It seems like a question of preference or belief such as Pepsi vs. Coke, Pampers vs. Huggies or Nutella vs. Nusspli. But far from it. Whether in large corporations or small businesses, choosing to put people first or put strategy first can mean the difference between success or failure.
Whether you are leading a small business, a team or a large corporation, always put the people first. Hire the smartest and most agile people you can find who best align with the values of your business. And jointly you will figure out the best possible strategy and execution for your business.
If you are like me, you may find this counterintuitive at first. After all, isn’t it the inspiring vision and well-defined strategy that motivate people to achieve results? And am I not a little dramatic to say that whether to put people first or strategy first can mean the difference between success and failure? Well, yes and no. Let’s explore this further.
People come first
If I had a dollar for every time that a colleague, professor or past superior told me that “structure follows strategy”, I’d have a nice purse collected by now. And there is a point to that statement.
Before you start drawing organizational charts and boxes with names, you do want to figure out where the business is going and how it is going to get there. And then organize according to that strategy. But that is not the question.
When the question is whether to put people first or strategy first, then it’s absolutely people first! People… not organization or structure.
No matter what your endeavor, what your business is, what team or organization you lead, surround yourself with the best people you can find. If you have a team of A-players, a team of movers and shakers, doers and believers, a team that trusts each other, debates each other, and helps each other solve problems, a team which challenges itself to greater heights, you can virtually achieve anything.
When choosing team members, hire for attitude first and aptitude second. I forgot where I first heard this phrase, but when you google it, you find tons of relevant hits. It’s often extended by “hire for attitude, train the skills”. What it means is that you first want to probe for values and character traits which fit your business, your team, and yourself. Don’t get blinded by amazing test scores, knowledge and skills. Those are great, but the hard skills can be trained. Hire for integrity, work ethic, team work, and grit, and then the hard skills are the cherry on top.
When recruiting, never settle for “good enough”. In my experience, you are much better off holding out for the “right” person than hiring the first good person you can find. Don’t settle. Be rigorous in your search, clear in your expectations, and live up to the standard you aim to set.
Who Before What
Now that makes sense but let’s come back to people and strategy. And this is where I like best the analogy from Jim Collins and his classic book “Good to Great”. In “Good to Great”, Jim Collins explains that his extensive research of great companies found a key common denominator: who comes before what.
Collins describes leading a business like driving a bus. The business leader is the bus driver. Typically new business leaders set a direction first and then drive the bus in that direction. Collins’ research however suggests that the greatest companies first figure out who should be on the bus (and who shouldn’t) and in which seats they should be before determining the direction the bus should go.
When I first read “Good to Great” I found this surprising. I myself had always thought that you start by describing a vision for the business so compelling that people wanted to strive to get there. What I had neglected is that I was blessed with teams who inherently were motivated to pursue that vision. But even that wasn’t really the point.
It started making sense to me when further exploring Jim Collins’ analogy. He wrote that people come first because imagine you have people on the bus because of its direction. This works out fine as long as the bus is going towards that direction. What if shortly into the journey you figure out that the business is heading in the wrong direction? What if the environment around you has changed? If people on the bus are only there for its direction, you have a problem. If you have great people on the bus who are there to be with other great people, then you will quickly be able to adapt and change direction.
So get the people off the bus who are there for the direction. Get those people on the bus who are there for the joint journey. Put the right people in the right seats. And then jointly figure out in which direction the bus – or the business – should be going.
In Good to Great Jim Collins argues that the continuous, disciplined approach of putting people first and strategy second was one of the key differences between companies that were merely good and those that were truly great.
According to Collins, great leaders understand that there are three basic truths:
If you first choose the right people, you can more easily adapt to a changing world.
If you have the right people, you don’t need to worry about motivating them.
If you have the wrong people, even the greatest strategy only achieves mediocre results.
So following these principles, spend a major portion of your time and attention on assembling and developing your team. Once you have assembled a great team, then jointly define the strategy and jointly drive execution to deliver great results.
Using OGSM to develop strategy in a great team
When you are ready to develop strategy, consider using the OGSM methodology as a process and catalyst for your strategy.
If only there was a simple OGSM template for PowerPoint or Excel to make creating the OGSM easier and faster. Look no further — we’ve got you covered. In this article we’ll share what makes a great OGSM template, show you exactly what our templates include, and give you everything you need to get started.
OGSM stands for Objective, Goals, Strategies and Measures and is a one-page business plan that defines ‘what’ you aim to achieve and ‘how’ you are going to achieve it. A well-designed OGSM template makes the creation process faster, more structured, and — crucially — produces a result you can actually use in leadership meetings and team briefings.
Using a template saves significant time and reduces the risk of common formatting mistakes. That said, a template is only as good as the thinking that goes into it — filling in boxes for the sake of it is the classic “template trap.” If you’re new to OGSM, read our Complete OGSM Framework Guide first for a solid foundation before picking up any template.
Not all OGSM templates are equal. A well-designed template doesn’t just look professional — it actively structures your thinking and makes the strategy clearer for everyone who reads it. Here’s what to look for:
Clear visual hierarchy: The relationship between Objective → Goals → Strategies → Measures should be immediately obvious at a glance. Each section should flow logically from left to right.
Space for real content: Strategies need room for a full sentence using the “what-by-how” method. Measures need space for both KPIs and action items. Templates that cram everything into tiny cells force you to oversimplify.
Separate space for metrics and actions: The Measures column works best when it distinguishes between Key Metrics (the numbers) and Actions (the initiatives). This distinction is critical for execution.
Presentation-ready design: The OGSM is most powerful when it can be shared directly with your leadership team or board without additional formatting work.
Fully editable: Every element — colors, fonts, column widths, text — should be customizable to your brand and context.
The Rock Your Strategy OGSM Templates
We offer OGSM templates for both Microsoft PowerPoint and Microsoft Excel — each designed to the criteria above and built from our hands-on experience deploying the OGSM framework across dozens of organizations over the past decade.
You can build your own OGSM template from scratch — many people do. Here’s an honest comparison to help you decide:
Build Your Own
Rock Your Strategy Template
Setup time
2–3 hours (design + formatting)
Ready immediately
Design quality
Depends on your skills
Professional, presentation-ready
OGSM structure
Self-built from scratch
Pre-formatted to best practice
Measures (KPIs + actions)
You design the layout
Split built in
Fully editable
Yes
Yes — fully customizable
Cost
Free (but your time isn’t)
$4.99
How to Fill In Your OGSM Template
The OGSM is built from left to right: Objective first, then Goals, then Strategies, then Measures. For a full deep dive into each component — including how to write a strong objective, set SMART goals, and develop strategies using the “what-by-how” method — see our Complete OGSM Framework Guide. Here’s a quick orientation for each field:
The Objective
A qualitative statement describing where your business is headed — your strategic ambition. Write it as one clear sentence using the “what-by-how” format. Make it specific enough that it could only apply to your business. Learn how to write a great objective here.
The Goals
SMART metrics that translate your objective into measurable outcomes. Include financial and operational targets. Goals define what success looks like in numbers. Learn how to set clear OGSM goals here.
The Strategies
Your 3–5 high-impact choices about where to focus resources. Each strategy should be written as a clear “what-by-how” statement specific to your business context — not a generic platitude. Learn how to develop strategies that work here.
The Measures
The actions and metrics that drive implementation of each strategy. Split into Key Metrics (2–3 numbers that define success per strategy) and Actions (2–3 concrete initiatives with owners and timelines). Learn how to set effective measures here.
OGSM Example
Finding the right level of detail for your strategy takes practice. The OGSM format helps you calibrate — specific enough to be actionable, high-level enough to fit on one page. The following real-world example illustrates what a completed OGSM looks like in practice.
On our Resources page you can find additional strategy tools, OGSM examples, workshop materials, and much more.
Questions or comments? Drop them in the comment box below, or sign up to our free newsletter and receive practical strategy tips straight to your inbox. Rock on!
I’m often asked if there is an optimal time period or timeline for which to use the OGSM methodology. Does OGSM only work for long-term strategies or also for shorter term business plans? Let’s explore this question.
The OGSM methodology is in my experience best suited for 3-5 year strategic plans and annual operating plans with a 1-year time frame. Because of its versatility however, the OGSM methodology can also be applied for strategic plans or project plans of any other time frame.
In this article, we’ll explore different aspects of time in regards to OGSM. Read on to find out whether the OGSM methodology applies well for your business plan or project plan.
