How to Write a Strategic Plan
To mature your organisation’s digital capabilities
Listen and Learn: Introduction to B9
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INTRODUCTION: B9 How to write a strategic plan
What is covered in this lesson?
INTRODUCTION:
SECTION 1: Current State
SECTION 2: Future State
SECTION 3: Strategic Blueprint
SECTION 4: Executive Summary
SECTION 5: Final tips & tricks
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INTRODUCTION: B9 How to write a strategic plan
PROJECT GROUP WORK: Throughout this module, your group will build out your organisation’s Stability Tracker and develop a strategic plan based on the outcomes thereof.
A Strategic plan details your company’s present situation, outlines it’s future plans, and shows how the company can get there. It provides your organisation with a map toward meeting its objectives by answering 3 questions:
What is a Strategic plan?
Addresses the foundation of your organization.
Serves as an outline for the following sections of your strategic plan:
Where are we now?
Identifies business goals and assesses whether your current trajectory is the future you want.
These aspects of the plan outline a strategy for achieving success and can include:
Where are we going?
Outlines the route(s) to achieve your vision and match your strengths with opportunities in the market.
A Gantt chart can help you map out and keep track of these initiatives:
How do we get there?
INTRODUCTION: B9 How to write a strategic plan
What to include in a strategic plan
INTRODUCTION: B9 How to write a strategic plan
Section 1: Current State
To ascertain your present situation, answer the following questions:
This section of the strategy document which answers the question: “Where are we?”, includes:
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Mission
Vision
Values
A vision statement helps all stakeholders understand the meaning and purpose of your company. The vision should be clearly attainable if you follow the goals and objectives you outline later in your strategic plan
The mission statement describes what you’re about at the highest level. It’s the reason you exist.
Strong mission statements can help differentiate your company from your competitors and keep you on track toward your goals.
It can also function as a type of tagline for your organization.
Define your company’s purpose. Say what you do, who you do it for, and why it is valuable.
Values help you understand what drives the company to do what it does.
The values are the core of how you operate and how you treat your people, both internally and externally.
Your values should align with your vision statement and highlight your strengths while mitigating weaknesses.
Your strategies have to align with your values and vice versa.
Mission statements show why a business exists, while vision statements are meant to inspire and provide direction.
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Section 3 of lesson B8 on “Measuring to Fix” introduced you to the WIN Stability Tracker as a means to measure the digital maturity of your business against the 5 pillars of the Deloitte Digital Maturity Model (DMM).
Though the indicators should have one primary business owner in the organisation, they need to be collaboratively updated by a combination of the CEO, COO, chief accountant, digital lead, head of HR and head of IT. ��As illustrated in the slides that follow, the Stability Tracker results sheets will provide you with a snapshot of the current state of your organisation’s digital maturity and stability in terms of:
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
The STABILITY TRACKER applies the CUSTOMER pillar lens of the DMM to your organisation by looking for evidence of audience-centricity in terms of the following qualitative measures:
Name | How to Measure |
CUSTOMER | Evidence of audience-centricity |
AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT | Evidence of defined and sized audiences and communities |
COMMUNITIES | Evidence of engagement activities with primary communities: eg newsletters, database of registered users, commenters, improved social etc |
AUDIENCE DATA | Evidence of the use of data management eg Google Analytics, Chartbeat or similar |
CUSTOMER | Evidence of attempt to move to single view of the customer: ie consolidation of customer data from print and digital |
WIN STABILITY TRACKER
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
The STABILITY TRACKER applies the CUSTOMER pillar lens of the DMM to your organisation by measuring customer awareness and audience management in the following way:
Name | How to Measure |
CUSTOMER | Measures of customer awareness and audience management |
BRAND AWARENESS | A month-on-month increase / decrease in Unique Viewers or Unique Browsers on website |
TRAFFIC and REACH | A month-on-month increase in PAGE VIEWS on website |
ENGAGEMENT | Engagement measures: An improvement in scroll depth, reduced bounce rates, increased visit length, recirculated traffic, newsletter open rates as measures of engagement |
COMMUNITIES | Newsletter open rates and click through rates % increase or decrease |
SOCIAL | Social audiences totals as a % increase or decrease |
CIRCULATION | Stable or increase in circulation numbers or subscription numbers (print/ digital) |
CHURN | A reduction in churn on subscriber numbers if applicable, in % (NB Remember to score a higher weighting ("2") for lower churn rate) |
WIN STABILITY TRACKER
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Metrics inserted in the CUSTOMER INPUT TABLE, render an executive dashboard view of trends in the CUSTOMER RESULTS TRACKER sheet.
