Rock Your Strategy

Tag: implementation

  • The AI Strategy Audit: How to Use AI Tools to Keep Your OGSM on Track

    The AI Strategy Audit: How to Use AI Tools to Keep Your OGSM on Track

    You built a solid OGSM. You ran the launch meeting, shared the document, set a review cadence. And then life took over, and six weeks later you’re not sure which Goals are on track, which Measures haven’t been updated, and whether the strategy you committed to is still the right one.

    An AI strategy audit uses AI tools — Claude, ChatGPT, or similar — to systematically review your OGSM: flagging stale Measures, testing whether your Goals are still realistic, stress-testing your Strategies against current conditions, and generating specific questions for your next review meeting. A thorough AI audit takes 30 minutes and surfaces issues a standard review often misses.

    Here’s how to run one — and the exact prompts to use.

    Why AI Makes a Good Strategy Auditor

    AI tools don’t have the same blind spots you do. When you review your own OGSM, you see it through the lens of what you know, what you’re hoping for, and what feels uncomfortable to confront. An AI tool has none of those filters. Ask it the right questions, and it will push back on your assumptions with the consistency of a very patient, very well-read advisor who has no stake in the outcome.

    The key is knowing what to ask. Used poorly, AI just produces generic strategy advice. Used with the right prompts and your actual OGSM data, it becomes a genuinely useful thinking partner for the review process.

    What You Need Before You Start

    Before running an AI strategy audit, gather:

    • Your current OGSM document (or a typed summary of Objective, Goals, Strategies, and Measures with current RAG status)
    • Any recent performance data relevant to your Goals (revenue figures, traffic numbers, customer counts — whatever your Goals track)
    • The date your OGSM was last formally reviewed

    You don’t need to share the full document at once. The prompts below are designed to work section by section.

    The Five-Part AI Strategy Audit

    Part 1: Objective Clarity Test

    Paste your Objective into the AI tool and use this prompt:

    “Here is our strategic Objective: [paste Objective]. Please assess this against three criteria: (1) Is it specific enough to guide real decisions, or is it too vague? (2) Does it suggest a clear timeframe? (3) Would someone outside our organisation understand what we’re trying to achieve? Please flag any weaknesses and suggest a sharper version if needed.”

    A well-written Objective should pass all three. If the AI struggles to understand what you’re aiming for, your team probably does too.

    Part 2: Goal Integrity Check

    Paste each Goal (with baseline and target) and use this prompt:

    “Here are our strategic Goals: [paste Goals with baselines and targets]. Please assess each one against the SMART criteria — Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Flag any Goals that are missing elements, and identify any that appear too safe (unlikely to stretch the team) or too ambitious (unrealistic without a step-change in approach).”

    Ask a follow-up: “Given these Goals, what would need to be true about our business for us to achieve all of them simultaneously? Are there any that might conflict with each other?”

    This second question often surfaces tensions the planning process missed — for example, a Goal to grow volume while simultaneously improving margin, without a Strategy that explicitly addresses the trade-off.

    Part 3: Strategy Stress Test

    Paste your Strategies and use this prompt:

    “Here are the Strategies we have committed to this year: [paste Strategies]. For each one, please: (1) Identify the key assumption it relies on. (2) Describe what would have to be true in the market for this Strategy to succeed. (3) Flag any Strategy where the assumption seems weak or where an alternative approach might be more effective.”

    You can also ask: “Are there any obvious strategic options we appear not to have considered, given our Objective and Goals?”

    This prompt works especially well when you share some context about your market or competitive situation. The more specific you are, the more useful the output.

    Part 4: Measures Audit

    Paste your Measures and use this prompt:

    “Here are the Measures we are tracking: [paste Measures with targets and current status]. Please assess each one and tell me: (1) Is this a leading indicator (predicts future Goal performance) or a lagging indicator (reports past results)? (2) Does this Measure have a plausible causal connection to the Goal it’s meant to support? (3) Are there any Measures that appear to be output metrics rather than outcome metrics?”

    Then ask: “If all of these Measures were consistently green, which of our Goals would you be most confident will be achieved — and which Goals do you think would still be at risk? Why?”

    This last question tests whether your Measures actually cover your Goals — a common gap in OGSM design.

    Part 5: Review Meeting Preparation

    Once you’ve completed the first four parts, use this prompt to prepare your next strategy review:

    “Based on everything we’ve discussed about our OGSM — our Objective, Goals, Strategies, and Measures — please generate: (1) The five most important questions our leadership team should discuss at our next strategy review. (2) The two or three areas where you think we are most at risk of being off track. (3) One provocation — a question designed to challenge a core assumption we might not be examining.”

    The provocation question is often the most valuable output. Strategy teams have a tendency to examine tactics while leaving core assumptions unquestioned. A good provocation makes the meeting more honest.

    How to Use the Output

    An AI strategy audit produces observations, not decisions. The output gives you better questions to take into the review meeting, not answers to replace the meeting.

    Treat it as pre-work. Share the AI audit output with your leadership team 24 hours before the review. Ask them to come prepared to discuss the two or three risks the audit flagged. This shifts the meeting from information-sharing to genuine strategic dialogue.

    Running the Audit Quarterly

    The AI strategy audit works best as a quarterly habit — done two or three days before each major strategy review. It takes about 30 minutes to run, and the discipline of preparing your OGSM data to share with the AI tool is itself valuable: it forces you to update the document before the review rather than improvising status in the meeting.

    You can also run a lighter version monthly — just Part 4 (the Measures audit) — to catch any Measures that are drifting without being addressed.

    What AI Can’t Do

    AI tools are useful strategy thinking partners. They are not strategy consultants, and they’re not a substitute for genuine organisational knowledge.

    AI doesn’t know your specific market dynamics, your team’s actual capacity, or the political realities that shape what’s truly possible in your organisation. The audit questions are most useful when you’re specific about context — “we operate in a market where…” or “our main constraint is…” — and when you treat the output as input to human judgment rather than a replacement for it.

    The best strategy is still made by people who understand the business. AI helps them think more rigorously about what they already know.

    Ready to Audit Your Strategy?

    If you want to run an AI strategy audit on your OGSM, the first thing you need is an OGSM that’s properly structured — with clear Goals, connected Strategies, and trackable Measures. The OGSM Template for PowerPoint and OGSM Template for Excel give you that structure from the start, so when you bring the AI into the review process, you’re working from a solid foundation rather than trying to retrofit one.

    And if you would rather not run the audit prompt by prompt, the OGSM Strategy Builder has both the stress test and the review built in as phases: it runs the mechanical checks, challenges the judgement calls, says plainly what it cannot verify, and prepares your review agenda with the at-risk items first. More on how it works.

  • Is Your Strategy Off Track? 10 Warning Signs and How to Fix Them

    Is Your Strategy Off Track? 10 Warning Signs and How to Fix Them

    Strategies don’t usually fail dramatically. They drift — quietly, gradually, until the gap between where you said you’d be and where you actually are is too wide to close without a serious conversation.

    Your strategy is off track if two or more of these warning signs are present: review meetings focus on activity rather than results, Goals haven’t been updated in months, your team can’t articulate the strategy in a sentence, you keep adding initiatives without removing others, or your Measures are consistently green while your Goals are red. Each sign points to a specific fix.

    Here are ten warning signs to look for — and what to do about each one.