Strategic time horizons for OGSM
OGSM stands for Objectives, Goals, Strategies, and Measures and is a one-page strategic planning methodology. OGSM connects ‘what’ you want to achieve with ‘how’ you are going to achieve it. And although the OGSM methodology is relatively simple, it’s worth investing the time to think through each component thoroughly. That’s why this structured approach is best suited for strategic plans or annual operating plans that don’t change on a monthly or weekly basis.
In my almost 10 years of experience in working with the OGSM methodology I have found that the OGSM approach works best for strategic plans with time horizons of 3-5 years or for annual operating plans with a time horizon of 1 year.
Personally, I have most often applied the OGSM methodology for annual operating plans in my businesses.
The structure of the OGSM methodology excellently lends itself to formulating the objective for a fiscal year and breaking it down into measurable goals (the ‘what’). The strategies then define the key business priorities or key initiatives during the year to deliver the objective and goals (the ‘how’). Finally the measures describe in quantifiable terms the key performance indicators and actions for each strategy.
The approach works the same way for strategic plans of longer time horizons such as for 3-5 years. The difference is that the objective and the goals then define the destination to be reached after 3-5 years. And the strategies and measures describe the key initiatives and actions over the 3-5 year time horizon.
Here’s an example what the objective and goals for an annual operating plan may look like (1-year time horizon).
1-Year Business Plan Example
Objective
Rapidly expand the business this year by reaching new customers with our new products
Goals
– Increase sales by 15% – Develop 20 new customers – Launch 5 new products
And here’s an example what the objective and goals for a longer term strategic plan may look like (3-5 year time horizon).
3-5 Year Strategic Plan Example
Objective
Become the recognized industry leader by developing innovative products and value-added services
Goals
– Achieve 30% market share – >60% of customers name us as “industry leader” – 20% of sales from new products – >30% sales from services
If you’d like to see a complete OGSM example and read the fictional story of how Tony’s Pizza created an OGSM for their business transformation, please click here.
As stated before, the OGSM approach can be applied to any project or business plan of shorter or longer time horizons as well. The key point is to align the objective and goals and the strategies and measures with the chosen time horizon.
What’s the review timeline for OGSM?
The OGSM should be reviewed regularly to make sure you are on track to achieving your goals and the ultimate objective. How often such reviews should take place depends on your time horizon.
When applying the OGSM methodology to 3-5 year strategic plans, the OGSM should be reviewed quarterly or at least twice per year. Conduct the review bottom-up, beginning with the measures and then the strategies. Finally confirm that you are on track to achieving your goals and objective.
A thorough review meeting with your team may last 2-3 hours depending on how deep you go into discussion and how well you prepare up front. I’ve done quite well with a 3-hour morning session once per quarter. Those review meetings were scheduled way in advance and everyone knew when they were coming and what had to be prepared. This made the reviews very efficient and the discussions targeted towards keeping the OGSM on track.
Annual Operating Plans on the other hand should be reviewed on a monthly basis. As the time horizon is significantly shorter, more frequent reviews are needed to ensure the plan remains on track. In addition to brief monthly reviews of the OGSM measures that “need attention” or are “at risk”, consider conducting quarterly more in-depth reviews of the 1-year OGSM.
Reviewing the OGSM regularly allows you to identify early on when initiatives need attention or when you are getting off track. Use the regular reviews to make necessary adjustments in a timely fashion by defining countermeasures and when needed redeploying resources.
When should I begin creating the OGSM?
Well, the short answer is anytime. The longer answer depends on your strategic time horizon.
3-5 Year Strategic Plans
If you are using the OGSM methodology to guide your 3-5 year strategic planning process, then you can of course begin this process anytime you determine that your business needs to review its strategy.
In larger or longer-running businesses you should review your strategic plan at least once every 3-5 years or whenever substantial changes in your industry or market place can be observed.
When you decide to overhaul your business strategy, consider doing your strategic review in the middle of your fiscal year. Find a time when you are undisturbed by shorter term actions such as budget setting or annual operating planning. This will allow you the time and the mental space to take a step back and think big.
1-Year Annual Operating Plans
If you are applying the OGSM methodology for your Annual Operating Plan or a 1-year business plan, then I’d recommend beginning the process right around your budget setting period.
By aligning the budgeting process and the OGSM creation, you are defining your business goals and your key initiatives in one go. I.e. you are defining ‘what’ you want to achieve and ‘how’ you are going to achieve it. This is exactly where OGSM is most powerful.
Unfortunately, in many large corporations the budgeting process runs independently from the discussion of business priorities. Budgets are typically set first (often top down), and then months later the business tries to figure out how to achieve the targets.
I usually begin the annual planning process in late September and invite my team to join the process. We set objective and financial goals first and then break them down into the key strategies and initiatives and set meaningful quantifiable measures. These become the topline and cost budgets. The OGSM and the financial targets are then cascaded throughout the business into the various functions and teams.
We aim to have this re-iterative process completed by November to allow sufficient time for alignment and communication before the year begins and we begin execution of the plan.
Templates
Find tools & templates for OGSM and your strategic planning process here.
OGSM Examples
Find OGSM examples and inspirations for your own journey here.
How much time does it take to create an OGSM?
In my experience creating an OGSM for an annual operating plan or a longer term strategic plan can take anywhere between one day to several weeks or months. This depends on the strategic time horizon, the complexity of the business situation and the number of people involved in creating the OGSM.
Creating a first draft of the OGSM can easily be accomplished in a single day. It is the discussions, alignments and the cascading of the OGSM that can stretch over multiple weeks.
The most complex and time-consuming parts of the OGSM are in my experience the objective discussion and making choices about strategies and resource allocation. The discussion of goals and measures is relatively straight forward and follows the objective and the strategies, respectively.
When you plan to conduct an OGSM workshop or strategic planning meeting, worry less about the time it takes to create the OGSM. I’d recommend to focus on robust discussions about the internal and external situation of the business and what the objective and goals should be for the next year(s). Then make trade-offs about where to focus your resources to achieve your goals.
In summary, take the time that you need. Don’t rush the discussions or simply go through the motions. And especially avoid simply filling templates for the sake of filling the templates. The OGSM is a great way to guide or facilitate your discussions. But it is the quality of your discussion which determines the quality of your OGSM or business plan and the time it takes to create it.
Conclusion
The OGSM methodology is very versatile and can be applied to virtually any strategic plan, project plan, and corresponding time frame.
The most effective time horizon in my experience is to use the OGSM methodology for 3-5 year strategic plans or 1-year annual operating plans.
What is your experience with the OGSM methodology. What time horizon have you found to be most effective for OGSM? Drop us a line below. We would love to hear from you.
Using the OGSM methodology for strategic planning is not rocket science. But with these top 10 OGSM tips you can vastly increase your chance of success.
Create the OGSM with your team
Focus on what you can influence
Conduct a SWOT analysis
Use the ‘what-by-how’ method
Choose no more than 5 strategies
Build your plan top-down
Review your plan bottom-up
Cascade the OGSM
Conduct monthly reviews
Renew OGSM annually
→ Want the full OGSM picture alongside these tips? The Complete OGSM Framework Guide covers all four components in depth, real-world examples, and a comparison to OKRs and the Balanced Scorecard.
Read on for a detailed description of each of these tips to simplify your strategy and deliver excellent results.
1. Create the OGSM with your team
“Two heads are better than one.”
I’m sure you have heard this old saying. When two people work together they are more likely to solve a problem than one person doing it alone. And I’m sure you have also experienced that teams are often more effective than individuals when they work together openly and collaboratively towards a shared goal.
The same holds true for strategic planning and using the OGSM methodology.When creating your strategic plan, assemble your team and jointly embark on the journey to design the future of your business.
Creating an inspiring, ambitious and effective strategic plan starts with asking critical questions about your internal and external environment. Such situational assessment is best performed when you bring in different points’ of view, different knowledge and skills and can challenge each other and your status quo.
Involving your team in the strategic planning process has an additional benefit. Involvement creates ownership and buy-in. By being involved in the strategic plan, your team will have greater understanding about the business’ situation, its future direction and how each and every team member can contribute to moving the business in the right direction.
Don’t create your OGSM in isolation. Engage your team. You will create a better plan and will have already taken a giant step towards achieving it.