WIN STABILITY TRACKER - EXAMPLE
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Stop & Think
Let’s stop and think for a moment:
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SECTION 1: B9 Current State
“If you don’t do a thorough industry analysis, you’re doing your planning with your head in the sand. If you’re not looking at the world around you, you’re missing a whole dimension about what should inform your decision making.
Writing about your industry helps you identify new opportunities for growth and shows you how you need to change in order to take advantage of those opportunities.” -
Denise McNerney, President of the Association for Strategic Planning
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Refer to lesson B2 on “Understanding your market and addressable audience” for a refresher on what to include in the Industry Analysis section of the Strategic Plan.
Industry / Market Analysis
PESTEL Analysis Framework
SWOT Analysis Framework
Porters’ Five Forces
A PESTEL Analysis template is available here
Porter’s Five Forces template available here
SWOT Analysis template is available here
The PESTEL Analysis Framework looks at the industry or business environment and the factors that could impact an organization’s overall health and well-being.
A SWOT analysis facilitates an understanding of what your organisation is doing well and where you can improve.
Strengths and weaknesses are internal characteristics, while opportunities and threats are external.
Porter’s Five Forces approach helps companies assess the competitiveness of the market. The key is to look at the amount of pressure each force applies to a company in order to determine that company’s future.
Reference the section on “Strategic Thinking and models” in lesson B8 of this module for an overview of some of the frameworks relevant to the Industry Analysis phase of the strategic plan. Examples include:
SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Group Assignment
Connect with your group members to discuss the following questions.
IMPORTANT: PLEASE DO NOT DOWNLOAD THE STABILITY TRACKER AS SOME FUNCTIONALITY MAY BE LOST
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SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Section 2: Future State
2. Future state
Now that you have a clear view of the current situation your organisation is faced with, both from an internal digital maturity and capability perspective, and the external environment perspective, you are equipped to define a digital vision and business model for the future. To realise this vision, you will need to set up digital initiatives known as strategic objectives with key results.
The future state section should include these elements:
One or more subsections can be included to give additional details on various elements and why they’ve been adopted
SECTION 2: B9 Future State
As you frame a vision for the future state of your business, it would be helpful to review the results sheets of your Stability Tracker for problem areas (in RED) which you may wish to mature.
Review the next slide for high-level objectives relative to the DMM pillars you would like to mature. Define Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) for the metrics you would like to mature per Stability Tracker DMM pillar.
2. Future state
SECTION 2: B9 Future State
2. Future state: Objectives and key results
Review of the lesson on Objectives and Key Results in lesson B7 of this module.
Strategic objectives against the DMM pillars of the Stability Tracker are provided at a high level below.
Define OKRs for the metrics you would like to mature per Stability Tracker DMM pillar.
SECTION 2: B9 Future State
# | Name | How to Measure | 1st QTR 2021 | 2nd QTR 2021 | 3rd QTR 2021 | Full Year 2021 |
1 | CUSTOMER | Evidence of audience-centricity | | | | |
| AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT | Evidence of defined and sized audiences and communities | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| COMMUNITIES | Evidence of engagement activities with primary communities: eg newsletters, database of registered users, commenters, improved social etc | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| AUDIENCE DATA | Evidence of the use of data management eg Google Analytics, Chartbeat or similar | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| CUSTOMER | Evidence of attempt to move to single view of the customer: ie consolidation of customer data from print and digital | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| | | | | | |
# | Digital Maturity | High-level Strategic Objectives |
1 | CUSTOMER | A more customer centric and audience focused business |
2 | STRATEGY | Better use and acknowledgment of data in the business to transform and drive strategic decision making |
3 | TECHNOLOGY | Investments for improvements in technology and tools to effect change |
4 | OPERATIONS | Improving processes to manage costs and improve productivity |
5 | ORGANISATION AND CULTURE | Gender balance, succession planning and training and development in digital |
Review the Strategic Thinking and Models section of lesson B8 for a refresher in the Business Model canvas
2. Future state: Business Model Canvas
For more detail see here
SECTION 2: B9 Future State
2. Future state: Value Proposition
Download Value Proposition Canvas template here.
SECTION 2: B9 Future State
Group Assignment
Connect with your group members to discuss the following questions.