    1. Your Review Meetings Have Become Status Updates

    If strategy reviews are mostly slide decks of “what we did last month” rather than “are we on track and what needs to change,” your review process has become a reporting exercise rather than a decision-making one.

    The fix: Restructure your next meeting around questions, not slides. Start with: “Which Measures are amber or red, and why?” Require anyone presenting a Measure to also propose an action.

    2. Nobody Can Summarise the Strategy in One Sentence

    Ask three people in your organisation to describe the strategy. If you get three different answers — or three blank looks — the strategy hasn’t landed.

    A strategy that can’t be summarised isn’t a strategy. It’s a planning document.

    The fix: Write a single strategy sentence that everyone at leadership level agrees on. Something like: “We are focusing on [target market] with [key approach] in order to [Objective].” Test it until it’s short enough to remember and specific enough to actually guide decisions.

    3. Your Measures Are Green but Your Goals Are Red

    This is one of the most common — and most dangerous — patterns in strategy reviews. Your leading indicators look healthy, but your lagging outcomes are not improving. This means either your Measures aren’t actually measuring what matters, or the connection between your Strategies and your Goals is weaker than you thought.

    The fix: Audit the connection between each Measure and the Goal it supposedly predicts. Are they genuinely linked? If a Measure has been green for three months and the related Goal hasn’t moved, that Measure isn’t a leading indicator — it’s a comfort metric. Replace it.

    4. You Keep Adding Priorities Without Removing Anything

    Every time a new idea or external pressure arrives, it gets added to the strategy. Nothing ever gets removed. The result is a list of twelve “priorities” and a team that quietly does whatever it was already doing.

    The fix: Apply a simple rule: for every new initiative added to the strategy, one existing initiative must be explicitly paused or removed. This forces real prioritisation rather than the illusion of it.

    5. Your Strategies Haven’t Changed, Even Though the Market Has

    A strategy that made sense in January may not make sense in October. If the external environment has shifted — new competition, changing customer behaviour, a technology disruption — and your Strategies look exactly the same as they did at the start of the year, either you’ve genuinely assessed the situation and decided to stay the course, or you haven’t been paying attention.

    The fix: At each quarterly review, spend ten minutes explicitly asking: “What has changed in our environment since we set this strategy? Does our approach still make sense?” This isn’t about rewriting the strategy every quarter — it’s about confirming that the strategy remains valid.

    6. The OGSM Hasn’t Been Updated Since It Was Created

    If your OGSM document looks exactly like it did on the day you built it — same numbers, same RAG status, no updates — it’s become a wall decoration rather than a working tool.

    A living OGSM changes at every review. Status gets updated. Actions get added. Occasionally a Strategy changes. If none of that is happening, the document isn’t being used.

    The fix: Assign a single owner for the OGSM document. That person is responsible for updating it after every review meeting and circulating the updated version within 48 hours.

    7. Your Team Doesn’t Know How Their Work Connects to the Strategy

    If individual contributors or team leaders can’t explain how their work connects to the overall Objective and Goals, the strategy isn’t guiding day-to-day priorities. It’s operating in parallel to the real work.

    The fix: This is a cascade problem. Each team should have a clear line of sight from their tasks to the company’s Goals. If that connection doesn’t exist, either build it through a cascade OGSM or simplify the strategy until the connection becomes obvious.

    8. You’re Consistently Hitting Targets That Require No Change

    If every Goal comes in at exactly 100% every quarter with no significant course corrections, one of two things is true: either your execution is genuinely exceptional, or your targets aren’t stretching enough to drive growth.

    Comfortable targets feel good. They also tend to correlate with stagnant results.

    The fix: Revisit your Goal-setting methodology. A well-set Goal should require your team to do things differently, not just more of the same. If you’ve hit your revenue Goal every year for five years without fundamentally changing your approach, it’s probably time to raise the bar.

    9. Ownership of Goals and Strategies Is Unclear

    In a review meeting, you discuss a red Goal and nobody in the room feels specifically responsible for fixing it. Everyone is vaguely accountable. Nobody is actually accountable.

    The fix: Every Goal and every Strategy on your OGSM should have a single named owner — not a team, not a department, a person. That person presents the status at every review and proposes actions when it’s off track. Diffuse ownership is how strategies die quietly.

    10. You’re Measuring Outputs Instead of Outcomes

    “We published fifteen articles this quarter.” “We ran twelve sales calls.” “We delivered the training programme.” These are outputs — things you did. Outcomes are what changed as a result: traffic increased, pipeline grew, team capability improved.

    A strategy tracked only by outputs is a strategy that can look busy while going nowhere.

    The fix: For every Measure on your OGSM, ask: “Does this tell us about what we did, or about what changed?” Wherever possible, replace output Measures with outcome Measures. “Articles published” becomes “organic sessions generated.” “Sales calls made” becomes “qualified meetings booked.”

    What to Do If Several Signs Are Present

    One warning sign is a flag. Three or more is a signal that your strategy process needs a reset, not just a tune-up.

    A reset doesn’t mean scrapping the strategy. It usually means running a one-day strategy health check — bringing the leadership team together to honestly assess the OGSM against each of these warning signs, and agreeing on three specific changes to make within the next 30 days.

    It also means revisiting your review cadence and format. If the process isn’t working, the problem is usually the structure of the meeting, not the people in it. And it means reassigning ownership explicitly — if accountability has drifted, it needs to be re-established directly, not hinted at.

    The goal isn’t a perfect strategy. It’s a strategy that’s genuinely guiding decisions, being reviewed, and adapting to what you learn.

    A Tool That Makes Off-Track Visible

    One reason strategies drift unnoticed is that the OGSM isn’t in a format that makes status easy to see at a glance. When your Goals and Measures are in a clearly structured, RAG-coded template, it’s much harder to ignore what’s red.

    The OGSM Template for PowerPoint and OGSM Template for Excel are designed to make status visible — so the conversation at your next review starts with the right question: “Why is this red, and what are we going to do about it?”

  • How to Cascade Your OGSM Across Your Organisation

    How to Cascade Your OGSM Across Your Organisation

    A strategy that only lives at the top of the organisation isn’t really a strategy — it’s a set of senior leadership intentions that nobody else acts on.

    Cascading your OGSM means translating the company-level Objective, Goals, Strategies, and Measures into department-level OGSMs that support the parent plan. Each department keeps the same Objective, then builds its own Goals, Strategies, and Measures that contribute directly to the company’s. Done well, every team member can trace their work back to the organisation’s direction.

    Here’s how to cascade without losing alignment — or your team’s sanity.

    Why Cascading Matters

    Most strategy failures aren’t failures of planning. They’re failures of translation. The executive team agrees on an excellent strategy, it gets presented, and then people go back to their desks and continue doing more or less what they were already doing.

    The OGSM cascade solves this by creating a direct line of sight between the company’s Objective and every team’s day-to-day work. When someone in operations can look at their team’s OGSM and see exactly how it connects to the company-level Goals, strategy stops being something that happens in boardrooms and starts being something that shapes how people prioritise their week.

    The Structure of a Cascade

    Think of it as a tree:

    Level 1 — Company OGSM: The overall Objective, Goals, Strategies, and Measures for the organisation.

    Level 2 — Division or Function OGSMs: HR, Finance, Marketing, Sales, Operations each build their own OGSM. Same Objective. Different Goals and Strategies that reflect what their function contributes.

