A successful strategy reflection process must be built on solid foundations.

The quality of the strategy session—encompassing strategy formulation and priority planning—ensures the alignment necessary to focus efforts effectively. Before discussing customers, business models, the environment, or competition, it’s crucial to first address preparation and framework.

Here are 7 key questions to help you kickstart the process successfully:

1. Who are the key stakeholders and collaborators to involve?

Engage collaborators who represent different aspects of value creation. Include those in your organization who can voice the perspectives of customers, employees, suppliers, and key partners.

Maximize their involvement by encouraging contributions and considering their role in implementing the upcoming decisions.

2. How much time do you have to complete the process?

Be realistic! Conducting a comprehensive strategy reflection in a single weekend is challenging for most. For instance, one client attempted to finalize their strategic planning over a weekend without having a pre-existing strategy, while another took nearly 12 months to build an internal team and co-develop their strategy.

Time is a key constraint that varies across organizations. The ambition of your strategy session must align with the available timeframe.

3. Is your vision clear and your current strategy well understood?

Is the strategic ambition clear to everyone in the organization, especially the leadership team? This is often assumed but not always true. If the vision isn’t clear, the strategy likely isn’t either.

Before diving into priorities and execution timelines, ensure there is absolute clarity on the destination.

4. What are the results and what are the challenges?

Are you satisfied with your results? What were the targets, and how did they contribute to achieving your vision? Start by assessing whether your results align with your strategic targets and ambition.

This evaluation helps provide context to the results, puts challenges into perspective, and identifies areas for improvement.

5. How have you monitored your progress so far?

Are your metrics solely financial and historical? Do they capture the various strategic dimensions of your organization? A balanced scorecard that includes both measures (historical) and indicators (predictive) offers a more holistic view and leads to richer discussions.

Your organization is a system, and your scorecard should reflect this systemic perspective.

6. How much room is given to divergent opinions?

The quality of your strategic discussions should also be measured by how well differing opinions and sometimes contradictory alternatives are explored. To achieve this, leadership team members must be free to explore these differences.

Maximizing creative input requires setting the stage where everything is on the table—no “sacred cows.” Everyone’s contribution is vital to exploring the best strategic options.

7. Is innovation part of the agenda?

Innovation should target both short-term and long-term value goals. Even though its path to success may not be straightforward, innovation is essential for continuous progress and differentiation. Ensure that your discussions aren’t limited to short-term operational issues.

Leverage your strategy sessions to clarify the role of innovation and outline a portfolio of projects that will drive success across various time horizons.

These questions help set the right expectations for the strategy session and frame its potential.

Before your next retreat, consider these 7 questions to maximize its impact.

Thank you for being with us,

Eric L’Heureux