Using your Stability Tracker as a point of reference:
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SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Section 3: Strategic Blueprint
3. Strategic Blueprint
You have completed the Current state and the Future State of your strategic plan. You therefore have a good grasp of where you are, and where you’re going. Now you will map a way to get there.
This section of the strategic plan describes how your company will bridge the gap between its current state and the desired future state, and will include the following:
The action plan is a simplified summary and is a reference point for the team to ensure their daily actions are aligned with the strategic plan.
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
Capacity ~, Operations ~, Marketing ~, and Financial Plans
3. Strategic Blueprint: Corporate Directions
Once you’ve decided on your goals and objectives, you need to figure out who will do what, how you will market what they do, and how you will pay for what you need to do.
If you do not consider the additional costs or revenues your plan is going to drive, you may be creating a plan you cannot implement.
Strategic Initiatives are projects that are designed to help the organization achieve Strategic Objectives and have significant organization-wide impact. �They are managed formally like any other project, meaning they are explicitly defined in terms of owner, schedule, resources needed, action steps, progress, and expected results.�Some Strategic Initiatives are short-term (taking only a few days to implement) while others can take years to fully implement.
Capacity Plan: �To achieve all the goals outlined in your strategic plan, you need the right people in place. Include a section in your strategic plan where you talk about the capacity of your organization. Do you have the team members to accomplish the objectives you have outlined in order to reach your goals? If not, you may need to hire personnel.
Operations Plan: �The operations plan maps out your initiatives and shows you who is going to do what, when, and how. This helps transform your goals and objectives into a reality. A summary of it should go into your strategic plan.
Marketing Plan: �A marketing plan describes how you attract prospects and convert them into customers. You don’t need to include the entire marketing plan in your strategic plan, but you might want to include a summary.
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
Name | How to Measure | Measured in |
FINANCE / STRATEGY | Measures of financial stability | |
REVENUE | Stable or growing REVENUE | Local Currency |
REVENUE / EARNINGS | Stable or growing EBITDA | Local Currency |
SOLVENCY | Percentage of operational expenses covered by gross annual revenues measured as a % | % |
DIGITAL REVENUE | Digital Revenue, Non-Print Revenue measured as a percentage of gross annual revenue | % |
CONTRIBUTION | Gross Profit Margin percentages | % |
YIELD | Revenue yield per subscriber - Print vs Digital (Total revenue divided by total number of subscribers) | Local Currency |
YIELD | - Yield per print subscriber | % |
YIELD | - Yield per digital subscriber | % |
TRANSFORMATION | Percentage of profits reinvested into business to fund Digital Transformation | % |
REVENUE DIVERSIFICATION | Increased revenue from non print revenue channels eg. Digital, Eventing, Niche Publishing, Syndication, | Local Currency |
PROFIT BEFORE TAX | Profit contribution percentage from "new" non traditional revenue streams | % |
The WIN Stability Tracker asks some provocative questions to inspire a new way of thinking about the use and allocation of your financial resources - as it pertains to your Digital Transformation Strategy. Make reference to the measures of financial stability as you frame the financial section of your strategy document.
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
The financial plan is where you translate ideas into numbers, according to Rob Stephens, founder of CFO Perspective.
It is created by gathering all the components of the business and expressing them in numbers.
The slides that follow provide an hypothetical example of what the Financial impact and projections section of your strategic plan might look like.
Herewith some financial templates to help you get started with a financial plan.
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
1. Target market size and growth projections. Review lesson B2 on External Market Analysis to support your assumptions / projections
2. Business model showing costs, pricing, and margins.
3. Customized marketing strategy and realistic sales plans.
Show specific plans for distribution, partnerships, and sales channels, as well as the use of social media and conventional marketing, with budgets for the major elements.
4. Five-year financial projections of revenue and expenses.
5. Specific investment size request where applicable.
Include the size of the desired investment. Equally important is a projected use of these funds in scaling the business, including time frames for future investment requirements where applicable.
6. Return on investment (ROI). This compares the profit value that can be earned from a project against the cost of investment, as a percentage value. The higher the percentage, the better the ROI
7. Payback period analysis. This calculates how long it will take to earn back the project capital. This is calculated as follows: Cost of project divided by annual cash inflow equals payback period
The financial analysis section comprises of the following elements:
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
TARGET MARKET AND PROJECTED GROWTH RATE
The market for eggs and off layers is huge in Honduras and across the region. Honduras produced 930.7 million eggs in 2018 compared to 907.1 million eggs in 2017, a 2.5% increase in egg production. Therefore, the market value for eggs in Honduras in 2018 was US$ 89.3 million. This is projected to witness a year-over-year growth rate of 3.55% between 2019 to 2023.
