The most common OGSM mistakes are writing strategies that are actually tactics, using vague measures that can’t be tracked, and treating the framework as a one-time exercise rather than a living document. These three errors alone account for the majority of OGSM failures I’ve seen across organisations of every size. Fix them — along with the four others in this list — and your OGSM will do what it’s supposed to: get everyone moving in the same direction with clarity and accountability.
Mistake #1: Confusing Strategies with Tactics
What it looks like: Your Strategies row reads like a project plan. “Launch new CRM system.” “Run Q3 sales training.” “Redesign the website.” These are activities, not strategies.
Why it happens: Strategies are genuinely hard to write. Tactics feel concrete and action-oriented, so they sneak in. The team wants to feel like they’re already executing.
The fix: A Strategy should answer how you intend to compete or win, not what you’re going to do next Tuesday. It describes a deliberate choice about where to focus resources. Ask: “Could a competitor do the opposite of this and still be a viable business?” If yes, you’ve got a real strategic choice.
Before: “Launch new CRM system”
After: “Build a retention-first sales model by deepening existing account relationships over new acquisition”
Mistake #2: Measures That Can’t Be Measured
What it looks like: Your Measures row includes entries like “Improved customer satisfaction,” “Better team engagement,” or “Stronger brand awareness.” These aren’t measures. They’re wishes.
Why it happens: Teams often know what outcome they want but haven’t done the work to define how they’ll know when they’ve got it. Vague measures feel safer — they’re harder to fail against.
The fix: Every Measure needs a number, a unit, and a deadline. If you can’t articulate the current baseline and the target you’re aiming for, you don’t have a measure yet. Replace vague outcomes with specific indicators: NPS score, revenue per account, churn rate, hiring lead time.
Before: “Improved customer satisfaction”
After: “NPS ≥ 45 by end of Q4 (baseline: 31)”
Mistake #3: No Owner on Each Strategy
What it looks like: The OGSM looks great on paper. Everyone nods in the all-hands presentation. Six months later, three strategies haven’t moved and nobody’s quite sure whose job it was to drive them.
Why it happens: OGSM is typically built as a leadership team exercise, and accountability assignments feel awkward in that setting. Nobody wants to call out colleagues in front of the group.
The fix: Every Strategy needs a named owner — one person, not a team or a department. That person isn’t necessarily doing all the work, but they are accountable for progress and for raising blockers. Build ownership into the OGSM document itself, not into a separate RACI somewhere that nobody reads. For a deeper walkthrough of how ownership fits into a well-built OGSM, see our complete OGSM guide.
Mistake #4: OGSM Done Once, Never Reviewed
What it looks like: The strategy gets built in January. It lives in a slide deck or a shared drive. By March, nobody’s looking at it. By June, teams are making decisions that directly contradict it — not maliciously, just because it’s become wallpaper.
Why it happens: Building the OGSM is the visible, exciting part. Review cycles feel like admin. Without a structured cadence, they get deprioritised.
The fix: Build your review rhythm into the OGSM itself. Quarterly reviews for the full document, monthly check-ins on Measures. The review meeting should answer three questions: Are our measures on track? Are our strategies still valid? Do we need to adjust anything? If the OGSM is right, reviews are short. If something’s off, you want to know now — not in December.
Mistake #5: Too Many Strategies
What it looks like: The Strategies section has nine, eleven, sometimes fourteen rows. Every function of the business managed to get its pet initiative onto the document.
Why it happens: OGSM builds are often participatory exercises. Inclusion feels important. Leaders don’t want to be seen dismissing colleagues’ priorities, so everything makes the cut.
The fix: A real strategy requires trade-offs. If everything is a priority, nothing is. Three to five Strategies is the right range for most organisations. If you have more than five, you don’t have a strategy — you have a wish list. Run a forced-ranking exercise and cut ruthlessly. The strategies that survive are the ones the business is genuinely willing to resource and protect.
Before: Eleven strategy rows covering marketing, HR, operations, finance, and digital transformation
After: Three strategies directly linked to the Objective, with clear owners and measurable outcomes
Mistake #6: Objectives Written as Activities
What it looks like: The Objective reads: “Develop a high-performing culture” or “Implement a digital transformation programme.” These describe things you’re going to do, not what you’re trying to become.
Why it happens: Activities are easy to agree on. Outcomes require the leadership team to commit to something they might not achieve — which is uncomfortable.
The fix: An Objective should describe a future state of the organisation — inspiring, directional, qualitative. It answers: “What kind of business are we trying to become?” Think of it as the headline on your strategy story. “Become the most trusted logistics partner in Southeast Asia” is an Objective. “Implement a digital transformation programme” is a project plan.
Mistake #7: Cascade Failure — L2 OGSM Not Aligned to L1
What it looks like: The corporate OGSM is built. Functional teams then build their own OGSMs — but they’re working from their own priorities, not from the strategic choices made at Level 1. By the time you get to Level 2 or Level 3, the OGSMs are pointing in different directions.
Why it happens: Cascade is often treated as a communications exercise rather than a design exercise. The L1 OGSM gets shared, and then teams are told to “build theirs.” Without a structured handoff, each team builds what makes sense to them.
The fix: Before any team builds an L2 OGSM, they need to understand which L1 Strategies they are responsible for supporting — and how. The L2 Objective should directly enable a specific L1 Strategy. The Measures at L2 should roll up into the Measures at L1. If a team’s OGSM could exist without the L1 OGSM mattering at all, it hasn’t been cascaded — it’s been parallel-planned. For a full breakdown of how to cascade correctly, read our article on OGSM cascade and alignment.
The Pattern Behind Every OGSM Mistake
Most OGSM problems share a common root: the framework was treated as a documentation exercise rather than a thinking exercise. The grid gets filled in, but the hard strategic conversations — what are we not doing, who is accountable, how will we actually know if it’s working — never happen.
If your OGSM feels like it’s not pulling its weight, go back through this list and check which of these seven mistakes you’re carrying. Pick the one that’s doing the most damage and fix it this week. Don’t try to overhaul the whole document at once — that’s how OGSMs get abandoned.
One broken row, fixed cleanly, does more for strategy execution than a perfect document that no one uses.
Rock on.
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