    Level 3 — Team or Project OGSMs (optional): In larger organisations, individual teams or major projects may have their own sub-OGSMs cascaded from the division level.

    The cascade doesn’t require all three levels. Many organisations work well with just two. What matters is that every level’s Goals visibly contribute to the level above it.

    How to Build the Cascade

    Step 1: Lock the Company OGSM First

    Don’t start building department OGSMs until the company-level plan is finalised. This sounds obvious, but cascading before the top-level plan is locked leads to department Goals that point in slightly different directions.

    The company OGSM is the fixed point. Everything below it aligns to it — not the other way around.

    Step 2: Identify Each Department’s Contribution

    For each department, ask: which company Goals does this function directly influence?

    Marketing influences awareness, traffic, and pipeline Goals. Sales influences revenue and customer acquisition Goals. Operations may influence quality, retention, and cost Goals. HR influences capability and culture Goals that underpin almost everything else.

    A department doesn’t need to contribute to every company Goal — just the ones where it genuinely has influence. A cascaded OGSM with three relevant Goals is better than one with six watered-down contributions.

    Step 3: Write the Department Goals

    Department Goals should be outcomes that directly feed the company-level Goals above them.

    If the company Goal is “Grow annual recurring revenue from €5M to €8M by December 2026,” the Sales department Goal might be “Close €2.4M in new ARR from inbound leads by December 2026.” The Marketing department Goal might be “Generate 1,200 qualified leads for the sales team by year-end.”

    Both contribute to the same company Goal. Neither duplicates the other.

    Step 4: Define Department Strategies

    Department Strategies are the specific choices that department will make to hit their Goals. These are usually more operational and specific than the company-level Strategies.

    Company Strategy: “Invest in content marketing to drive inbound demand.”

    Marketing’s Strategy (cascaded): “Publish two SEO-targeted articles per week; run monthly LinkedIn campaigns to drive article traffic; build a lead magnet to convert organic visitors.”

    Step 5: Set Department Measures

    Department Measures track progress on the department’s Strategies — and should be reviewed at the same cadence as company Measures (usually monthly).

    The head of the department owns the department OGSM review. The company-level review draws from these department inputs.

    Making the Cascade Visible

    One of the most powerful things you can do with a cascade is make the connections visible — literally. In your OGSM template, cross-reference department Goals back to the company Goal they support.

    For example, in the Marketing OGSM, next to each Goal, note the company Goal it feeds: “Feeds: Company Goal 2 — Revenue €8M.” This keeps the alignment explicit rather than assumed, and it gives every review a natural “so what” test: if we hit this department Goal, which company Goal moves?

    Common Cascade Mistakes

    Building department OGSMs in silos. If departments build their own OGSMs without referencing the company-level plan, you get local optimisation rather than aligned execution. Heads of department should build their plans in a facilitated session, ideally with the company OGSM on the wall.

    Allowing too much divergence. Some flexibility in department-level Goals is fine. But if a department’s Goals don’t clearly contribute to any company Goal, they’re not cascading — they’re operating a separate strategy.

    Treating the cascade as a one-time exercise. The cascade is a living system. When the company OGSM changes mid-year because of market conditions, the department OGSMs need to update too. Build in a review trigger: whenever the company-level plan changes significantly, review department plans within the following month.

    Cascading too deep too soon. For most organisations, two levels is enough. A third level of team-level OGSMs makes sense only when teams are large and distinct enough to genuinely need their own planning. Don’t create complexity for its own sake.

    Cascade in a Small Business

    Cascading isn’t only for large organisations. Even a three-person business benefits from making the connection explicit between the business-level strategy and each person’s role.

    If your business OGSM has a Goal of growing revenue 40% this year, a simple cascade might mean:

    • Person A’s individual plan focuses on sales and client relationships.
    • Person B’s plan focuses on delivery quality and retention.
    • Person C’s plan focuses on operations and cost efficiency.

    Each person knows exactly how their work contributes to the shared Goal, and the monthly review becomes a two-level check: are we hitting our individual Measures, and is that moving the business Goal?

    The Right Format for a Cascade

    Cascading works best when all levels use the same template format. If the company OGSM is in PowerPoint, department OGSMs should be in the same template. If it’s in Excel, same. Consistency of format makes it easy to review across levels and keeps the visual alignment clear.

    The OGSM Template for PowerPoint and OGSM Template for Excel are built for exactly this — you can use the same template at company and department level, adjust the Goals and Measures for each, and keep the whole cascade on the same page layout. That consistency makes cascade reviews much faster and alignment much more visible.

  • OGSM Dashboard Examples: How to Track Your Strategy Week by Week

    OGSM Dashboard Examples: How to Track Your Strategy Week by Week

    The best OGSM dashboard is a simple visual that shows you — at a glance — whether your Measures are green, amber, or red, who owns each one, and when it was last updated. You don’t need expensive software. A Google Sheet, a PowerPoint slide, or even a whiteboard wall can do the job. The goal is to make progress (or the lack of it) impossible to ignore.

    Why Most OGSM Implementations Stall at the Tracking Stage

    You built the OGSM. You ran the workshop, aligned the leadership team, printed it on a nice slide. And then… nothing. Six weeks later, nobody’s looking at it.

    This is the most common failure point in OGSM execution — not the strategy itself, but the absence of a tracking rhythm. Without a dashboard that makes it painfully obvious whether each Measure is on track, the OGSM becomes a once-a-year exercise rather than a live management tool. I’ve seen this in organisations of every size. The strategy is sound. The execution tools are non-existent.

    The problem isn’t that leaders don’t care. It’s that nobody built a simple visual to anchor the weekly conversation. A dashboard removes the friction of having to ask “where are we?” It puts the answer in the room before the question is asked.

    The fix isn’t a fancier tool. It’s a visible, consistently-updated display of your Measures that forces the conversation every single week.

    What a Good OGSM Dashboard Actually Shows

    Before you look at examples, understand what your dashboard needs to communicate. A useful OGSM tracking dashboard surfaces four data points for each Measure:

    • RAG status — Red, Amber, or Green. No percentages. No nuance. Just a colour that tells you whether this Measure needs attention this week.
    • Trend — Is it getting better or worse compared to last week? An up arrow, down arrow, or flat line is enough.
    • Owner — One name. Not a team, not a department. One human who is accountable for moving it.
    • Last reviewed — The date this Measure was last discussed in a meeting. Stale dates are a red flag that your review rhythm is slipping.

    That’s it. Four data points per Measure. If your dashboard shows more than that, you’re adding complexity that slows down the review conversation and gives people reasons to debate methodology instead of fixing problems.

    For a deeper look at how to design your Measures in the first place, read how to write OGSM measures that actually get tracked.

    3 OGSM Dashboard Examples

    Example 1: The RAG Spreadsheet (Google Sheets or Excel)

    This is the default for most teams and the right starting point.

    Layout: One row per Measure. Columns: Measure name | Target | Current value | RAG status | Trend | Owner | Last reviewed | Notes.

    How it looks: Use conditional formatting to colour the RAG status cell automatically — green if you’re at or above 90% of target, amber if you’re between 70–89%, red if you’re below 70%. The colour-coding does the work. You scan the column and instantly know where to focus. No interpretation required.