2. Focus on what you can influence
Be proactive. Create the future that you envision for your business or for yourself. Take responsibility for your company and focus your strategic plan on what you CAN influence.
According to Stephen Covey’s bestselling book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, there are two circles: the circle of concern and the circle of influence.
Source: Stephen Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The outter, larger circle of concernis about the things we cannot influence, such as the weather, the economy, other people’s actions and opinions. People who live in this circle are said to be reactive. Reactive people complain about things outside their control. They do not take action or take ownership of the things they can control.
I’m sure you know someone like that. How often have you heard the following?
“Sorry, I’m late, but the alarm didn’t ring and then my shirt wasn’t ironed. I missed the bus and then I noticed that I had forgotten my staff card and had to go back…”
Possibly any person living in the circle of concern
In truth, had the person gone to bed earlier, prepared things the night before, set a second alarm etc. things might have gone differently.
The inner, smaller circle of influence is about the things we can influence, such as our attitude, our preparedness, the skills we learn, the habits we develop, where we focus our time and energy. People who live in this circle are proactive. These people realize that their decisions determine their lives and not their outter conditions. Proactive people do not complain about what they cannot control but focus their energy on what they can control.
For your strategic plan, focus on what you can control. Do analyze the external environment in which you operate. And then create a strategic plan that leverages your organization’s core competencies and directs your resources towards the actions and behaviors that lead you to success.
3. Conduct a SWOT analysis
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. The SWOT analysis is an assessment of your internal and external business environment. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to your business, opportunities and threats are external to your business.
The SWOT analysis is a simple but powerful method to gain critical insights into your business and your situation.
This is what a SWOT framework may look like:
Strengths: – … – … – …
Weaknesses: – … – … – …
Opportunities: – … – … – …
Threats: – … – … – …
Simplified SWOT framework
Build your strategic plan around your strengths. Aim to use your strengths to take advantage of your opportunities and to mitigate your threats. Seek to improve the weaknesses that would prevent you from achieving your strategic objectives.
Here’s how you use the SWOT in your strategic planning discussion.
In your team, discuss your business’ core strengths and most prominent weaknesses first. Be candid in your assessment and openly debate your findings. Select your top 3-4 strengths and top 3-4 weaknesses and write them down.
Then identify the top opportunities and threats your business is facing. Again, consider different points of view and weigh the various insights you have. Document the top 3-4 opportunities and top 3-4 threats.
Consider customer feedback or employee satisfaction survey results if you have them. They can be valuable sources of information.
Afterwards, conduct a “crossover analysis” by creating pairs between your strengths and your weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Use the pairs to formulate your strategic initiatives.
When writing your objective statement, your strategies, and your measures, deploy the ‘what-by-how’ method.
According to van Eck & Leenhouts’s excellent book The 1-Page Business Strategy, the ‘what-by-how’ approach splits the objective or strategy statements into two parts: the ‘what’-part and the ‘how’-part.
The ‘what’-part states what you aim to achieve. The ‘how’-part states how you are going to achieve it. This makes the statement clear and actionable and begins making choices – which is what strategy is all about.
Let’s consider the following simple example: “Go to London by boat”. The first part “Go to London” is the ‘what’-part, the second part “by boat” is the ‘how’-part. If the objective only stated “Go to London” then the organization may not be clear what is expected of them. Some people may go book airplane tickets, while others may start refuelling their cars. Including both the ‘what’ and the ‘how’-part gives clarity and direction to the team and aligns the organization.
5. Choose no more than 5 strategies
Strategic planning is all about making choices. It’s about the choice of where you are going and how you are going to get there. It’s about the choice of how to spend your time and your money to achieve your objective and goals.
When you set the vision for your business and decide on your objectives and goals, there are virtually infinite ways to achieve them. However, since resources are not infinite (unless you have discovered the fountain of youth…), you need to pick and choose the path that will take you to your destination.
When creating your strategic plan, I’d like to advocate to choose three to five strategies to achieve your objective. Why 3 to 5? Fewer strategies allow you to focus your energy and resources on those initiatives with the highest impact and highest chances of success. At the same time, you don’t want to put all your eggs in one basket in case a strategy fails or the environment changes.
Developing your strategy using the OGSM metholodoloy is typically a top-down process. You start with your strategic context and your situational analysis to set your objective, followed by the goals, the strategies, and the measures.
The objective is the destination of your business – what you aim to achieve over a chosen timeframe. This timeframe is typically 3-5 years for strategic planning or 12 months for annual operating planning. The objective is a qualitative statement describing the future destination.
The goals are the qualitative translation of your objective statement. Goals are typically SMART goals to make them clear, measurable and unambiguous.
The objective and goals jointly describe what you aim to achieve.
The strategies are the major initiatives that will take your business towards the objective and goals. These are qualitative statements about how you will devote your organization’s resources to achieving the objective.
The measures are the detailed metrics and actions that quantify success and determine progress of the strategies. The measures clarify who does what and by when to execute the strategic plan.
The OGSM is a logical flow and each ensuing step builds on the decisions of the prior step from top-to-bottom and left-to-right.
While you build your OGSM top-down, you review your OGSM bottom-up.
Start your review with your Measures. Review your initiatives and your metrics and check where you are behind expectations. Direct your attention first to those initiatives which are not meeting their commitments. Then review the remaining initiatives.
Then move yourself up to the Strategies and confirm that you are overall on track to achieving your business’ objective and goals.
Where needed discuss countermeasures and agree on actions in the team.
During your review, regularly check your external environment for changes that may influence your ability to execute your OGSM and achieve your objective and goals.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a ‘cascade’ as “something arranged or occurring in a series or in a succession of stages so that each stage derives from or acts upon the product of the preceding” (source).
In business, “cascading” a strategy means arranging the strategy along the organization’s hierchary so that the organization is fully aligned behind the organization’s objective and works together to achieve it.
The OGSM methodoloy is a great way to cascade your business strategy. The approach to define objectives, goals, strategies, and measures lends itself excellently to cascading the strategy vertically and horizontally.
Vertical cascading means breaking down the strategy from a higher level of the organizational hierarchy to a lower level.
For example, the corporate strategy is broken down into the divisional strategies or the divisional strategy into departmental strategies. Cascading means that the individual lower level strategies together roll back up into the higher level strategy. Hence, successfully achieving the divisional strategies would result in the successful delivery of the corporate strategy.
Cascading vertically
Horizontal cascading means breaking down a business strategy into the various functions that work together to deliver the business strategy.
For example, a divisional strategy is broken down into the sales & marketing strategy, production strategy, sourcing strategy and people strategy. Again, delivery of each of the functional strategies would ensure that the overall business strategy is achieved.
Cascading horizontally
In practice, cascading a strategy is typically a mix of vertical and horizontal cascading. The important part is that the strategies perfectly align to ensure that the organization works together to achieve the overall business objective and goals.
One more thing: as you can see in the illustrations above as well, cascading strategy is a reiterative process. The higher level strategy gives input to the lower level strategy. And it also receives feedback and modifications based on realities in the business, feasibility, and availability of resources.
This reiterative process is important to align the strategy and make it realistic.
9. Conduct monthly reviews
When executing your OGSM, it is important to conduct brief monthly reviews to track your progress. During the monthly reviews, focus on your measures and actions. Check which initiatives are on track or where you are falling behind. Direct your organization’s attention towards those initiatives which are behind expectations and formulate countermeasures.
Make sure to capture the actions discussed with clear caretakers and timelines for appropriate follow up to correct the course where necessary.
It really helps to implement a ‘traffic light’ system to track your OGSM. Ahead of the OGSM review, color the initiatives that are ‘on track’ in green, the ones that ‘need attention’ in yellow and the ones ‘at risk’ of missing its targets in red. Then during the session, jump to the red and yellow traffic lights first to identify root causes and decide on countermeasures.
For best practice, build the monthly OGSM reviews into your company’s regular schedule. In fact, integrate strategy implementation into your organization’s culture and make execution and meeting commitments your habit. And remember, execution culture starts at the top!
Once a year, conduct a strategic planning workshop to overhaul your OGSM for the coming year.
In your annual OGSM renewal session, address the following questions:
What’s working? What’s not working? Review your OGSM from the current year and critically assess where you have been successful and where you haven’t.
What’s changed? Re-scan the internal and the external environments and seek out any changes that will have an influence on your business and its ability to live its mission and achieve its vision.
