What Should The Agenda Of A Strategic Planning Meeting Look Like?

If you have been asked to prepare the agenda of a strategic planning meeting but are not sure what to include, look no further. I have scoured over the many strategy workshops I have held to consolidate my insights into one agenda guide. 

The agenda of a strategic planning meeting should follow the strategy process and should generally have six parts: 

• Current Situation
• Internal Analysis 
• External Analysis
• Future Destination
• Strategy Development
• Execution Plan

Depending on the length of the meeting, the agenda may span one, two, or three days and include opening statements, ice breakers, and summaries as needed. 

Let’s explore further what the agenda of an excellent meeting should concretely look like, followed by examples which you can use for your meeting.

Strategic Planning Meeting Agenda

First things first, the planning of a strategy meeting usually does not start with writing the agenda. There are few things I would recommend to do before that. I have written all about it in this 14-step preparation guide for strategy meetings. For the purpose of this article though, allow me to focus straight away on the agenda itself. 

Whether you are organizing a one, two, or three-day strategic planning meeting, the agenda for such meetings generally looks quite similar. The agenda typically follows the strategy process or strategy framework you have chosen for your strategic review. The difference between the one, two or three-day agenda is the amount of time you have to dive deeper into analyses, invite outside input or include discussion and get-to-know sessions. 

I have led and facilitated one, two, and three-day meetings and I would recommend making the length of the meeting dependent on the type of strategic challenge, the familiarity of the group, and the amount of change your business is facing. The higher the stakes and the less the group knows each other, the more you will benefit from a longer session. 

As such, one-day meetings are great for brief, annual reviews of the strategic direction of the business. Two and three-day sessions are preferred for more in-depth reviews and larger strategic overhauls. Now let’s finally look at the actual agenda. 

I like to structure the agenda of the strategy meeting according to the strategy process and add kick-off and summary sessions. In addition, depending on how much time is available, I’ll add introduction sessions and ice-breakers. These are valuable if the group does not know each other well but will need to work effectively in a trusting environment for the duration of the meeting. 

In the beginning is a Welcome & Introduction session. The purpose of this session is to set the expectations for the meeting including meeting objectives, desired outcomes, meeting rules and the agenda itself. If time allows, I’d follow this with an introduction round giving each person the opportunity to introduce themselves and share their expectations for the meeting. 

Pro Tip: consider kicking off the meeting with a personal story that allows you to grab the attention of the participants and connect them with the objective of the meeting. This sets the tone and breaks the ice. 

Bonus Tip: If needed, include an introduction to the strategic process. This session familiarizes the team with the strategy process and the strategy framework & tools that will be applied. This will help demystify what strategy is and what participants are expected to do for the rest of the meeting. 

The first content point is the Current Situation of the business. Use this session to clarify the mission and purpose of the business and its historic development to the present day. Some of this information should be prepared up front and the depth of the discussion should be in line with the significance of the strategic review. In a one-day annual review, this session can be short and focus more on recent financials. In a turn-everything-upside-down company overhaul, this could be an extensive soul-searching session. 

Next, the agenda features the Internal Analysis. This session aims to review the business’ core strengths and weaknesses and a significant amount of time should be devoted to this discussion. Similarly, the External Analysis should receive sufficient attention to identify changes in the external environment including opportunities and threats. You may consider holding these discussions in break-out groups for each group to dive deeper into their task and report back with their findings.  

Pro-Tip: Include sufficient break time in your agenda between these sessions to allow participants to refresh, get some air or digest the discussions. Providing time to look into emails and allow side discussions keeps participants focused and present during the meeting time. 

The purpose of the next session is to define the Future Direction. This is arguably the most interesting session requiring the most creative thinking. Ensure that there is sufficient time and space to have this discussion. Avoid heading straight into this session after a lunch break or in the evening when people enter their “food coma” or feel tired from a long day. The best time of day for this session is early morning or mid-afternoon after an energy booster.

Strategy Development is the next session that requires a clear mind and strong decision making. Setting the strategy is all about making strategic choices about how you will get from A to B. If well prepared and well structured, this discussion may not take as long as the situational analysis. But the risk of getting lost in the nitty-gritty details poses a challenge for time management. 

After the future destination and the key strategies are confirmed, the purpose of the next part is to confirm the detailed Execution Plan. This session often does not receive enough attention and is rushed at the end of a meeting. Take sufficient time for this session! …or risk not implementing what you have spent so much time discussing during this meeting. It does help to schedule this session towards the end of the meeting to create a sense of urgency and gain commitment from participants. But do not skip this. 

Finally, make a point to Wrap Up in order to summarize key take-aways, review the action items, and lay out the next steps. Use this session also to confirm that meeting objectives were met and that each participant had a chance to address his or her expectations. 

