Creating a one-page document outlining the vision and plans of your organisation makes it much easier to align your team to achieve your goals. This type of document is referred to as a strategy on a page.

Strategic planning is an essential requirement for creating a successful business. Yet most companies still need a current strategic plan. Sure, they may have targets, goals, objectives and the like. However, a strategy that successfully aligns the business to achieve these is rare.

Traditionally, strategic plans are larger documents with great content but are often difficult for employees to digest because of their complexity. For this reason, many of them gather dust on the shelf.

To successfully implement a plan, you must be able to communicate it clearly with your staff to ensure everyone is working towards the same goal. This is why this one-page version of a strategic plan is so effective. It is easy for every employee in your business to understand.

 

Index quick links

  1. What is a strategy on a page?
  2. Real-world application of the one-page strategy model
  3. How to build a strategy on a page
  4. How to use your one-page strategy to deliver your plan
  5. Why reviews will help you achieve your strategic plan
  6. Additional strategic planning resources
  7. Conclusion
  8. What is a Strategy on a Page?

 

What is a Strategy on a Page?

A strategy on a page is a one-page strategic plan that clearly and concisely articulates a company's purpose, what it aims to achieve and how it will do that. They have a simple and easy-to-follow structure, making them an effective tool for communicating business strategy throughout an entire organisation.

The elements of a strategy on a page include:

  • Vision, Mission and Values
  • Goals and Objectives
  • Strategic Priorities
  • Key initiatives
  • Success Measures, and
  • Future aspirations

 

Real-world application of the one-page strategy model

I was first introduced to the concept of a strategy on a page by Donald McGuirk, the ex-CEO of Codan Limited. During a meeting, he showed me a sheet of paper with several short statements and a series of dot points written in pencil and laid out in neat columns and boxes. He told me that was their company strategy and that it had taken three years to refine it down to fit on one page.

Donald used that one-page plan to align his whole organisation and drive the delivery of incredible growth results. In the final five years of his tenure as CEO, the company's share price grew from $1.17 to a high of $19.33. He also delivered annualised returns to shareholders of 35.9 per cent over the previous decade.

After meeting with Donald, I became interested in exploring how to create a strategy on a page. At the time, I was the Vice Chair of Music SA, and we were beginning a strategic planning process. As a result, I advocated that we distil our plan to a single page, which we did. This document helped us clearly articulate our vision and future plans to our stakeholders and staff. As a result, we received triennial funding from the South Australian Government. The plan (pictured below) also enabled us to report our progress accurately and succinctly to them.

MusicSA-Strategic-Plan2019

The strategy document we created for Music SA is still in use today. It aligns all staff initiatives with the strategic direction established by the board. It has also been key in achieving long-term funding from the South Australian Government.


After observing Codan's results and Music SA's development after successfully implementing their one-page plan, I became an advocate for the strategy on a page model.


The thought process and rigour required to build a strategy on a page are similar to that of more extensive multi-page plans. The results, however, are much more succinct and focused. Therefore, a strategy on a page makes it more straightforward to create alignment throughout an organisation and drive the delivery of results.

 

How to build a Strategy on a Page

Developing a strategy on a page is a decision-making process guided by establishing a framework to channel your thinking. There are several options for undertaking this process, and we recommend the following procedure as being among the most streamlined:

 

Step 1: Choose a time frame for your plan

Choosing the time frame your business strategy will represent is crucial because it starts to form your decision-making framework.

As change has become so constant, the functional period of strategic plans is becoming shorter. If we try to plan too far into the future, change will likely force us to reconsider our strategy. As a result, one to three years have become reasonably standard time frames.

Choosing one year helps focus on measured incremental business improvement. Choosing a two or three-year time frame is better suited to effecting organisational change and adapting your business.

 

Step 2: Use a template to guide your planning

A template will require you to provide specific information to complete your plan. So, the template you choose will help you develop relevant content like a checklist.

The order in which you complete your template will also guide your thinking and form a decision-making framework. We recommend producing content in the following order:

  1. Vision, Mission, Values
  2. Definition of your target market
  3. SWOT Analysis - this can summarise PESTEL & competition analysis
  4. Goals and objectives
  5. Strategic priorities
  6. Success measures
  7. Future Aspirations - Where you would like to be in 10 years
  8. Culture Goals - What you want to be known for
  9. Key Initiatives - this is your plan

It is best practice to complete these guiding criteria, even if they are supporting documents rather than part of your chosen template. They will help you make informed decisions throughout the planning process.

There are several templates available online for one-page strategic plans. You can google them. Through trial and error with our clients, we have developed our own template that includes all of the core elements of a strategic plan and is easy for staff to understand.

Click here to download a free copy of our template.

 

Step 3 - Fill in the template as you progress

A plan-on-a-page template is also effective for helping your strategic planning process stay on track. Filling your template in as you go keeps your decisions and initiatives visible and front of mind throughout the process.

Think of the template you choose as a drafting tool for the strategic planning process. It enables you to change earlier drafts as your thinking progresses because you can see the outcomes of your decisions expressed concisely on one page.

 

Step 4 - Complete your first draft

The plan-on-a-page model encourages constant review and improvement. Once complete, your plan will most likely be reviewed and updated several times during its active life. So, we'd like to encourage you to focus on completing the first draft as efficiently as possible rather than aiming for perfection. Don't worry- your plan will improve over time with each update.

The next three steps form the framework for your review process. The intent is to use the first draft of your plan as a prototype to test and improve as required. We would recommend that you share your first draft with trusted advisors and stakeholders to ask for their feedback as part of this process. 