Maket trends
Market Size
Projected growth rate
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
INITIAL INVESTMENT COSTS (USD)
An outlay of US$1,500,000 is needed to finance the project, as shown below.
Size of desired investment
Capital Goods (including VAT) | Price (USD) |
Existing Property and Equipment | 100,000 |
Brooding Equipment | 42,600 |
Feeding and Drinking Equipment | 237,300 |
... | 532,200 |
Pre-Breakeven Costs | 121,417 |
GRAND TOTAL | 1,500,000 |
Investment structure | Loan Amount | Percentage |
Year 1 | $ 500 000 | 33% |
Year 2 | $ 400 000 | 27% |
Year 3 | $ 400 000 | 27% |
Year 4 | $ 200 000 | 13% |
Total | $ 1 500 000 | 100% |
Projected use of funds
Investment structure
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
PROPOSED INVESTMENT / LOAN PAYBACK PLAN
Repayment will be done in 10 years starting from year 6 when the project has expanded enough to finance its growth plans and generate sufficient revenue to repay the loan as proposed below:
Loan structure | Amount Payable per annum | Percentage per annum |
Year 6 – 7 | $ 75 000 | 5% |
Year 8 – 10 | $ 120 000 | 8% |
Year 11 – 13 | $ 150 000 | 10% |
Year 14 – 16 | $ 180 000 | 12% |
Total | $ 1 500 000 | 100% |
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
In the income statement, long-side the projected revenue and operating expenses for 5 years is the growth rate year on year
The project’s financial summary including revenues and net profits and financial indicators for five years.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
The project has modest returns on investment bouncing from negative (-13.6%) in the first year up to 22.6% in year 5 as shown below;
RETURN ON INVESTMENT
Internal Rate of Return (IRR) is projected at 14% while the Net Present Value (NPV) discounted at a real rate of 12% is USD 2.32 million. This is shown below.
NPV AND IRR ANALYSIS
| YEAR 0 | YEAR 1 | YEAR 2 | YEAR 3 | YEAR 4 | YEAR 5 |
| | | | | | |
Initial Investment | (1,500,000) | | | | | |
Cash Flows | | 263,887 | 396,598 | 644,688 | 882,278 | 1,323,409 |
Discount Factor (12%) | 1.00 | 0.89 | 0.80 | 0.71 | 0.64 | 0.57 |
Present Value | (1,500,000) | 235,614 | 316,166 | 458,876 | 560,704 | 750,938 |
| | | | | | |
NPV | 2,322,297 | | | | | |
IRR | 14% | | | | | |
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
The project’s Payback period (PBP) is projected at 4 years. See below.
PROJECT PAYBACK PERIOD
| PERIOD | INVESTMENT | NET CASH FLOW | BALANCE ON RECOVERY OF INVESTMENT |
| | | | |
| YEAR 1 | 1,500,000 | 263,887 | 1,763,887 |
| YEAR 2 | | 396,598 | 1,367,289 |
| YEAR 3 | | 644,688 | 722,601 |
PAYBACK PERIOD | YEAR 4 |
| 882,278 | (159,677) |
| YEAR 5 | | 1,323,409 | (1,483,086) |
3. Strategic Blueprint: Financial Impact and Projections
CREATE A SALES PROJECTION
Sales projections are an important component of your financial projections. For existing businesses, you can base your projections on past performance obtained from your financial statements. For instance, if your sales tend to be higher in the summer and fall, you’ll want to include that in your projections.
You’ll also need to take under consideration some outside factors, such as the current and projected health of the economy and whether there’s been a downturn in your industry.
Herewith a Microsoft Excel template / example of a scenario-based sales projection. https://templates.office.com/en-gb/New-product-sales-and-profit-forecasting-model-TM10021523
SECTION 3: B9 Strategic Blueprint
Group Assignment
Connect with your group members to discuss the following questions.
Using your Stability Tracker as a point of reference:
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SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Section 4: Executive Summary
4. Executive Summary: How to write an executive summary
The idea of the executive summary is to pique the reader’s interest and get them to read the rest of the plan.
Since it functions as a review of the entire document, include the main points of the strategic plan in a way that is clear and concise; no more than one to two pages long.