    Who it’s for: Any team that already lives in Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. Zero extra cost, zero setup friction. Export it as a PDF and paste it into your weekly agenda so the data is in front of everyone before the meeting starts.

    Illustrator note: A clean table with six rows (one per Measure), a vivid RAG colour in column 4, and simple up/flat/down trend arrows in column 5. Use a muted grey background for the header row. Keep the font clean and the layout uncluttered.

    Example 2: The One-Page Slide Dashboard (PowerPoint or Google Slides)

    When you’re presenting to a leadership team or board, a single slide works better than a spreadsheet.

    Layout: Four quadrants — one per Strategy. Inside each quadrant, list the 2–3 Measures for that Strategy with their RAG dot and owner initials. At the top of the slide: the Objective in bold, and a single RAG status for the overall OGSM. One slide, total picture.

    How it looks: Think of a 2×2 grid with a header bar. Each cell is a Strategy, labelled clearly. The Measures inside are concise — five to seven words max. A large coloured dot (●) sits to the left of each Measure name.

    Who it’s for: Executive teams who meet weekly or fortnightly and need a single artefact to anchor the conversation. Print it double-sided — OGSM on the front, action log on the back. It’s also the right format for a board update where you have five minutes to communicate strategic health.

    Illustrator note: A clean slide with a bold title bar (“OGSM Dashboard — Week 19”), four coloured quadrant boxes in two columns, and RAG dots beside each Measure name. Minimalist, data-forward. White background, dark text.

    Example 3: The Wall Chart (For In-Person Teams)

    If your team shares a physical office, nothing beats a wall chart you can see from across the room.

    Layout: Print your OGSM on A0 paper (or use a large whiteboard). Use sticky dots — green, amber, red — to mark each Measure’s current status. Add a “last reviewed” date label under each dot using a marker.

    How it looks: A large printed OGSM framework with physical coloured dots stuck on each Measure. The dots are changed during the weekly stand-up. When the whole left column is green, there’s a visual satisfaction that no digital tool replicates. When something goes red, the whole team sees it instantly — no email needed, no login required.

    Who it’s for: Operations teams, manufacturing floors, agile product teams, any group that physically gathers. The wall chart creates social accountability — everyone walking past can see the state of play. It’s also useful for teams that find screen-based meetings draining.

    Illustrator note: A large printed OGSM on an office wall, with circular sticky dots next to each Measure. One person (illustrated from behind) is updating a dot — swapping a red dot for an amber one. Bright, energetic office setting.

    How to Run the Weekly Dashboard Review (5 Steps)

    Having the dashboard means nothing if you don’t use it. Here’s the five-step process I recommend for teams running a weekly strategy review:

    Update before the meeting. Each Measure owner updates their RAG status the morning of the review. No surprises, no data gathering during the call. If data isn’t ready, the status defaults to amber.

    Start with the reds. Open every review on the red Measures only. Greens don’t need airtime. Cap each red discussion at five minutes.

    Identify the single next action. For each red or amber, agree on one action, one owner, one deadline. Write it in the notes column immediately.

    Take five minutes on trend. Even if something is green today, a downward trend is a warning sign. Flag it before it becomes a red.

    Update the “last reviewed” date. This sounds trivial. It isn’t. A date that hasn’t moved in two weeks tells you the review rhythm is breaking down before anyone has to say it out loud.

    The whole review should take 30 minutes or less. If it’s taking longer, you have too many Measures or too many people in the room.

    Common Dashboard Mistakes

    • Tracking activities instead of outcomes. “Delivered 12 training sessions” is not a Measure — it’s a task. Your dashboard should show what changed as a result of those sessions: retention rate, engagement score, time-to-competency.
    • Updating the dashboard retroactively. If owners are backfilling data to make things look green, your RAG status is fiction. The discipline of real-time updates is where most teams fall down. Build it into the meeting ritual, not the prep work.
    • Too many Measures on one dashboard. An OGSM should have 6–10 Measures total across all Strategies. If your dashboard has 25 rows, you’ve confused activity tracking with strategy tracking. Go back to your OGSM framework and cut ruthlessly.

    Get the OGSM Template

    If you’re building your first tracking dashboard, start with a template rather than from scratch. The free OGSM template includes a pre-built RAG spreadsheet with conditional formatting already set up — add your Measures and you’re ready for your first weekly review.

    Rock on.

  • How to Use OGSM for a 90-Day Sprint Plan

    How to Use OGSM for a 90-Day Sprint Plan

    Annual strategies are great on paper. The problem is that most people don’t look at them again until it’s too late to change anything.

    To use OGSM for a 90-day sprint plan, take your annual Objective and Goals and break them into a focused sub-OGSM for the quarter: keep the Objective, select the one or two Goals most critical this quarter, define the Strategies you’ll run in this period only, and set Measures with 90-day targets. Review progress every two weeks.

    The 90-day OGSM sits inside your annual strategy, not instead of it. Here’s how to build one that actually works.

    Why 90 Days Is the Right Unit for Execution

    A year is long enough to lose focus, change direction, and still feel like you have time. A week is too short to see any meaningful movement on strategic priorities. Ninety days is the sweet spot — long enough to make real progress, short enough to keep urgency high.

    The 90-day sprint model works just as well with OGSM — and arguably better, because OGSM naturally scales from annual to quarterly without requiring a different framework.

    The Difference Between an Annual OGSM and a 90-Day OGSM

    Your annual OGSM sets the year’s direction. Your 90-day OGSM answers: what do we actually work on in the next three months to move toward that direction?

    Annual OGSM — 3–5 Goals, multiple Strategies, Measures tracked monthly or quarterly.

    90-Day OGSM — 1–2 Goals (the ones where you need the most progress this quarter), 2–3 Strategies (the specific campaigns or initiatives running right now), Measures tracked weekly or bi-weekly.

    You’re not rebuilding your strategy every 90 days. You’re focusing it.

    How to Build Your 90-Day OGSM

    Step 1: Start With Your Annual Objective

    Your 90-day Objective is the same as your annual Objective. Don’t rewrite it. The purpose of the sprint is to make progress toward the annual direction — you don’t need a new destination every quarter.

    If your annual Objective is “Become the go-to provider of OGSM training for European mid-market businesses,” that’s also your 90-day Objective. The sprint just defines what “progress” means for this quarter.

    Step 2: Select Your 90-Day Focus Goals

    Look at your annual Goals and ask: which one or two of these are most important to make progress on right now?

    In Q1, you might focus on building awareness and pipeline. In Q3, you might focus on revenue conversion and retention. Not all Goals are equally urgent in all quarters.

    Choose a maximum of two Goals for the sprint. For each, set a 90-day sub-target — a milestone rather than the full-year figure.

    For example, if your annual Goal is “Grow organic website traffic from 4,000 to 10,000 monthly sessions by December,” your Q2 sub-target might be “Reach 6,500 monthly sessions by 30 June.”

    Step 3: Define Your Strategies for This Quarter

    Your 90-day Strategies are the specific initiatives you’ll run during this sprint. Be more specific here than in your annual OGSM.

    Annual Strategy: “Build thought-leadership content to drive inbound traffic.”

    90-Day Strategy: “Publish eight SEO-optimised blog articles targeting OGSM search terms; promote each via LinkedIn and email list.”

    The more specific your 90-day Strategies, the easier it is to assign work and track progress.

