- Have the right people in the room. In general, only the senior leadership team of the company or division should be involved in the strategy session.
- Create or revisit the company’s mission, vision, and values.
- Analyze the current situation and allocation of resources. Do a SWOT analysis and examine how tactics support the current strategy.
- Discuss the driving forces of the organization, customer feedback, and other information that is relevant to setting goals.
- Based on the analysis of the current situation and all available data, set the year’s strategic objectives. Make sure they align with the three and five year plans.
- Prioritize the objectives.
- Identify the core competencies that will be required to support the strategy.
- Define performance measures. How will you know when you have realized a strategic objectives? What measures will you use?
- Set time lines and deadlines for each initiative.
- Assign areas of accountability for strategy deployment.