Download a one-page Executive Summary template
or alternatively
a Business Plan Executive Summary
End the strategic planning process by writing a one- or two-page executive summary. Although it’s written last, the executive summary is presented first in the final report.
A well written executive summary prioritizes the reader’s time and reduces the effort required to learn the critical aspects of the content.
The summary can convey the purpose of your business plan, project proposal, product launch presentation, or sales pitch to keep the reader engaged and reading further, or empowered to take action. Even if it is the only thing your audience reads, a strong executive summary creates value for the reader as a first impression.
Use the executive summary to make a business case, support a position, or tell a story. The reader should know how the subject of your content impacts them, benefits their work, their company, or their projects after reading the executive summary.
Your executive summary would need to answer the following 4 critical questions: - as discussed in the slides that follow.
SECTION 4: B9 Executive Summary
4. Executive Summary: How to write an executive summary
| 2. What is the objective? |
Decide who you are targeting and the critical information that audience needs.
Writing the executive summary with this audience in mind will make it useful because the story you’re telling about your business, project, or proposal will resonate. | Write the summary to your intended audience and include the crucial information that supports your objective for creating the document.
Let your objectives determine the content and context of your summary. |
SECTION 4: B9 Executive Summary
4. Executive Summary: How to write an executive summary
3. What are you recommending? | 4. How will you make an impression? |
Use the executive summary to draw conclusions and make recommendations to the reader.
Ultimately, don’t make the reader work to find out what action they need to take: Make your recommendations clear in the executive summary. | The “executive” summary earned its name from the need to get the upper management’s attention.��Executives did not have the time to read every word of every document. The summary had to make an impression because it might be the only part of the material that would be read. Consider how you shape the message, organize the sections of your summary, or present research to stand out in a brief space. Strategic models and frameworks come in handy. |
SECTION 4: B9 Executive Summary
4. Executive Summary: What to include in an executive summary
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SECTION 4: B9 Executive Summary
An executive summary will capture the most important information from your strategic plan
Group Assignment
Connect with your group members to discuss the following questions.
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SECTION 1: B9 Current State
Section 5: Final tips and tricks
5. Final tips and tricks: Elevator Pitch example
This brief outline of your organization and what it does should be short enough that it can be read or heard during the average elevator ride.
The company description should include the history of your company, the major products and services you provide, and any highlights and accomplishments.
It should accomplish the following:
SECTION 5: B9 Final tips and tricks
5. Final tips and tricks: Investor Pitch deck example
SECTION 5: B9 Final tips and tricks
5. Final tips and tricks: Final strategic plan
The final strategic plan is presented in reverse order�In order to make them more actionable, strategic plans are often presented in reverse order as compared to the order in which each area is discussed in the strategic planning exercise.��In the final plan, the sections appear in this order:
The executive summary and future state plan come first in the plan because we want to emphasize the purpose of the whole exercise, which is creating a roadmap to achieve your goals.
You don’t want to move forward to the future state if the current state isn’t accurate.
Be clear and concise�The plan should be clear and concise. It’s useful to present it as a PowerPoint document, which offers a visually accessible format in which information is easy to find and see.
SECTION 5: B9 Final tips and tricks
Strategic planning models
5. Final tips and tricks: Strategic planning models
There is no one right or wrong way to create a strategic plan, and you can modify models and frameworks based on your company culture, your current situation, and the purpose behind your planning.
The slides that follow contain a list of some of the most common frameworks and models – some of which have already been introduced in earlier lessons of this module..
Just as there are many approaches to presenting a strategic plan, you have several ways to frame or model your plan.
SECTION 5: B9 Final tips and tricks
5. Final tips and tricks: Strategic planning models
Gap Planning
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Blue Ocean Strategy
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The Basic Model
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Balanced Scorecard (BSC)
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Alignment Model
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SECTION 5: B9 Final tips and tricks
5. Final tips and tricks: Strategic planning models
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Porter’s Five Forces
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PEST Model
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Organic Model
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Issue-Based or Goal-Based Model
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Inspirational Model
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SECTION 5: B9 Final tips and tricks
5. Final tips and tricks: Strategic planning models
VRIO Framework
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SWOT Analysis or SWOT Matrix:
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Strategy Mapping
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Scenario Model
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Real-Time Model
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SECTION 5: B9 Final tips and tricks
Group Assignment
Connect with your group members to discuss the following questions.
Write a strategic plan for an individual presentation of your group to the coach:
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End of Lesson Nine