Strategic Committee

What is a Strategy Committee?

A strategy committee is a group of individuals
(typically comprised of leaders from the
organization) that represent the board of directors
or key decision leaders in a business or non-profit
organization. The strategy committee has the
primary responsibility and task to formulate
strategy by deciding where the firm should
compete (what markets, lines of business, and
geographies). However, in most organizations, it
is the responsibility of leaders from business
units or divisions to decide how to compete or
how to achieve the overarching goals and mission
of the enterprise. The strategy committee reviews,
approves and synchronizes the strategic plans of
business units or divisions. It is the committee’s
job to make recommendations and provide
guidance to the board regarding both division
level strategies and the overarching strategy of
the corporation. This allows the board to give the
strategy development responsibilities to those
who have greater knowledge about the firm and
the industry and focus on the strategy review
process and oversight.
What does a Planning Committee do?
A planning committee primarily does the work of
researching and developing the overarching
strategy of the enterprise. This includes:
•Defining major goals (what to achieve) with
corresponding targets.
•Setting objectives (a more detailed and specific
set of achievements and outcomes within the
major goals).
•Formulating key initiatives or the actual strategic
plan (how to achieve the goals at a higher, more
conceptual level).
•Tactics (specific details about how each
initiative or element of the strategic plan will be
accomplished).
It is the planning committee that communicates
and explains how the firm will “operationalize”
the strategy and move forward with the
implementation of the strategy.
What are the Five Steps in the Strategic
Planning Process?
Step One: Awareness
Awareness is about collecting data and
analyzing information about the environment
the organization operates in. Having adequate
information about the internal strengths and
vulnerabilities as well as external variables
such as industry and global environment
factors that may impact the health and well-
being of the enterprise is essential to the
planning process.

Step Two: Translation

Translation requires that you take the external
and internal information (collected in step
one) about the business landscape and
identify opportunities to exploit and risks to
mitigate. Translation enables an organization
to articulate and explain the implications and
meaning of the changes occurring (internally
and externally) to the business. An example of
translation would be determining if a change
in global monetary policy might have a
positive or negative impact on the
organization’s strategy.
Step Three: Formulation
Formulation is assembling the plan of action and represents
what the organization intends to do or accomplish to ensure it
remains relevant and competitive in the short and long term.
The plan that is devised should explain how the organization
intends to achieve the strategic plan, create value for
customers and stakeholders and how the business will
differentiate itself from rivals who compete in the same
space.

Step Four: Implementation and Execution

This step involves the precise implementation of the plan,
allocation of resources and delegation of authority to take
action that will produce results and help the organization
achieve the outcomes and milestones contained in the
strategy plan. This step also involves the monitoring process,
accountability and measurement based on clearly defined
performance indicators.

Step Five: Revision

The strategic plan of action is like a playbook and gives the
members of the organization a line of sight into the
organization’s direction and intention. However, revision is an
often-missed step in strategy. It is critical to anticipate and
prepare for adjustments that will inevitably need to be made
due to the disruptions and changes in the business
environment. Successful organizations are agile and can
adapt to new information, leverage success, learn from
failures and make course corrections to seize opportunities
and manage challenges.
Who Makes up a Strategy Planning
Committee?
For a well-functioning Strategy Planning Committee,
there should be a representation from the major
functions or activities in the organization and it may
also include internal and external board members (or
subject matter experts) with relevant knowledge and
insights about the business environment. Normally, a
planning committee would be comprised of leaders
with experience in functions such as
•Finance
•Operations
•Supply Chain Management
•Sales
•People Management
A planning committee should reflect the key
functions that drive your business. Most strategy
planning committees have 5 to 10 people with
diverse perspectives who can think creatively and
critically about future opportunities and areas of
exposure for the organization.
What is Organization Strategic Planning?
Organization Strategic Planning is a process that helps
leaders create and envision the future. The process
focuses on how the organization can adapt and remain
relevant in an endlessly changing world that provides
new opportunities as well as emerging disruptions and
risks. All of the forces impacting an organization can be
managed better with a well thought out plan of action
that will enable it to take advantage of favorable
circumstances that arise as well as vulnerabilities and
perils that may challenge the very survival of an
organization.

What is an Organization Strategy Plan?

The organization strategy plan focuses on the ways and
means to secure a supply of talent to drive the long-
term sustained growth of the business. This includes
how the organization intends to recruit, develop and
retain the best talent. In addition, the organization
strategy plan must anticipate the need for new or
different activities, functions, and capabilities needed to
transform the business and move it forward as the
business environment shifts and changes.