What do we need to add? What do we need to take out? Identify strategies, initiatives, resources or capabilities that your business needs to eliminate, reduce, raise or create to sustain success or become more successful.
By revisiting your existing strategic plan and building onto it, you are developing a continuous storyline in pursuit of your longer-term vision instead of re-inventing the strategy every year. Your team will thank you for painting a consistent picture over time.
This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make significant changes if this is required. In case there are drastic changes in your external environment or inside your business, you certainly need to (re-)act accordingly. In that case however instead of conducting an annual OGSM renewal exercise, go for a more fundamental strategic review.
When is the best time to renew your OGSM? This may differ from business to business. In my experience a good time to renew the OGSM is during your annual budgeting process. Setting your financial goals for the coming year shouldn’t happen in isolation but should directly be linked with the actions you plan to take to achieve those goals.
Unfortunately, that’s exactly what many businesses do: they run a complicated financial budgeting process and only later plan their activities (if at all). Don’t be one of those businesses.
When you conduct your annual OGSM review, assemble your team, run a 2-3 day workshop, and work through the questions above together. A great way to do this is to refine your SWOT analysis. Use your findings to review your objective, set new goals, translate these into 3-5 strategies and set 2-3 measures for each strategy. Cascade the reviewed OGSM throughout your organization and finalize all strategic plans prior to the beginning of the next year.
In my experience, if your longer-term business strategy doesn’t change, the annual OGSM does not change drastically either. I usually revist my objective to set a particular focus for a year and re-align my goals and strategies accordingly. But the most changes happen in the measures where I set specific actions for a given year as I drive execution towards the longer-term objective and goals.
There you have it. These are our top 10 OGSM tips.
We hope you find these tips useful in helping you to simplify your strategy and deliver excellent results. If you have any questions or comments, why not drop us a line below? We’d love to hear from you.
See These Tips in Action: OGSM Examples by Industry
The best way to see how these 10 tips apply in practice is to look at real OGSM examples across different business contexts. We’ve built out detailed examples for four industries — each one illustrating how a different type of organisation applies the framework, makes strategic choices, and builds an execution plan around its measures.
OGSM Example: B2B SaaS — a pipeline analytics company using PLG, enterprise CS, and ABM strategies to scale from $2M to $8M ARR
OGSM Example: AI Startup — a Series A document intelligence company building a repeatable sales motion and deepening product-market fit in the legal sector
OGSM Example: E-commerce / DTC Brand — a sustainable home goods company reducing paid acquisition dependence while improving contribution margin
OGSM Example: Non-Profit — an education foundation aligning programme growth, funding diversification, and impact measurement into one strategy
OGSM Example: Tony’s Pizza — the classic OGSM case study, illustrating all four components from objective to measures
A plan is only as good as its execution. And to keep up with execution of your OGSM, it’s important to conduct timely and engaging review sessions to stay on track. But with a full schedule of meetings already in the calendar, how do you make the most of your OGSM review?
When conducting a monthly OGSM review, invite your senior team to a 60-min meeting in which to review the OGSM from bottom to top. Review your Measures’ key initiatives and metrics first and then move up to the Strategies. Discuss countermeasures for those initiatives ‘at risk’ or which ‘need attention’. Take down all agreed actions for follow up.
This monthly review is however not only a meeting. It requires some preparation up front and diligent follow up thereafter. Here’s how you get the most out of your monthly OGSM review.
Monthly OGSM Reviews
When using the OGSM methodology for your annual operating plans, it is important to conduct monthly reviews to keep on track with execution.
The reason I propose a monthly review cadence (instead of quarterly for example) is to have the ability to act and respond timely to implementation progress (or lack thereof) in your senior team. This allows you to make timely decisions to double-down on what is working and pivot on what is not. Doing this only once a quarter may put the plan at risk as countermeasures may not result in desired outcomes in time.
Plan Ahead
In order not to miss a session, I like scheduling out all monthly reviews ahead of time. Go ahead at the beginning of the year and send out recurring invitations for 12 sessions. That way they are in the calendar ahead of time and do not get in the way of day-to-day scheduling difficulties.
Having all 12 sessions scheduled out also allows you and your team to plan ahead and prepare. A well-prepared OGSM review is significantly more effective than if people need to rush an update on short notice. If the OGSM review is every second Tuesday of the month for example, there are no surprises when the next one comes around.
Speaking of preparation, in my experience it really helps to have an OGSM caretaker who keeps the document current and helps prepare for the reviews. This caretaker updates the financials and key figures ahead of the review meeting and reminds strategy and initiative owners to provide their updates directly on the OGSM document (see image below).
OGSM Template with Update Section
Go into the meeting with an updated and current OGSM document.
An important word about status colors
On the OGSM document, record the status of each initiative and a brief update comment incl. proposed countermeasures (as necessary). For status, I typically use the following color-coded setting which has served me well:
Status Update Colors
Color
Status
Description
Light Green (LG)
On Track
Item is in progress and on track to achieving it’s targets.
Dark Green (DG)
Completed
Item is done and targets are met.
Yellow (Y)
Needs Attention
Item needs attention by the organization or its senior team in order to stay on track and not fall behind.
Red (R)
At Risk
Item is at risk of missing its targets and needs urgent attention and action.
Blue (B)
On Hold
Item has been placed on hold, postponed or deprioritized.
Regarding the color-coding, I always emphasize that these status settings are meant to be forward-looking and action-oriented and not punitive. A red color is not bad by itself. It does not mean that someone is getting fired. Encourage your team to use ‘yellow’ and ‘red’ statuses to signal that urgent action is needed.
We have become so accustomed that ‘yellow’ and ‘red’ on business reports are bad. What a bunch of baloney. Take active steps to take your team’s fear from using ‘yellow’ and ‘red’. Emphasize that these are signal colors to direct attention to where it is most needed. Nobody gains from beautifying or hiding the true status of an initiative just because we are trained to prefer to see ‘green’.
Good! Now that we got that straight, let’s dive into the OGSM review itself.
Rundown of the OGSM review meeting
A monthly review is not an in-depth strategy review but a monthly check-in to make sure your plan is on track. I have found a duration of 60 minutes most effective. One hour is long enough to review the performance indicators, identify key issues and decide on countermeasures. It is also short enough to make it a monthly staple without taking too much time out of operations. A concise 60-minute session keeps the group engaged and the OGSM on track.
During the monthly OGSM review, follow a structured agenda that guides the team through the review process.
Start with a review of the financials and key performance indicators. Identify where you are on track and where you are lagging behind expectations. Discuss in the team what the drivers of performance are and identify the reasons for missing the mark.
Then review the individual Measures starting with those which are behind expectations. Follow the colors. Begin with the ‘red’ initiatives, followed by ‘yellow’.
Initiatives marked ‘red’ are at risk and need urgent attention and action. Identify why you are behind. Discuss in the team effective countermeasures that you can take to adjust the course and get back on track. Agree on the actions to be taken by whom and by when and record the actions on an action item list. Then move on to the next item.
Let me pause here for a moment. That was brief but important! The whole purpose of doing the OGSM review is to identify where you are behind, why you are behind and to correct the course. So be candid and thorough here. The purpose is not to assign blame or search for fault. You are looking to identify where improvement is needed and then go do it.
Reasons why a measure is behind might be numerous: the external environment has changed, customer needs have changed, competitors are more effective, the action is not well-resourced, the team does not have the knowledge or skills needed to succeed, other unforeseen hurdles or challenges are preventing the team from making progress.
As with the color-coding above, when you are in session, create an atmosphere that invites the team to be candid and direct. You want everyone to be as straight as an arrow.
After all ‘red’ and ‘yellow’ items are discussed, review the ‘green’ initiatives which are on track. Check whether any major milestones are coming up or decisions are needed. Only discuss those ‘green’ initiatives worth discussing.
With 10 minutes left in the meeting, wrap up the initiative review and confirm all the countermeasures and actions agreed on in the meeting. Double-check that each action has a caretaker, a timeline, and that everyone is clear about the expected deliverables. Take note of all actions on the action item list.
At the 60-minute mark, thank everyone for their contributions and their constructive review before closing the meeting.
Follow up
After the OGSM review session has ended, send a short note to all participants and OGSM stakeholders. Confirm the OGSM as it was discussed and share the action item list for everyone’s information and action. Now the focus shifts back to operations, executing your OGSM and implementing the agreed corrective actions.
Until the next monthly review.
What does the agenda of a monthly review meeting look like?
