wrong is a strategy that exists on paper only.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Reporting instead of reviewing. There’s a difference between presenting a slide of numbers and genuinely asking why those numbers are what they are. Push for the “why” every time.
Skipping the action step. If the meeting ends without agreed actions, it wasn’t a review — it was a briefing. Always leave with ownership.
Changing the strategy too often. If a Strategy changes every month, you never find out whether it was working. Give strategies at least two or three review cycles before you adjust them.
Making it too long. Ninety minutes is enough for most teams. If you regularly run over, the problem is usually unclear preparation, not insufficient time.
Prepare Before You Meet
A strategy review is only as good as the data going into it. Before the meeting:
- Update Measure and Goal data against targets
- Flag any items that need discussion (not just reporting)
- Share the updated OGSM with participants at least 24 hours in advance
If participants walk into the room seeing the numbers for the first time, the first half of the meeting is wasted on comprehension rather than diagnosis.
The Right Tool Makes It Easier
Running an effective strategy review is much easier when your OGSM is in a format that’s built for it — one where Measures, Goals, and RAG status are all visible on one page, and where the whole team is looking at the same document.
If you’re still managing your OGSM in a general-purpose template or a text document, consider moving to a structured format designed for this purpose. The OGSM Template for PowerPoint and OGSM Template for Excel are both built to support exactly this kind of review — with clear layout, RAG indicators, and a structure your team can update in real time. When your tool matches your meeting rhythm, the review practically runs itself.