STRATEGIC PLANNING SEASON: WHERE GOOD INTENTIONS MEET THE STATUS QUO
Let’s just say it: most strategic planning processes are neither strategic nor particularly planned.
They’re mostly budgeting exercises and wearing a strategy hat. They masquerade as thoughtful, future-focused sessions, but in practice, they resemble a mix of political theater, spreadsheet jockeying, and a PowerPoint rehash of last year with minor tweaks.
Welcome to Q3 and Q4—the annual ritual where good intentions go to die because they are defeated by the status quo.
If It Feels Like Budgeting in Disguise… It Probably Is
Harvard Business Review reports that 60–90% of strategic plans never fully launch — with poor execution often to blame. One major culprit? The planning process itself.
Because for many companies, strategic planning is a race to lock in numbers, not unlock insight.
It’s driven by questions like:
“How much can we grow revenue next year?”
“What headcount do we need?”
“What will this cost?”
All valid. All necessary. But none inherently strategic. At best, they produce a tactical to-do list with a financial forecast. At worst, they perpetuate the status quo under the illusion of change.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most strategic plans aren’t strategies—they’re operational commitments. They describe what we’re doing, not why it matters or how we’ll win.
And if you can swap out your company name with a competitor’s, and the strategy still holds? You don’t have a strategy. You have a wish list.
The Four Horsemen of Strategic Mediocrity
Let’s name the usual suspects that derail strategy season:
1. Last Year, But More
Planning by extrapolation is common: last year + 10%. The result is strategy as inertia. No deep reflection on what should change—just a prayer that the wind will blow slightly harder this time.
2. The Great Slide Shuffle
Leadership off-sites become a series of presentations instead of decisions. Hours are spent “socializing the deck” rather than asking hard questions. Consensus wins. Boldness dies.
3. The Consensus Plan
Everyone wants their project funded, so planning becomes a patchwork of team wish lists stitched together without coherence. The result? A bloated set of binders with limited focus and lots of arms waving in different directions. You likely don’t really have consensus or alignment.
4. The Metrics Mirage
KPIs get set before strategy. Dashboards drive decisions. We become obsessed with measuring the machine, not improving it.
The end product is a binder full of intentions, a revenue number for Investors, and a vague hope that the real work will sort itself out.
Strategic Planning Should Be a Weapon, Not a Chore
Let’s shift the frame.
The Four Horsemen are what most companies get. BETR exists to deliver the opposite.
● Where others stitch more and more together, we strip them down to what matters.
● Where the slide shuffle kills bold ideas, we drive clarity and decisions.
● Where “last year + 10%” passes for vision, we force the hard trade-offs that actually change outcomes.
● Where the metrics mirage blinds leaders, we align measurement to improvement—not activity.
That’s the philosophy behind BETR: strategy should be applied, not admired.
And that starts with how you define and drive it.
We believe in the OKRI (Objectives & Key Results, we added the “I”, which are prioritized Initiatives) model, when done well, is a simple but powerful way to break out of the annual planning malaise. Not because OKRIs are trendy, but because they force prioritization, alignment, and clarity.
The best strategic plans don’t need 87 initiatives. They need 3-5 clear objectives with measurable proof that they’re working.
Think of it like this:
● Objectives are where we must win.
● Key Results are how we’ll know we’re winning.
● Initiatives are where we place our bets and align our limited resources.
● Everything else? Noise until proven otherwise.
Do Less. BETR.
In our work, we see it over and over: companies try to outwork a lack of clarity. They launch new plays, hire more reps, tweak comp plans, flood the field with enablement—all without aligning on what really matters and what behaviors will move the needle.
Here’s a better idea:
● Set fewer priorities.
● Align the entire go-to-market motion against them.
● Coach your managers to enforce consistency.
● Measure what matters.
It’s not sexy, but it’s what works.
One of our favorite insights from our client work: companies aren’t underperforming because of poor ideas. They’re underperforming because of poor focus and execution.
What to Do Before You Lock Next Year’s Plan
If you’re in the thick of planning season, here are three questions every leadership team should ask before finalizing their 2026 strategy:
● What are the 2-3 things we must get right next year to grow faster or win smarter?
● How do those priorities change how we go to market—message, motion, and management?
● Where are we currently wasting time, energy, or budget by doing too much or too little that matters?
If you can’t answer those questions clearly—and if your managers and frontline teams wouldn’t answer them the same way—you don’t have a strategy. You have a deck.
Time for a BETR Conversation
At BETR, we help executive teams cut through the noise, align their strategy to how they sell, and build sales organizations that execute with purpose and precision.
So if you’re tired of planning processes that feel more like annual budgeting theater and less like strategic transformation, let’s talk.
We’ll bring ideas, data, and maybe a little irreverence of our own.
And if we do it right, your team won’t leave next year’s SKO confused.
They’ll leave dangerous.
👉Contact BETR to rethink your planning season