    Step 4: Set Weekly or Bi-Weekly Measures

    Your 90-day Measures should update every one to two weeks — not monthly. At 90 days, you don’t have time for monthly check-ins to reveal you’re off-track.

    For a content-focused sprint, your Measures might be:

    • Articles published per week: target 2
    • LinkedIn post reach per article: target 800 impressions
    • Email open rate for content newsletter: target 35%
    • Organic sessions: tracking weekly against the 6,500 target

    These aren’t big strategic questions — they’re operational metrics that tell you whether the engine is running. If one drops, you address it quickly rather than discovering the problem at month three.

    Step 5: Review Every Two Weeks

    Block a 30–45 minute review every two weeks for the duration of the sprint. Use the same structure as a full strategy review: Measures first, Goals second, actions third.

    At the end of the 90 days, run a proper sprint retrospective: what worked, what didn’t, and what should inform next quarter’s sprint plan.

    A 90-Day OGSM Example

    Objective: Become the go-to provider of OGSM templates and training for European business strategists.

    90-Day Focus Goals (Q2):

    • Grow organic monthly website traffic to 6,500 sessions by 30 June (from 4,000).
    • Generate €8,000 in template sales by 30 June (from €4,500 in Q1).

    90-Day Strategies:

    • Publish eight SEO-targeted articles focused on OGSM search terms.
    • Run a LinkedIn content series (three posts per week) highlighting OGSM use cases.
    • Launch a promotional campaign to the email list for the Excel template.

    Measures (bi-weekly):

    • Articles published: target 1 per week
    • LinkedIn engagement rate: target 4%+
    • Email click-through rate: target 3%+
    • Weekly organic sessions: tracking toward 6,500 by end of June
    • Weekly shop revenue: tracking toward €8,000 by end of June

    When to Use a 90-Day OGSM

    A 90-day sprint plan works best when:

    You need to rebuild momentum. If a strategy has been dormant or underdelivering, a focused 90-day sprint with a clear end date is better than a vague renewal of commitment to the annual plan.

    You’re in a period of rapid change. If market conditions are shifting fast, a 90-day planning horizon keeps you responsive without abandoning strategic direction.

    Your team needs focus. Annual strategies can feel overwhelming. A 90-day sprint with two goals and three strategies gives people something concrete to work toward.

    You’re testing a new Strategy. If you want to know whether a new approach works before committing to it for the year, run it as a 90-day experiment with clear Measures.

    What to Avoid

    Treating every quarter as a blank slate. Your annual OGSM is the constant. Sprint plans should build on each other, not restart the strategy from scratch every 90 days.

    Adding too many Goals. If you’re trying to make significant progress on four or five Goals in 90 days, you’ll make marginal progress on all of them. Pick two, go deep.

    Setting Measures that update monthly. Monthly Measures in a 90-day sprint leave you with only three data points. Weekly or bi-weekly is the right cadence.

    The Template Makes It Simple

    The cleanest way to run a 90-day OGSM sprint is with a template that lets you work at both levels — annual and quarterly — without juggling two separate documents. The OGSM Template for PowerPoint and OGSM Template for Excel are structured so you can use the same layout for your annual plan and your quarterly sprint, keeping your strategic logic consistent while your operational focus sharpens every 90 days.

  • How to Run an OGSM Strategy Review Meeting That Actually Moves the Needle

    How to Run an OGSM Strategy Review Meeting That Actually Moves the Needle

    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.

  • How Many Initiatives Should My Strategy Have?

    How Many Initiatives Should My Strategy Have?

    When using the OGSM approach to strategy, I often come across the question of how many initiatives a strategy should have. In the following, I summarize what works best in my experience.

    When developing the implementation plan for your strategy, define about 2-3 initiatives per strategy.  This gives sufficient focus without relying too heavily on a single action without alternative.

    There are a few things to look out for however when selecting the initiatives to implement your strategy. I’ll provide an approach to selecting and testing your initiatives below to ensure that the 2-3 initiatives you pick are the right ones.   

    Defining the initiatives to implement your strategy

    A good strategic plan not only describes clearly what you are aiming to achieve. It also describes how you are going to achieve it. The OGSM methodology allows you to describe your strategic plan on one page detailing out your objective, your goals, your strategies and your measures. The objective and the goals together define what you intend to achieve. The strategies and measures together define how you are going to achieve it. 

    For the purpose of this article, I will not dive deeper into OGSM. But you can read our introduction to OGSM here.

    Once you have defined your objective, your goals, and your strategies, you begin thinking about your implementation plan – your measures. I like to break down my measures into two parts: metrics and initiatives. 

    The metrics are the quantifiable targets and performance indicators that define success for each strategy. The initiatives are the actions and projects that will drive implementation of the strategy and lead you to success. 

    The reason I like to separate the two is clarity. When I first started using the OGSM approach about a decade ago, I noticed how my team and I often used “measures” and “metrics” interchangeably to describe the “M” in OGSM. We were wondering what the difference was and whether it made a difference at all. It did! 

    We understood measures quite literally to be things that we’d “measure”. Hence the metrics. So we defined a number of metrics for each strategy and left it at that. 

    However, during implementation during the year, we noticed that we were not quite sure whether we were on track to achieving the metrics by year end. We took a run rate (i.e. a lucky guess really as it didn’t account for seasonality) and figured that we must be about on track. Anyway, in the end things always work out, right? 

    Wrong. We had no clue. We were missing a clear articulation of what we needed to do to turn the strategy into reality and check whether we were on track or not. We needed a clear translation of the strategies into measures which included both metrics and an action plan. The metrics would allow us to track progress and keep us on track and the action plan would clearly articulate what had to be done by whom and by when to achieve the metrics. 

    From then on out, we always defined measures as both metrics and initiatives. 

    So then how many initiatives are right? 

    In the first couple of years that we split metrics and initiatives in our annual operating plan, our OGSM was basically a large action plan. We probably had about 5-8 actions per strategy – sometimes more than 10. All actions started in January, ran in parallel and ended in December. So across the entire OGSM with 1 objective, 6 goals, 4 strategies and about 5-8 measures per strategy, we ended up with close to 30 actions! This was not only a massive effort to implement, it was a massive effort to keep track of! We didn’t know better and proceeded. 

    It quickly became clear however that this was not going to be effective. Our OGSM reviews took 8 hours every month. We were committed to action and accountability and wanted to go through each initiative and confirm we were on track. When we weren’t, we wanted to know why and what we had to do to get back on track. With close to 40 initiatives one year, this took forever. 

    We had noticed that many of the initiatives we tracked were actions we had to do anyway during daily operations. We defined actions such as “visit 10 customers per quarter”. The action was specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic and time-bound. It was however also exactly what was expected of our customer service team anyway during a typical sales process.

    We had also noticed that we described different actions under different strategies that actually contributed to the same projects. For example, one strategy had to do with driving growth, another strategy had to do with innovating. We noticed that we duplicated several initiatives that were counted under growth and under innovation. We were looking at the same topics over and over again just from different perspectives. That was redundant and a waste of time. So the following year we changed our approach. 

    In order to streamline our annual operating plan, we decided to define no more than 2-3 initiatives per strategy. Two or three initiatives per strategy meant we had max 12 initiatives overall, which was plenty for my team to handle. And we immediately noticed a change in how we implemented. 