 

Step 5 - Create an action plan for each initiative

The decisions you make throughout the planning process culminate into a series of initiatives designed to achieve your goals and objectives. These initiatives form the substance of your plan on a page because they will guide the actions required to complete your strategy.

Creating an action plan enables you to manage the delivery of your initiatives across your organisation. Use headings like those below in a spreadsheet or table to make your action plan.

  • Initiative: Each initiative from your plan
  • Action: Actions required to implement the initiative
  • Who: The responsible team member(s)
  • When: Completion date or timeframe
  • Success Measure: Metrics indicating the initiative is successful
  • Status: Indicates whether the item is complete or in progress

The thought process required to create an action plan will help you understand your initiatives, including how long they will take to implement. In turn, you will better understand your initiatives the more you look them over.

Just so you know, a plan on a page may include several support documents, and your action plan is one of these.

 

Step 6 - Timeline the initiatives in your plan

Understanding how long it will take to implement your initiatives will help rank the order in which you address them. Once you have established the time frames required, it is common to find that it will take more time than is available to complete your plan.

Ranking the priority of your initiatives and putting them on a timeline that correlates with the time frame of your business strategy will help you decide what you should do and when. For example, if you have chosen a three-year plan, we suggest you map all three years on one page. Use one box for each year, side by side, with the content for each box as follows:

  1. Title: The financial year
  2. Subheading: Your Revenue Target for that financial year
  3. Bullet Points: Every initiative you will work on in that year

Take a look at the example below.

Example of timeline horizon

Seeing these yearly horizons side by side on one page helps visualise how your plan will play out. This visual tool makes identifying what you can accomplish each year plain to see.

 

Step 7 - Review your first draft with your timeline

The review is to make sure that your plan is achievable. When your staff see they can actually do what you are proposing, they are more likely to commit to your vision.

The first part of the review process is to streamline your plan and establish the following:

  1. The priority order of the initiatives that will help you accomplish your goals and objectives in your chosen timeframe
  2. The initiatives you can complete in that same period with the resources you have available

The second part of the review is to remove or modify any initiatives you cannot complete during the life of your plan. To do this, you'll have to go ahead and workshop each initiative to understand how it helps your strategy. Discussions with key staff, stakeholders and advisors will help with this process.

The review will be done once you are confident that all the actions required to complete your plan are achievable with your available resources.

 

Step 8 - Communicate your plan

Finalising your plan will require compiling the three documents you have during this planning process into one. The three documents are as follows.

  1. Your strategy on a page
  2. Your action plan
  3. Your timeline horizon (the yearly summary from step 6)

Update these three documents with the results of your review, compile them into one master document, and you have completed your strategy.

 

How to use your one-page strategy to deliver your plan

When every member of your team can articulate your strategic plan on request and their role in delivering it. You have alignment. Only when you have alignment can you manage your team to deliver on your plan.

To achieve this, each member of your team needs to understand the following:

  • What you are aiming to achieve
  • Why these objectives are important
  • How they will be achieved
  • The actions they are responsible for
  • When these actions must be completed

These items are all contained within the three documents that make up your strategy. Once you have communicated each item and assigned responsibilities, you can use the strategy on a page document to manage and report on the delivery of your plan from the top down.

The best practice is as follows:

  • Include your one-page strategy document as a permanent inclusion in your board notes, directors and leadership meetings to be reported against and updated.
  • Use your one-page plan to set the agenda for all staff meetings. Constantly refer to the document and ensure it is included in your meeting notes to refer to and report against.
  • Turn your one-page plan into a poster and put it in your staff room and around your office.
  • If you have a requirement to report your strategy publicly, include the document as a download on your website.
  • Make your one-pager an integral part of your business plan for communications with financial institutions and stakeholders.

Your one-page plan is an effective tool for aligning your team to deliver your strategy because of its simplicity. You should use it at every available opportunity to communicate your plan throughout your organisation.

 

Why reviews will help you achieve your strategic plan

When you are on a long journey in your car, you need to constantly refer to the map to ensure you are on the right track. This may include changing course if you come across road works or obstacles along the way. Your strategic plan is very similar to a map, and you need to check that it keeps you headed in the right direction. You may even need to make course adjustments if need to.

To successfully deliver your strategy, you will need to plan regular reviews. The time frame will depend on what your plan needs. If a significant number of actions need to be delivered quickly, we recommend quarterly reviews. However, if your plan dictates a more slow and steady approach, 6 monthly or yearly reviews may be more appropriate. The most important thing is to ensure you nominate a time frame for reviews and stick to this schedule to keep your plan on track.

 

Additional strategic planning resources

You will find a plethora of strategic planning resources online and countless volumes of books on the subject. It can be overwhelming. As a result, we developed the Demystifying Strategic Planning podcast series, which aims to make the process easy to understand.

Here is the first episode in the series.

 

The rest of the series can be listened to on the Business Builders Podcast on your favourite podcast network. Here are the links for Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

 

Conclusion

A strategic plan is a series of initiatives designed to achieve a group of goals and objectives that will deliver specific business outcomes. The outcomes might include achieving growth targets, business transformation, winning government funding, etc.

The benefit of the strategy on a page model is that it streamlines the planning process and presents the goals, objectives and initiatives on one page. Therefore, a one-page strategy is an effective tool to align your team to deliver your plan because it is easy to understand and communicate.

Brenton Gowland
Post by Brenton Gowland
21/10/2024 1:00:00 AM
Brenton specialises in guiding businesses through marketing-led transformations that drive growth and innovation. With over 30 years’ experience in business strategy, marketing, creative services, and coaching, he empowers businesses to adapt to market dynamics by creating solutions that align sales, marketing, and business objectives.

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