For easy reference, this is what the agenda of a monthly OGSM review meeting might look like. Feel free to copy this out and into the invitation of your monthly OGSM review meeting.
Time
Topic
Caretaker
10 min
Review Financials & key Performance Indicators
Business Leader or OGSM Caretaker/facilitator
10 min
Review actions from previous OGSM review
OGSM caretaker/facilitator
20 min
Review initiatives ‘at risk’ and ‘need attention’ and discuss countermeasures
Initiative owner
10 min
Review ‘on track’ initiatives
Initiative owner
10 min
Confirm actions from this OGSM review
Business Leader or OGSM Caretaker/facilitator
Meeting adjourned
Sample Agenda of a Monthly OGSM Review Meeting
When to schedule a monthly review?
There is no hard or fast rule when to schedule a monthly review. I have found it most useful to schedule the meeting in the second week of the month. By the second week, you may have had a chance to review the financials from the previous month and update the OGSM document.
Getting the OGSM review done in the second week of the month then leaves the rest of the month to focus on operations and drive execution.
Consider picking a fixed day for your regular reviews, for example every second Tuesday of the month. Then your team can build a regular rhythm about the review and there is no surprise when it comes around.
Schedule out all 12 monthly sessions at the beginning of the year. Most calendar software such as Microsoft Outlook or Google Calendar allow you to set recurring invitations identifying the chosen day of the month. That makes scheduling the meetings easy and straightforward. Include the agenda in the invitation so everyone knows what to expect ahead of time.
What is the difference between a monthly and a quarterly OGSM review?
I like to make a clear distinction between frequent monthly OGSM reviews and more thorough quarterly OGSM reviews.
As described above, the purpose of the monthly OGSM review is to track the execution of the measures and to agree on corrective actions for those initiatives which are ‘at risk’ or ‘need attention’. The discussion is brief, candid and solution-oriented. The monthly OGSM review only takes about 60 minutes.
The purpose of the quarterly OGSM review is a more in-depth review of the OGSM to confirm whether the business is on track to achieving its overall objective and goals.
For the quarterly OGSM review, I schedule a 2-3 hour session (based on progress) which reviews each initiative and strategy. Each initiative owner provides an update on progress, milestones, challenges, and next steps.
The review includes an assessment of each strategy to confirm that the path chosen is still the right one to move the business towards its overall objectives.
If required, countermeasures are discussed and agreed on. As during the monthly review, all actions are recorded with caretakers and timelines.
How to create an OGSM for your business?
We have now been speaking about implementing your OGSM and keeping on track with your execution via monthly review meetings. But how do you actually create an OGSM in the first place?
The purpose of the monthly OGSM review is to ensure that the implementation of your plan is on track. The review starts with preparation already before the actual meeting.
Prepare all key figures and status updates prior to the OGSM review meeting to facilitate an effective session.
During the meeting, address those initiatives first that are “at risk” or “need attention”. Identify root causes and agree on countermeasures.
Record all action items, caretakers, and due dates and ensure diligent follow up after the meeting.
What experiences have you made with your OGSM review? If you liked this article or have any questions or comments, why not leave us a reply below? We’d love to hear from you.
OGSM stands for Objective, Goals, Strategies, and Measures and is a simple but sophisticated approach to strategic planning. Using OGSM allows you to define on a single page what you aim to achieve and how you are going to achieve it.
When using the OGSM approach to strategy, there are things you can do to vastly improve the effectiveness of your strategy. There are however also a few things to avoid in order not to undermine the advantages of OGSM.
Not yet familiar with the framework itself? The Complete OGSM Framework Guide covers all four components, how they connect, and common pitfalls — a good starting point before these dos and don’ts.
Here is our list of Dos and Don’ts of OGSM from our experience over the past decade. We will continue to update this list as we learn over time.
Dos of OGSM
Introduce the OGSM: If you intend to deploy the OGSM approach to strategy, plan to take time to introduce the tool and it’s pros and cons so people are familiar with the methodology. We can help: read more about OGSM here.
Involve your team: if you have team members, involve them in the strategic planning process to receive their input and expertise. This also helps to create understanding and clarity in the team early on what strategic priorities are.
Get leadership involved: if you deploy OGSM in your business, make sure your senior leadership is aligned with your objective, goals, and strategies. Involve them early and check in along the way.
Conduct OGSM workshops: in our experience it is most effective to deploy the OGSM method in a strategic planning workshop. Learn more about such workshops here. Consider going off site where you are uninterrupted and free to think strategically.
Take sufficient time for discussion: when creating the OGSM, allocate enough time to allow for open discussions and reflection. In our experience, strategies that arise from candid strategic discussions are far more effective.
Include an external perspective: when creating your strategic plan, seek an outside-in perspective. Learn what customers, suppliers, partners think about your business.
Set a clear timeframe: be clear about the time frame for your strategy. Are you planning 3, 5, or 10 years ahead? Are you creating an annual operating plan for one year? Make sure that your objective, goals, strategies and measures align with this timeframe.
Be specific: use language that applies solely to your business and your situation and leaves no ambiguity or room for interpretation.
Use the “what-by-how” format: When writing your objective, strategies, and measures, use the “what-by-how” format to incorporate in one statement “what” you intend to do and “how” you intend to do it. This makes the statement much more clear and makes it easier to take action. Learn about the “what-by-how” method in this short YouTube video.
Create SMART goals: make sure your OGSM goals are specific, measurable, ambitious, realistic, and time-bound. Do include financial goals. Learn more about how to set clear goals here.
Create goals for the “what” and “how”: define SMART goals for the “what”-part of the objective and the “how”-part. This defines both the success of the destination and keeps track of your progress in the right direction. Learn more about the “what-by-how” method in this short YouTube video.
Limit yourself to 2-3 initiatives per strategy: Similarly, limit yourself to only 2-3 high impact actions or initiatives per strategy to allow sufficient focus without putting all your eggs in one basket. Read more about how to set effective measures for OGSM here.
Split measures into metrics and initiatives: we have found it very helpful to distinguish each measure into SMART metrics and an action plan.
Test your strategies and measures: check for clarity, sufficiency, alignment and resource sufficiency.
Assign owners: assign an “owner” for each strategy. This person is accountable that the strategy is being implemented but may not necessarily be responsible for all actions.
Keep the OGSM simple: OGSM is a straight-forward approach to strategic planning. Keep it neat and tidy and restrict yourself to one clear objective statement, few meaningful goals, 3-5 strategies and 2-3 measures per strategy.
Ask tough questions: be candid and realistic about your business, its situation, its strengths and weaknesses. Have the courage to be critical.
Resource your OGSM: make sure you have the resources available or can build them in time to successfully execute your OGSM. Resources means funds, knowledge, and skills.
Agree on a governance process: Confirm at time of OGSM creation how you will follow up on execution. Set a cadence of e.g. quarterly reviews for 3-5 year strategies and e.g. monthly reviews for annual operating plans.
Schedule all reviews in advance: fill the calendar with all review meetings ahead of time for the duration of the year. Make the meetings mandatory for the business team responsible for execution.
Check in regularly: during OGSM implementation, check in regularly with your team on progress of each initiative – during formal reviews and “offline” in between. Make sure they have the information and resources they need to succeed.
Use OGSM for communication: the OGSM format lends itself well for communicating your strategy. The OGSM shows where you are heading and how you are going to get there. All priorities on a single page!
Make the OGSM transparent: allow everyone in your business to see the OGSM to understand what the priorities are and how everyone can contribute to achieving the business’ objective and goals.
Practice! Practice makes progress. We have learned the OGSM approach over many reiterations. We realized how the plans and their execution got better and better over time.
Follow through: the success of your OGSM and your strategic plan depends entirely on how it is executed and followed up on.
Don’t use OGSM for the sake of using OGSM: be meaningful about selecting the strategic planning approach that works best for your business.
Refrain from generalizations: Avoid platitudes that could apply to any business or any time. Make the OGSM specific to your business and your situation.
Don’t create the OGSM in isolation: top-down strategies often lack commitment and buy-in. OGSM works best when created and executed in the team and with clear strategic context. Anchor the OGSM in your business processes as described in these top 10 OGSM tips.
Don’t skip a step: OGSM is most effective when O-G-S-M are all addressed in order from left to right. Don’t just go through the motions but sufficiently address each step.