Pro-Tip: If time allows, include a feedback round at the end of the meeting to learn how the meeting was perceived and what can be improved next time around. 

One more thought about timing. If possible, I personally prefer to keep detailed session times flexible instead of scheduling hard start and end times. Especially for two or three-day meetings, I’ll set only start time in the mornings and finish time in the evenings. Other times are indications based on meeting progress. If the discussions are effective and producing results, I try not to interrupt just because the agenda says “break at 10:30am”. This of course depends on the setting, meeting venue, and food & beverage arrangements. If possible, plan ahead to allow such flexibility.  

There you have it: this is the rundown for a strategy meeting. Read on for examples and additional insights for your strategy meeting agenda design.

What does the agenda of a 3-day strategic planning meeting look like? 

A 3-day setting allows for in-depth discussions and creative use of timeslots. In a 3-day setting, I only set daily start time, finish time and lunch time and allow the rest of the timing to be dictated by the flow of the meeting. 

This is what a sample agenda for a 3-day meeting looks like. 

	Day 1	Day 2	Day 3
Morning	~8:30: Welcome & Introductions ~9:30: Introduction to Strategy Process ~10:30: Current Situation	~8:30: Recap Day 1 and rundown Day 2 ~9:00: Future Destination	~8:30: Recap Day 2 and rundown Day 3 ~9:00: Execution Plan
Lunch	~12:30:  Lunch	~12:30: Lunch	~12:30: Lunch
Afternoon	~13:30:  Internal Analysis External Analysis ~17:00:  Wrap Up Day 1	~13:30: Strategy Development ~17:00: Wrap Up Day 2	~13:30: Open questions / parking lot ~14:30:  Actions and Next Steps ~16:00: Feedback ~17:00: Wrap Up
Evening	~18:00: Group Dinner

What does the agenda of a 2-day strategic planning meeting look like? 

The rundown of a 2-day strategy meeting is similar to a 3-day meeting in terms of seeking in-depth discussions and keeping individual time slots more flexible. However, in a 2-day setting, the agenda is overall more dense. 

This is what a sample agenda for a 2-day meeting looks like. 

	Day 1	Day 2
Morning	~8:30: Welcome & Introductions ~9:30: Current Situation ~11:00: Internal Analysis	~8:30: Recap Day 1 and rundown Day 2 ~9:00: Strategy Development ~11:00: Execution Plan
Lunch	~12:30:  Lunch	~13:00: Lunch
Afternoon	~13:30: External Analysis ~15:30:  Future Destination ~17:30:  Wrap Up Day 1	~14:00: Open questions / parking lot ~15:00:  Actions and Next Steps ~16:00: Feedback ~17:00: Wrap Up
Evening	~19:00: Group Dinner

Can I do a strategic planning meeting in only 1 day? 

Yes, it is possible to conduct a strategic planning meeting in only one day. However, in a one-day setting, detailed analysis and in-depth discussions are less feasible. 

A one-day session is most effective for annual strategic review meetings in which to confirm the long-term future of the business and ongoing strategy execution. A one-day agenda also works really well for annual operating planning meetings. 

When choosing a one-day setting, I prefer to be more structured and adhere to more fixed time slots. This helps to ensure that discussions do not overrun and that meeting objectives can be met. 

A one-day strategy meeting agenda looks like this:

	Day 1
Morning	8:00: Welcome & Introductions 8:30: Current Situation: Highlights & Lowlights 9:30: Internal & External Analysis Break-out sessions (incl. break) 11:00: Situational Analysis Report Out Presentations 11:30: Review of Future Destination
Lunch	13:00: Lunch
Afternoon	14:00: Review of Strategic Choices & Progress  15:30: Adjustments to Execution Plan 16:30: Actions & Next Steps 17:30: Wrap Up
Evening	19:00: Group Dinner

How do I plan for a strategic planning meeting? 

Creating the agenda of a strategy meeting is just one part of the preparation. Based on my experience running strategy workshops, I have written a 14-step guide about how to prepare for a strategic planning meeting. This has helped me save vast amounts of time and ensure that I do not forget anything. 

You can find my introduction to this 14-step approach here including a printable one-page checklist. 

In addition, take a look at our resource page with tools, templates and examples as well as a handy workshop material shopping lists. 

Conclusion

The agenda of a strategic planning meeting largely depends on the type of strategic challenge, amount of change the business is facing and the familiarity of the participants. 

Generally, the agenda of a strategy meeting follows the strategy process and additionally includes opening statements, ice breakers, and summaries as needed. Strategy meetings typically last between one and three days. 

If you found this article helpful or have any questions or comments, why not leave us a reply below? We’d be happy to hear from you.