    • We were much more focused. Fewer initiatives allowed us to allocate more resources for each initiative. It became easier to keep track of our OGSM. And it was easier to communicate and remind each other what was important.  
    • We were much more effective. We noticed that greater focus led to greater achievement of milestones and progress towards our goals and objectives. We had to put things on hold less often or pivot to change our approach.
    • We were much more efficient. We noticed that we spent much less time reporting and discussing progress updates of the action items. Monthly reviews were much more efficient and took less time. 
    • We were much more successful. When we conducted our year-end review and looked at our achievements, a couple of colleagues were quick to point out that they felt our success was directly linked to our much more focused execution. This felt really good!

    Since then, I always guide my teams to define no more than 2-3 initiatives when designing the measures for the OGSM. This avoids building a laundry list of actions. Instead, fewer initiatives keep the team on track, allow greater concentration of resources for each initiative, and vastly increase the chances of success. 

    How do I select my initiatives? 

    OK, got it. So I am only supposed to choose 2-3 initiatives for each strategy. But how do I choose those initiatives? How do I know which ones are the right ones? Excellent, those are the right questions. Unfortunately there is no hard and fast rule. But this is what has worked well for me. 

    During the strategic planning process, I conduct a SWOT exercise for my business. In the team, we reflect on our core strengths and our biggest weaknesses, we look at the most promising opportunities and the largest threats. We do this by conducting an internal assessment but we also use our customer satisfaction feedback to get an external perspective. This gives us valuable insights into what we need to do differently. The SWOT informs our strategies and then the detailed initiatives with which we implement our strategies. 

    The SWOT analysis is probably my primary source for initiatives. In addition, we may conduct a brainstorming exercise with a cross-functional team to come up with additional ideas. All ideas are then ranked based on cost vs. benefit or impact vs. complexity. We choose those initiatives with the largest impact towards our metrics and goals with the smallest strain on resources. 

    After you have chosen your initiatives, write the initiatives in the ‘what-by-how’ format. This means structuring the sentence that describes the action in two parts: the ‘what’-part and the ‘how’-part. The ‘what’-part describes what needs to get done. The ‘how’-part describes how it will get done. Here are a couple of simple examples: 

    • Win new customers by launching a targeted social media marketing campaign
    • Save costs by combining trips wherever possible 

    These are just examples to illustrate the ‘what-by-how’ method. I first learned about the ‘what-by-how’-format from the practical OGSM guide “The 1 Page Business Strategy” by Van Eck & Leenhouts. It’s a great way to write your initiatives as clearly and measurable as possible. Make them unambiguous. Leave nothing to chance.

    Finally, make sure that each initiative has a caretaker and a clearly defined timeline and milestones. Ask the caretakers whether they understand what is expected of them. Ask them to describe their initiative in their own words. Clarify when and how you expect them to report on progress and what successful delivery looks like. Check whether they have the resources, knowledge and skills to be successful. Remember, nothing gets done unless accountability is clear and caretakers buy in. 

    How do I test my initiatives? 

    After you have selected the initiatives for your strategic plan, conduct a test to check whether the initiatives are indeed the right ones. Do four checks: 

    • Check for alignment 
    • Check for sufficiency 
    • Check for clarity
    • Check for resource sufficiency

    Check for alignment to ensure that each chosen initiative directly supports implementing the strategy and achieving the desired goals and objectives for your strategy. This tests whether the initiative is actually effective in achieving the targeted goals in part or in full.

    Check for sufficiency means reviewing all initiatives together and checking whether they fully implement all aspects of the strategy. This tests whether the chosen 2-3 initiatives fully address the purpose of the strategy and whether all measures and metrics can be accomplished. If aspects of the strategy are not yet sufficiently addressed, choose another initiative or swap for one with greater impact. 

    Check for clarity means confirming that the initiative is fully understood by the organization. Especially the people responsible for implementation must know exactly what is expected of them. Make sure that for each initiative there is a caretaker, clear actions, timelines and milestones defined. Ask team members to repeat in their own words what the initiative aims to achieve to check understanding and clarity. Rephrase the initiative in the strategic plan if needed to be absolutely clear. 

    Check for resource sufficiency means confirming that you or the team have the resources needed to successfully complete the action or initiative. Resources may mean money (e.g. cash, capital etc), time (e.g. number of employees / FTEs), knowledge (e.g. access to data or information), or skills (e.g. expertise, experience). Confirm that you already have access to the needed resources or can build them in time. Be realistic about this! This is not the time to be overly optimistic or try to be a hero.

    Pro-tip: conduct the 4 checks with your team or if you are a sole business owner with a mentor or board member. It has always paid off for me to get a second pair of eyes on my implementation plan. Discussing the implementation plan in the team allows you to collect feedback, questions and concerns and further create clarity and commitment. 

    What if I have more than 2-3 initiatives? 

    When you choose your initiatives and you conduct your test and you realize that you need four or even five initiatives to implement the strategy, then go with four or five. 

    Each business is different and each strategy is unique. If you need five initiatives to successfully implement your strategy and achieve your goals and objectives – and you have the resources to do it – then decide on five. The purpose is to be successful and deliver results. No one will celebrate you for having followed the OGSM rules and having limited yourself to 2-3 initiatives if you fail to implement your strategy (spoiler alert: there are no rules). 

    The reason why I go with 2-3 is to force choices and to make trade-offs. More often than not, we tend to throw more resources at a problem than necessary. I call this ‘tossing spaghetti against the wall’ to see which ones stick. As so often in business, try to do more with less. If you can accomplish your strategy with only 3 initiatives, then you do not need number 4. If you need more than 3 to be successful, that’s perfectly ok too.

    Conclusion

    When developing the implementation plan for your strategy, choose 2-3 initiatives per strategy. This allows sufficient focus without putting all your eggs in one basket. 

    Conducting a SWOT analysis or brainstorming are effective ways to come up with initiatives. Prioritize initiatives by analyzing cost vs. benefit or impact vs. complexity. 

    For each initiative ensure you define a caretaker, timeline, and expected deliverables. 

    Conduct four tests on your initiatives to confirm they are the right ones: check for alignment, sufficiency, clarity, and resource sufficiency. 

    I hope you find this article useful and wish you success with implementing your strategy. If you have any questions or comments, why not leave a reply below. Would love to hear from you! 

    References

    Van Eck, Marc & Leenhouts, Ellen (2014). The 1 Page Business Strategy – Streamline Your Business Plan In 4 Simple Steps. Pearson Benelux.

  • How to Set Effective Measures to Implement Your Strategy

    How to Set Effective Measures to Implement Your Strategy

    When using the OGSM methodology or developing any strategic plan, it is important to define strong measures that drive strategy implementation. This is how you turn your strategy into results.

    Measures are the M in OGSM and include key metrics and an action plan that track strategy execution and define who does what by when.

    This is where the rubber hits the road. After deciding your objective and goals and choosing your strategies, the measures move the business towards its objective and tell you whether the strategy is working in practice.

    Divide measures into key metrics and action plan

    When defining the measures for strategy execution, I have found it very helpful to think of them in terms of key metrics on the one hand and key initiatives on the other hand. Key metrics measure progress and quantify achievement. Key initiatives are the actions that drive you forward. Both are critical to success. 

    First, define your key metrics. For each of your strategies, choose 2-3 key metrics that define success for the strategy. Similar to how goals are the translation of the objective into facts & figures, the metrics translate the strategies into numbers. 