Don’t keep the OGSM a mystery: be open about the OGSM methodology and what the OGSM for your business looks like. Transparency wins! This is one of the ways you avoid the 7 deadly sins of business strategy.
Don’t delegate responsibility for the OGSM: the OGSM should be the strategic plan for the entire business and should be owned by the business leader. It may help to have a facilitator who reminds people of their commitments. But the overall responsibility must be with the business leader and the leadership team to avoid strategic failure.
Avoid perfectionism: Don’t get lost in details about the looks or the wording of your OGSM. Make sure that the statements are clear and unambiguous but then move on. It’s more important to execute than to reiterate the wording.
Don’t forget to execute! The OGSM or any strategic plan is only that: a plan. Use the approach to drive execution in your business.
Don’t cascade too far: Avoid creating individual OGSMs for every organizational hierarchy or every individual employee. OGSM is most powerful when it captures the overall priorities of a business or a function.
Don’t debate methodology: refrain from discussing the strategic process itself and rather focus on content and what the realities of your business are. Agree on the approach and then execute it.
Don’t forget to celebrate successes! Celebrate every initiative, every action, and every progress towards achieving your overall objective and goals.
Don’t compromise: when making strategic choices, avoid compromising if you are in disagreement. Make hard choices. Strategies need to be sharp and clear. No one wins when resources are spread too thinly to be effective.
Don’t create individual plans: avoid creating disconnected strategies in your business. Connect and align the strategies towards your overall objective and goals.
Don’t be afraid to hire external help: OGSM is simple but having an experienced facilitator or consultant can help move the business along the learning curve faster.
Don’t rush strategic planning: ensure you have sufficient time to prepare for a strategic review. Collect data, seek input from key stakeholders, and create a setting that allows strategic thinking. Plan a strategic workshop to run a structured strategy process.
Don’t confuse strategy with operations: avoid mixing day-to-day operations with the strategic initiatives that drive change and move your business towards its overall objective. Avoid including in the OGSM the activities that belong in a job description.
Don’t forget the action plan: each initiative under measures must have a caretaker, timeline and clear milestones. Ensure accountability and deliverables are clear.
Don’t include ‘nice-to-have’ initiatives: focus your OGSM on the ‘must-have’ strategies and initiatives to achieve our objective. Avoid including ‘nice-to-haves’ and running the risk of losing focus.
Don’t give up on your plan too easily. Things might change in the external environment or inside the business. Don’t fold your OGSM too quickly but regularly review its implementation. Pivot where needed, but stick to your guns.
Ready to put these dos and don’ts into practice? Start with the right tool. The OGSM Template Bundle gives you both the PowerPoint and Excel OGSM templates in one download — pre-formatted, fully customizable, and available at just $7.99 (save 20% vs. buying separately).
See These Principles in Action: OGSM Examples by Industry
The dos and don’ts above are most powerful when you can see them applied in context. We’ve built detailed, worked OGSM examples for four industries that illustrate how real organisations apply these principles — including where the common mistakes show up and how to avoid them.
OGSM Example: B2B SaaS — a pipeline analytics company scaling from $2M to $8M ARR, with explicit trade-offs in each strategy and a full measures table linking actions to owners
OGSM Example: AI Startup — a Series A company showing how to focus on one segment rather than spreading across all verticals — one of the most common don’ts in practice
OGSM Example: E-commerce / DTC Brand — a sustainable home goods company whose OGSM forces the hard conversation about SKU rationalisation and owned vs. paid growth
OGSM Example: Non-Profit — an education foundation whose strategy addresses both programme reach and funding sustainability — neither in isolation
OGSM Example: Tony’s Pizza — the classic OGSM case study, still the clearest illustration of how all four components work together
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.
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.
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.
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.
Making smart strategic choices is critical for any business, particularly small businesses. But when searching online for guidance on how to develop strategies, I have been frustrated to find mostly theoretical or conceptual answers which are primarily geared towards larger corporations. Here is how I learned to develop strategies in practice.
Developing effective strategies is a 5-step process to make choices about how to achieve desired results:
Set objectives and goals as your destination
Develop strategic alternatives using SWOT analysis
Prioritize 3-5 strategies
Check that chosen strategies are aligned, sufficient, and clear
Set measures and create action plan to drive implementation
Especially in small businesses, there is little time and resources for a structured strategic planning process. The focus of the business and its owner is on customers, delivering products or services, and getting paid. Cash flow is king. Yet, also small businesses benefit from a clear strategy. So in order to avoid sounding too theoretical myself, let’s drill into the details of the five steps and add practical tips and examples.
Strategy means making choices about where to focus resources to achieve results
First of all, strategies are not developed in isolation. There is always a context within which a business operates and there are people involved who handle the day-to-day aspects of the business. Both context and people should be considered and included in the process.
What do I mean by context? My business operates in an industry, in a market, in a regulatory environment. There are forces external to my business which I have little influence over. They can be a source of opportunity or threat. I need to understand these influences and gauge the impact they might have on my business.
In addition, there is an internal context. My business should have a purpose. It has certain capabilities and limited financial means. It is important to understand the internal strengths and weaknesses of the business. Together these form the context within which I operate and which sets the stage for developing strategies.
People run the business, make decisions and allocate resources. As far as you can, involve your people in the strategic process. This will create greater clarity about the context, why choices are made, and how everyone can contribute to the success of the business. Clarity creates engagement and engagement creates results. So involve the team in formulating the strategy. If it’s just you, this will be easy. However, I’d still recommend going through the 5-step process.
Step 1: Begin with the end in mind
In order to formulate strategies, begin with the end in mind. Set the objective and define measurable goals that you aim to achieve over a given time frame – typically 3-5 years.
The objective should be a clear and concise, qualitative statement about the direction of the business. The goals are the quantitative translation of the objective into measurable facts and figures. Learn more about how to write a great objective and set clear goals via the respective links.
Step 2: Develop strategic alternatives using SWOT
SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. It is a simple but very effective tool to get a handle on your internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats. This is what a simple SWOT framework looks like:
Strengths: – … – … – …
Weaknesses: – … – … – …
Opportunities: – … – … – …
Threats: – … – … – …
Simple SWOT Analysis
Conduct a brief but thoughtful assessment of your strengths and weaknesses first. Identify the top 3 of each and write them down.
Tip: Be brutally honest with yourself. You do not gain anything from this exercise if you beautify weaknesses or underestimate your own strengths. If you are not sure where to start, think about what you do well and why customers buy from you. Check into customer feedback if you have any or conduct a survey among your customers or your employees. If you have a team, conduct this exercise as a brainstorming workshop.
Then turn to the outside environment of your business and identify the top 3 opportunities and threats and write them down. Be concise and specific. Refrain from capturing only “competition” as a threat. Yes, competition can be a threat, but which aspect of competition, which product, which competitor particularly etc.? Again, be brief but be precise. Work in a team if you can.
Bring the 4 SWOT categories together onto one page and do a ‘crossover’ analysis to identify strategic alternatives. Look at the following pairs to derive strategy statements.
Crossover Analysis of SWOT Results
Strength-Opportunity Strategies: Can you use any of your strengths to capture an opportunity?
Strength-Threat Strategies: Can you use any of your strengths to eliminate or mitigate a threat?
Weakness-Opportunity Strategies: Can you use any of your opportunities to improve or mitigate any of your weaknesses? Or could any of your weaknesses prevent you from taking advantage of an opportunity?
Weakness-Threat Strategies: Can you use any of your opportunities to minimize your threats? Or do you need to improve or manage around any of your weaknesses to prevent a threat?
Write all strategic alternatives down in the “what-by-how” format. Statements using the “what-by-how” format have two parts that specify what you do and how you are going to do it. For example, “go to work by taking the bus”, or “grow my business by launching a new product.” The benefit of doing this is that you directly specify how you will achieve what you intend to do and have a starting point when formulating your action plan in step 5.
Excellent, now you have an option space from which you will choose your strategies next.
Step 3: Choose 3-5 strategies
This is the hardest and the most fun part! This is where you make choices about how to spend your time and resources to achieve your objective. But exactly how do I do that?
FIrst, review all strategic alternatives from step 2 and cluster them by category.(Bear with me for this step. This will become very useful later on.) In my experience it is very helpful to think about strategies in clusters of value-add or how they help drive competitiveness. You will see how in a moment and when checking for sufficiency in step 4. Typical categories of value-add are
Growth: these are strategies regarding focus markets, particular market trends, customers or growth drivers.