    When you wrote your strategies you applied the “what-by-how” format to indicate what needs to be done and how it will be achieved. Now define 1-2 key metrics each for the “what”-part and for the “how”-part. This ensures not only that you know when you have achieved your strategy but also if you are making progress in the right direction while taking action. 

    Similar to the goals defined earlier, use the SMART approach also for choosing your key metrics. The metrics should be specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic, and time-bound. 

    The key metrics should be linked with your goals. When you have defined your key metrics, check back whether that is the case. Delivering all the key metrics should achieve all the goals. Not more, not less.  

    Next, craft your action plan by defining key initiatives. The action plan should be a concise list of key initiatives that turns the strategies into reality.

    Write your initiatives in the “what-by-how” format which you also used when writing the strategies. This again ensures that for each action it is clear what you aim to do and how you are going to do it. For example, “identify new customers by asking existing customers for references.” 

    For each strategy, choose a maximum of 2-3 key initiatives. The point here is focus. These should be the top 2-3 initiatives that really drive the change and deliver the key metrics for the strategy. Beware of including activities that are anyway part of your day-to-day routine. 

    After you have defined your initiatives, check for clarity, feasibility, sufficiency, and alignment. The initiatives must be understandable and unambiguous. The initiatives must be realistic and the resources available or accessible. All initiatives should be sufficient to achieve the intended results of the strategy. And all chosen initiatives must be congruent with each other and not be in conflict. 

    To complete the action plan, define one concrete caretaker for each initiative and set an ambitious but realistic timeline. This is important and unfortunately often forgotten in strategic planning. By setting caretaker and timeline, you assign clear accountability to make sure the job gets done. 

    The caretaker may not be the only person working on this initiative, but this person is the one accountable that the initiative is completed. That’s why it’s important to only define one caretaker so there is no confusion about who is in the lead. It is the caretaker’s responsibility then to assemble the team and the resources needed to execute the action. 

    Finally, capture the measures in the OGSM to complete the one-page business plan. Now you are ready to drive implementation and turn your strategy into results. 

    Why separate key metrics and action plan?

    In their excellent and practical book “The 1 Page Business Strategy”, van Eck & Leenhouts split measures into a dashboard and an action plan. This is a great way to ensure that each strategy is executed by following the concrete action plan and monitoring the dashboard for progress with implementing the strategy.

    I have tried this in practice now multiple times and find the separation extremely helpful. Prior to practicing this approach, I had seen measures interpreted in different ways. Some define the M in OGSM simply as “metrics”. Others have a long list of actions. Neither one individually convinced me to purposefully execute strategies and keep up with the pace of change. You need both. 

    The key metrics on the one hand define in quantitative facts and figures what each of the chosen strategies needs to deliver. As we define key metrics for both the “what”-part and the “how”-part of a strategy, we have ongoing feedback whether we are on the right track. 

    The action plan defines who does what by when to drive implementation. This breaks each strategy down into bite-size action items that can be executed in day-to-day operations. As each action has one caretaker and a due date, clear accountability is assigned. After defining a strategy you don’t want to come back months later wondering how to implement and who should be in charge. 

    By having clearly defined metrics and a solid action plan, you can directly move the business towards executing the strategy. 

    What metrics should I choose? 

    The short answer is “measure what matters” and use as much as possible key metrics that you are already familiar with. 

    The metrics you choose should be directly linked with the purpose and the scope of the strategies and link with the achievement of the goals defined earlier. 

    These can of course be financial metrics such as sales value, units sold, profit margin etc. They are very commonly also operational metrics such as number of products launched, cycle time, yield rate, percentage of satisfied customers, or an employee engagement score. The metrics you choose highly depend on the nature of the strategy.

    So it is less important which exact metric you choose and there is no one-size-fits-all approach. It is more important that you choose a metric that measures what you are looking to achieve. It must give you clear quantifiable feedback whether you are on the right track to achieving your overall goals. 

    When defining a key metric for a strategy, I have found it useful to first look at the many metrics the business already measures to see if one does the job, before creating a new metric that the team is unfamiliar with. You probably already have many key performance indicators. I would try to avoid burdening the business with new metrics unless of course the change of course requires you to do so. 

    If you are struggling to find a suitable metric, consider simply defining “Yes/No” to indicate whether an action has been done at a given time. I’m not recommending this as a best practice. But I have been in situations where there seemed to be no single metric to really define what we wanted to measure. Instead of getting stuck, we decided to define “Yes/No” as a clear binary measure whether the activity is done and move on. 

    Avoid creating a laundry list of actions

    Have you experienced this before? You create an action plan or a to-do-list to achieve an objective and before you know it you have written down 8 or 10 detailed actions. All of a sudden your action plan looks like a laundry list. 

    When implementing strategy, the problem with a laundry list of actions is that you lose focus. You end up spending more time tracking, updating and discussing action plans than actually taking action and driving execution towards your objectives and goals. You don’t want reporting. You want progress. 

    So when defining your action plan, be selective and limit yourself to 2-3 key initiatives per strategy. These should be the must-do actions directly linked to driving execution and delivering the key metrics for the strategy. 

    Beware of the common reflex to include in the action plan day-to-day routines you do anyway. Even if they contribute in small ways to executing the strategy and moving your business towards your objective. “Processing customer orders” is essential for your business, but does not move the needle for executing your strategy. Only include those initiatives that drive change.

    Read more about my thoughts on how many initiatives to choose here.

    I’ve completed my OGSM. What’s next?

    After you have completed your strategic plan, the real work is starting: the execution. 

    All too often in my business experience I have seen wonderful strategic plans being crafted. Many of them created real euphoria in the business about a great future. And that is what a good strategic plan should do! But then after the strategy was created, it was documented, filed and everyone went back to day-to-day operations. Customers called, shipments were delayed, reality struck. Have you experienced this as well? It happens, but it drives me nuts. 

    The most important part of any strategy is its execution. It’s why the strategy was created in the first place. To set a clear direction and destination for the business and decide how to allocate its resources to get there! So now is the time to use the resources, take action, and get there. Here’s what I have found useful to implement my strategic plan. 

    When finalizing your strategic plan, decide on an approach how to implement the plan and when to check in for progress. For a 3-5 year strategy, it makes sense to check on progress once a quarter and to conduct a strategic review once per year. 

    The purpose of the quarterly reviews is to make sure the strategy is working and that you are progressing on the key initiatives towards your key metrics. 

    The purpose of the annual strategic review is to check progress towards your objective and your goals and to identify any changes in your strategic context. Review the external environment and internal environment and review the SWOT analysis. Confirm whether previous assumptions still hold or if changes in your environment require you to make changes to your strategic plan.

    For an annual operating plan with objective and goals for one year, check on progress once a month and conduct a more thorough review once per quarter. Again, you are looking for what’s working and what’s not and if adjustments are needed. 

    What if I miss my targets and don’t make progress? 

    First of all, don’t panic. This is why you conduct periodic reviews. This gives you a chance to be proactive and adjust if needed. 

    Start by finding out why you are not making progress. Diagnose whether the problem lies in the strategy or in its implementation. As you have defined key metrics for both the “what”-part of the strategy and the “how”-part, they should give you an indication where the issue is. 