Productivity: these are strategies regarding process efficiency, cost improvements, supply chain, lead times, yield, quality and so on.
Product / Service offering: these are strategies regarding product development, innovation, adding new services or content for your customers
Positioning / Value Proposition: these are strategies regarding value-add for customers, differentiation from competitors and clarifying how you want to be perceived by your customers
People / Organizational Capabilities: these are strategies regarding knowledge, skills or capabilities you need to add or culture and employees.
If a strategy could fit into multiple categories, just pick one that seems most logical. It is not so critical which category you allocate. It’s more important that the purpose and the value-add of the strategy becomes clear.
Next, go back to your objective and your goals and prioritize your list of categorized strategic alternatives. Prioritize the strategic alternatives according to which alternatives fit best with the purpose of your objective and will give you the biggest chance to succeed at the smallest cost.
For example, if your objective is to grow the business, review the alternatives in your growth category and check for strategies that help you build the internal processes and skills you need to succeed. If your objective is to drive greater productivity, review the alternatives in your productivity category. If your objective is to build greater customer satisfaction, review the strategies in positioning and so on.
If you have developed many alternatives, consider using the following simple tool to prioritize strategies according to cost/benefit. Evaluate each strategy on its cost/complexity/time to implement and its benefit/impact/return on investment. Prioritize strategies in boxes numbered 1, then 2, then 3 etc. Check strategies with low cost and low benefit for potential quick wins, which may help you build momentum.
Prioritization Matrix
Your goal in this step is to choose the 3-5 strategies that will create the greatest impact/benefit with the lowest cost/complexity towards achieving your objective and all your goals.
Pro Tip:Be conscious of potential cognitive biases in step 3. Make as much as possible rational, logical and data-driven choices. Avoid getting caught up in biases towards most recent projects (recency bias), personal beliefs (confirmation bias), or the first information you find (availability bias). Look outside your comfort zone. Conduct your research and seek multiple sources of data if necessary. The best strategy may just be the one that you had not thought of before.
Step 4: Check alignment, sufficiency & clarity
You are almost there. Now review your top 3-5 strategies once more to make sure they are the right ones. Do three checks:
Check for alignment
Check for sufficiency
Check for clarity
Checking for alignment means ensuring that the chosen strategies are congruent with each other. All chosen strategies need to move the business in the same direction, namely towards your objective. If you have chosen two strategies that are in conflict with each other or pull in opposing directions, review if there is not a better alternative.
For example, it could be problematic if two strategies required the full attention of the same resource. Imagine you only had access to one web designer and the capacity of the web designer was fully occupied by one of the strategies. That would put the second strategy at risk.
Checking for sufficiency means ensuring that the chosen strategies satisfy the objective and all the goals. If an aspect of your objective or any of the goals are not sufficiently addressed by the strategies, go back to your strategic alternatives and either select an additional one or swap for one with greater impact.
Checking for clarity means ensuring that the chosen strategies are 100% understandable and unambiguous. Review the strategies with your team. Ask the team to rephrase the strategies in their own words to check for understanding. I cannot stress this point enough. Different people read the same word but have two completely different understandings of what it means. Adjust the wording until everything is clear. Invest in clarity, over-communicate. Everyone must be clear what is expected of them to be successful.
Important: only move on from this step once the chosen 3-5 strategies are rock solid. Anything less than that will get you in trouble when driving execution.
Side pocket from my personal experience
I once facilitated a strategy workshop with a team of senior managers at a large corporation. We formulated ambitious objectives and goals and chose 5 well aligned strategies. Until one manager spoke up and said he didn’t agree with one of the strategies.
A 3-hour discussion ensued. The manager tried hard to convince his colleagues of his concerns but everyone else was not on board. After some time I felt something did not seem right. There might be a misunderstanding. How could there be such a vast difference in opinion on this strategy?
It turns out, the manager misunderstood what the purpose of the strategy was. Once that misunderstanding was resolved, we were able to decide on the five strategies and come to a quick conclusion.
Imagine this had happened during the execution and this manager would have worked on a project that was completely irrelevant to the objective? It could have placed the strategic plan in jeopardy or at least would have been a complete waste of resources.
In a small business with few people and limited resources, this could have spelled disaster.
Please note that due to confidentiality I cannot be more specific about this example. Sorry!
Step 5: Set measures and create action plan
Finally, create the implementation plan. A former mentor and friend once said, “a strategy is only as good as its execution.” So this is when you plan that execution.
First, define 2-3 measures for each strategy that guide your implementation. Measures translate the strategy into quantifiable facts and figures that allow you to track the progress and success of your strategy. These can of course be financial figures, such as sales, cost budgets, or units sold etc. Or these could be operational metrics such as yield rate, customer satisfaction, or cycle time.
Next, clarify who does what by when. For each strategy, create an action plan that specifies 2-3 initiatives with caretakers and timeline. Make sure that the chosen initiatives are aligned, sufficient, and clear to execute the strategy and achieve each of the metrics.
Once this is completed, check once more that resources are sufficient to achieve everything you have developed and that there is absolute clarity about what you aim to achieve and how you are going to do it.
Finally, write down and summarize your strategic plan in a clean and clear document. A great way to do so is to use the OGSM format.
Done! Give yourself and/or your team members a big hand. Now that you have developed your strategic plan, the real work can begin.
What is the importance of making strategic choices?
Earlier I said it was important to choose only 3-5 strategies. But why? Why not choose all relevant strategies and increase my chances of success? And if you had endless time and resources that may be a good idea. However, resources are finite and if you are like me, you want to earn the highest possible return on investment. So you need to prioritize and choose.
The reason we pick three to five strategies is to focus. Focus enables you to concentrate your resources on those strategies most likely to succeed. Focus allows you to follow through and not get distracted. Focus allows your team to keep track of those strategies most important to your business. In an age of constant news and information flow, it is easy to get sidetracked or to get excited about new opportunities and activities. If you are serious about executing your strategies, however, you need focus.
In my experience, three to five strategies are just right. If you choose more than five, you spread your resources too thinly and have to keep track of too many activities. If you choose less than three, you are heavily dependent on success in all of them. If one of them fails, your entire objective is immediately in jeopardy. 3-5 strategies achieve the right balance between diversification and focus.
How is strategy different in small business?
If you are anything like me, then at the beginning of my business, I did not concern myself much with strategy. I had picked a target market, I had an idea for a product, and then it was GO GO GO. My total focus was on creating that product – as quick and as many as I could.
When I realized however that I was not quite meeting customer needs and that my product had to adapt, I had to make a strategic decision which path to pursue next to drive cash flow. As a small business owner that’s what it’s all about: cash. Of course it is also about customer satisfaction and growth and managing costs etc. But the primary goal for a small business is to be cash flow positive. So I pivoted and modified the product to drive sales and with that cash flow.
In essence, in a small business, when it’s just you, you go through the strategic process above lightning fast in your mind. As soon as you have a partner or employee, it makes sense to discuss through the process with the other person. The more people you have or the more products you sell or the more markets and customers you serve, the more formal or more explicit you want to be in working through the strategic process.
Do not lose sight of why you do it though. The purpose of reviewing your strategy is to get back to making products, creating content, and delivering services for your customers. So do not spend too much time on the strategic review. Be pragmatic. Review the strategy to make sure you focus on the right products, the right content, and the right customers. Write those priorities down so they are explicit to yourself and to your employees and stakeholders.
Things that are written down create clarity and commitment. If it’s not just you, discuss through the process, write down your strategies, and make sure that everyone in your business is clear about where you are heading and how you are going to get there.
How do I execute the strategy effectively to achieve results?
The most effective way to turn strategy into results is
Having clear objectives and tangible goals,
Having a clearly written down strategies and measures,
Having a clear action plan with timeline and caretakers (even if that is yourself)
And then execution, execution, execution.
This is not rocket science. But it does take focus and discipline. The best strategic plan is not worth the paper it’s written on if you do not believe in it and do not execute it ruthlessly.
A great way to turn strategy into results is to use the OGSM methodology. OGSM stands for Objectives, Goals, Strategies, and Measures. It is a one-page business plan which connects WHAT you want to achieve with HOW you are going to do it. The OGSM builds the execution plan directly into the strategy.
What I really like about the OGSM is that it creates clarity about what needs to be done to achieve the goals. It also doesn’t take a lot of time to set up. And it neatly aligns strategies and measures with objectives and goals. This alignment means that in day-to-day operations I can focus entirely on executing my action plan knowing that it will lead me to delivering the desired results.
Commit yourself to regularly reviewing your OGSM and making sure that you do what you said you would do. A good cadence to review your action plan for your 3-5 year strategy is on a quarterly basis. An annual operating plan should be reviewed monthly. Take an hour every month to check whether you are keeping up with your commitments. Double down on what’s working. Pivot where it’s not – and you will stay well on track to executing your strategy and achieving results.
Conclusion
Strategies are the key initiatives you undertake to realize your objective and achieve your goals.
Whether for large businesses or small ones, developing effective strategies is a 5-step process to make choices about how to achieve desired results:
Set objectives and goals as your destination
Develop strategic alternatives using SWOT analysis
Prioritize 3-5 strategies
Check that chosen strategies are aligned, sufficient, and clear
Set measures and create action plan to drive implementation
Especially in small businesses, there is little time and resources for a structured strategic planning process. The focus of the business is on customers, products or services, and getting paid. Cash flow is king. Yet, small businesses also benefit from a clear strategy and the OGSM methodology is a pragmatic way to achieve that.
If you’d like to learn more about the OGSM methodology, click here.
If you enjoyed this article or have any questions or comments, please leave us a comment below. Would love to hear from you!
A great strategic plan must give clear direction to the business about where it is going and how it will get there. And this starts with a great objective statement.
The objective is a written, qualitative statement describing the direction of the business by answering the question “where are we going?”. The best objective statements are clear and concise, inspiring and ambitious, yet achievable over the chosen timeframe.
Packing so much information into just one sentence is difficult. However, writing a great objective statement is critical because everything else in the strategic plan will follow its lead. Particularly when working with the OGSM methodology, it’s important to have a strong objective statement. Here is how you can craft an excellent objective for your strategic plan.
Follow These 5 Steps To Write An Objective Statement For Your Strategic Plan
While the objective is a key element of the strategic plan, it is not the first thing you do in strategic planning. Prior to writing the objective statement, first conduct an analysis of the purpose of the business and the situation it is in. The situational analysis should look into the internal and external environment of the business to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. This provides the strategic context for the strategic plan.
Next, determine the timeframe for the strategic plan. This is important as the objective should describe the future state at the end of this time period. A common time frame for a strategic plan is 3-5 years, but this may vary with company purpose, the realities of the business and its industry. When writing an annual plan, the timeframe is 1 year.
Armed with the business’ current situation, set out to brainstorm the results you aim to achieve over the specified timeframe. Consider the following questions to guide your thought process:
What are you aiming to achieve over the time period? What does success look like?
What are customers, employees, or other stakeholders going to say about your business?
What challenges do you have to overcome?
What processes or competences are critical to your success?
Consolidate your thoughts to draft a one-sentence objective statement using the what-by-how method. The what-by-how method described by Marc van Eck & Ellen Leenhouts in their excellent book “The One-Page Business Strategy” structures the sentence into two parts: a ‘what’-part and a ‘how’-part. This ensures that your statement is specific and actionable. Proceed as follows.
Write the ‘what’-part of the statement optimally in a Verb-Adjective-Noun sentence structure, including at least Verb-Noun.
For example, “drive aggressive growth…” or “improve profitability…” or “become our customers’ first choice…”.
Write the ‘how’-part as a description of what you will do to achieve the ‘what’-part of the statement. Start the ‘how’-part with “by”.
For example, “…by launching new products in the consumer category” or “…by consolidating our tool brands into a leading home improvement business” or “…by putting our customer at the center of everything we do”.
See the “what-by-how” method explained in this short YouTube video.
Finally, review the objective statement and make sure it does not leave anything unwantedor unsatisfied. Ask yourself the following questions.
Is the statement clear and concise?
Is it specific and understandable?
Does every word in the statement have a purpose? Delete any ambiguity or redundancy.
Is the statement ambitious and inspiring?
Does the objective stretch the organization?
Does it rally the team and inspire action?
Is the statement achievable in the time frame?
Does the objective sound realistic?
Is the statement rooted in the realities of the business?
Is the objective congruent with vision and mission of the business?
Does it fit with the business’ internal and external situation?
If you have followed these steps, then your objective should be quite specific and spell out in no unmistakable terms what you are aiming to achieve over the chosen time horizon and how you are going to get there.
Examples of Objective Statements
Now that we have discussed how to write the objective, let’s look at some really good examples.
Consider a company producing shoe cream that wishes to diversify its offering. The objective of its strategic plan might read:
“Become the recognized category leader in up-market shoe cream by expanding our existing portfolio of shoe treatment products and developing new, exclusive channels to market.”
Or alternatively consider a very innovative mobile phone brand with high growth ambitions.
“Double our market share in solar-powered mobile phones by developing more efficient miniature-sized solar panels and expanding our retail footprint in Utopia.”
Note that each of these examples has a clear articulation of the “what”-part of the objective statement and two clear aspects of the “how”-part. The statements are clear and concise. You can argue that they are ambitious and inspiring (becoming the recognized category leader, doubling the market share). And if you are a company in these respective spaces already, it seems realistic to achieve those objectives.
On the flip side, here are some examples of objective statements which might not be effective for strategic planning.
“Deliver growth”
“Make the numbers”
“Implement the project”
Note that all of these statements follow the Verb-Noun sequence and are actionable. However, the statements are not specific, I don’t find them particularly inspiring, and they also do not articulate how we will achieve the objective. How about the following instead?
“Be great by delivering awesome service”
“Run the company by empowering the employees”
Both of these statements follow the “what-by-how” approach. In the first statement, however, it is not clear what “being great” means and “awesome service” is very ambiguous. The second statement does not read like a strategic direction for the future but more of an operational guidance for today.
Some of these statements are quite simplistic. I purposefully chose them though to clearly illustrate what a good objective statement looks like. And don’t laugh, but I have actually seen a couple of those latter ones in practice!
Important Considerations
When creating the objective statement for your strategic plan, it is paramount that all stakeholders understand and agree with the objective and the strategic context within which it is nestled.
The strategic plan is built to support achieving the objective of the business. If there is doubt in the organization whether the right objective is chosen or if parts of the objective are unclear, then the entire strategic plan might be in doubt. It’s worth investing in making sure that all key stakeholders are in agreement.
In addition, note that the objective is not the company vision or mission statement or an open-ended dream. The objective spells out a concrete, attainable result within a specified time frame, e.g. 3-5 years, while the vision may be a longer term aspiration. The objective may however very well be a priority or major milestone in the pursuit of your longer term vision. In fact, for annual business plans, I personally like to think of the objective as being a focus area for the year as I aim to realize my vision.
Common Mistakes With Strategic Objectives
When writing your objective statement, look out for the following common pitfalls.
Objective is unclear
It sometimes runs in human nature that when we think of strategy that we use big words and formulate very ambitious plans. Check for clarity though. Being ambitious and pushing the boundaries of what is possible is great when everyone in the business understands what is expected of them. Large, ambiguous terms may need to be defined or specified if necessary.
Objective includes the ‘what’ but not the ‘how’-part or vice versa
The objective statement is most clear and actionable when both aspects of the ‘what-by-how’ approach are considered. Check whether you spot the word “by” in your statement as an indicator whether anything is missing.
Objective does not fit with the scope or priorities of the business
This might sound obvious but I have experienced this in practice. Choose an objective that does not run counter to the purpose of your business or conflicts with its values, vision or mission. In fact, ensure that the objective is well aligned and contributes to their realization.
Objective is not ambitious enough and therefore does not inspire action
If the objective of a 3-5 year strategic plan is achievable within 6-12 months, it is not ambitious enough and will not inspire the organization to take action. Challenge yourself to large objectives that require step change instead of incremental modifications.
Objective is a laundry list of projects or initiatives
The objective statement should not be a to-do list of current projects. Double check to make sure the objective is not too operational but aims into the 3-5 year future.
Objective is too long
If you realize that the objective statement is wrapping too many lines and begins to enumerate too many ‘hows’, consider reviewing whether you are setting the right priorities. The longer the statement, the larger the risk that clarity, congruence and realism are lost.
When following the 5 steps of writing an excellent objective statement above, you should have no trouble at all with avoiding falling into any of these common traps.
Where to go from here?
A strong objective statement is key to the success of your strategy as it defines the direction for your business.