    If the problem lies with the implementation, check through the action plan. Do you have the right people on the job? Are the needed resources available? Is the timeline realistic? Are there challenges the team has met that you can help overcome? This means getting into the weeds a little bit. 

    If the problem lies with the strategy itself, check whether something in the external or internal environment has changed. Were any of your assumptions inaccurate. Have customer preferences changed? Has a new competitor emerged with a better offering? Depending on the answers you find it is either time to double down or to pivot. 

    No strategic plan should ever be written in stone and pivoting means adjusting your strategic plan. Go back to some of the steps described earlier and adjust your strategies, key metrics and key initiatives in accordance with your findings. If you have a team of employees, conduct strategic pivots together with your team so that they understand what is changing and why. When it comes to strategy, few things are worse than making changes that people don’t understand. 

    When people lose clarity about the strategy, they lose engagement. And a loss of engagement means a loss in productivity. This means your objective and your goals could be at risk. 

    Proactively adjusting your strategic plan and taking your team with you allow you to stay on track to achieving your obejctive and goals.

    Conclusion

    When defining the measures for strategy execution, set up key metrics and key initiatives. Key metrics measure progress and quantify achievement. Key initiatives are the action plan that drive you forward. Define a caretaker and a timeline for each initiative to ensure accountability. 

    Capture your implementation plan in a document such as the OGSM to drive execution. 

    Determine a cadence for reviewing your progress with implementation. This allows you to double down on what’s working or to pivot when it’s not. 

    Congratulations! You have completed all four steps towards creating an OGSM for your business. Now good luck with your execution and turning your strategy into results.

    If you would like to go back to earlier articles about objectives, goals, or strategies, please refer to the respective links. Click here for a general introduction of the OGSM.

    If you enjoyed this article or have questions or comments, why don’t you leave us a reply below? Would love to hear from you!

    References

    Van Eck, Marc & Leenhouts, Ellen (2014). The 1 Page Business Strategy – Streamline Your Business Plan in 4 Simple Steps. Pearson Benelux.

  • What is Strategy?

    What is Strategy?

    Before jumping into the OGSM methodology, allow me first a note on strategy and delivering results since that is what OGSM helps you accomplish.

    Strategy describes the choices you make to achieve an objective. It is the approach you take to reach your destination. Strategy is about where to play and how to win. It is a roadmap to success.

    Strategy is often perceived as a difficult topic – a high-flying, powerpoint-tossing exercise, rich in important sounding words and often disconnected from substance and reality. It’s perceived to be a game for senior executives and smart consultants and often causes more frustration than clarity and purpose. I know because I’ve been there. In the following I’ll share my experience and best practices.

    Strategy is a roadmap to success

    Everyone knows strategy is important. A good strategy is critical for success. It connects an enterprise’s purpose with its activities. It is a roadmap for action and guides decision making. It creates alignment in the organization and engagement in the team.

    “Begin with the end in mind.”

    Stephen Covey

    Creating a strategy seems like a difficult, resource-intensive process that takes time. And indeed in large corporations that often is the case. But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it shouldn’t be. A good strategy could be developed on the back of a napkin (Okay, bringing a napkin into the meeting with your board of directors or any stakeholder may not look convincing. But we’ll speak about communicating a strategy later). Or at an offsite retreat. Or with the team in a conference room. And it should fit on a single page. Because strategy is actually quite simple.

    Strategy is nothing else than the choices you make to achieve an objective. It’s the approach you take to win. It’s a roadmap to success.

    Most importantly though, strategy is about making choices. More specifically it is about the choices where to play and how to win.

    For example, a strategy may describe what products to sell and which markets to target to grow your business 20% this year. Or a strategy could outline which customers to approach and what promotional offer to use to close that next sale. Or, quite simply, strategy may be the way you get to work today, choosing the mode of transport and which route you take.

    Strategies are roadmaps that can be created at a corporate level, at a business unit or product/category level or at a tactical point-of-sale level. The point is that strategy is a means to an end, but never the end itself. The strategy is not the goal.

    Too often in my business life I have heard: “our strategy is to make the numbers!” Yes, making the numbers is key. Business is ultimately about delivering results. But that is the goal, not the strategy. “Making the numbers” does not say WHERE to play or HOW to win. Strategy will say HOW to make the numbers.

    Driving strategy implementation

    So a strategy is a plan to achieve something. But it is more than a plan. Strategy is a set of choices that determines if and how you are going to be successful. And success is measured by results. And if you want to deliver excellent results, a plan is still not enough. You need a system for implementation. You need an approach that ensures that action is taken and followed up on. And that’s often the crux.

    “A strategy is only as good as its execution”.

    My former mentor and friend

    Let me take you on a quick journey. How often have you seen a strong strategic plan crafted with great diligence? Many hours of careful market analysis and data crunching go into its preparation. Well-formatted powerpoint slides are created. A raving presentation is given to an excited leadership team. Words of commitment are spoken and a spirited decision is made in pursuit of the identified opportunity and its promising results.

    Only… after its presentation, the powerpoint is filed and everyone goes back to their daily work. You know, that day-to-day grind that keeps us all busy: emails, customer complaints, delayed shipments, and other small catastrophes. And nothing happens. Sounds familiar? Yes, I know. I’ve been there too. That’s why strategies fail.

    A good strategy rallies the team: gain commitment, assign accountabilities, trigger action, drive change, ensure follow through. And that only happens when people know what is expected of them. That only happens when there is absolute clarity WHAT needs to get done and HOW it is accomplished. That only happens when there is a clear action plan, clear caretakers, clear deliverables, clear timelines. Enter the OGSM.

    My aim is to make the topic of strategy approachable and winnable. I want you to be widely successful at creating strategies and executing them to perfection. Whether you are a leader at a Fortune 500, an aspiring entrepreneur, a hopeful young professional or a stay-home-mom with a side hustle, I want to help you win. 

    Because a good strategy is ultimately measured by its results: achieving 20% business growth, closing that next sale, or safely getting to work on time. Because only a good strategy that is well executed will lead to the desired results.

    Having said all that, in the following, I will focus on the OGSM methodology to simplify strategy and deliver results. There are of course many other tools and approaches. After all, many books and articles have been written on the subject. However, in my personal experience I have found that the OGSM approach is the most compelling in leading through a strategy process, making choices and coming up with a one-page deliverable that is easy to understand, easy to communicate and easy to execute.

    Focusing on only one approach may of course have disadvantages. Not everyone may find the OGSM methodology equally appealing. Not everyone may deem it the best fit for them. And that’s ok! If you gave it a try though, I am sure you may find that it is quite applicable to almost any circumstance, any business, any endeavor. It is true that it is not all encompassing. It is not a silver bullet. And it’s usage by itself will not guarantee success. After all, it’s merely a tool. In the end what you do with it still matters the most.

    So let’s get to work! 

    Where can you go from here? Consider checking out our post on 6 steps to develop strategies that delivers results or learn more about OGSM here. Finally, leave a comment below. Would love to hear from you!

    Not sure how to get started? Read this article about using an OGSM template to guide through the strategic planning process.

    References

    Covey, Stephen R. (2012). 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People. New York: Simon & Schuster

    Ready to put your strategy into action? The OGSM methodology gives you a simple, proven one-page framework to make it happen. Download a pre-formatted, fully customizable OGSM Template for PowerPoint or OGSM Template for Excel from the Rock Your Strategy shop — and turn your strategy into results.