Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Planning
Essentials
How to avoid 7 costly planning mistakes —
featuring a one-page template to communicate
your plan
In a volatile world, strategy and its execution can quickly
go off course
Only
67% 53% 38%
of strategy leaders say there’s more than of business leaders responsible for of business leaders say their enterprise
a 50% chance that their plans will need strategy say their enterprise fails to can change plans fast enough to respond
to change after they have concluded achieve its strategic objectives. to market changes.
annual planning.
Sources: 2022 Gartner Strategy Adaptive Planning Survey; 2022 Gartner Barriers to Continuous Strategy Execution Survey; 2022 Gartner Strategy
Business Partner Planning Perspectives Survey
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 2
Turn strategy into action with seven common-sense actions
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 3
1 Focus on designing a minimally viable strategy
Avoid this mistake: Striving to create a comprehensive strategic plan all at once
Organizations able to
change plans fast are 198% Adaptive Strategy Building Blocks
more likely to capture the Illustrative*
Inputs Process Outputs
full potential of opportunities
Start Execution as Respond to Changes Embrace and Involve Everyone
created by external events. Early as Possible as They Happen Explore Uncertainty in Strategy
Real-Time Insights
Minimally viable plans, however, enable the Strategy Sprints Strategy Sprints Option-Based Strategies
organization to better embrace the core tenets Continual Process Experiment-Based
Experiment-Based Strategy Strategies Crowdsourcing
of an adaptive organization.
Minimum Viable Strategy Minimum Viable Strategy Minimum Viable Strategy Distributed Decisions
Note: Gartner research has identified nine building blocks that organizations use as part of an adaptive strategy process. Select those most
relevant to establishing your required adaptive strategy practices.
Source: Gartner
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 4
2 Customize planning activities to meet participants where they are
Avoid this mistake: Streamlining or standardizing planning efforts just to lower total cost/time
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 5
3 Sketch out initiatives to make sure the resources exist
Avoid this mistake: Delegating design of strategic initiatives without testing their feasibility
When funding is
lacking, 45% of strategic Initiative Value Map
initiatives fail.
Partner
Source: 2022 Gartner Strategy Long-Term Initiative Resourcing Survey
1 Value Creation Requirements
Asset Technical conditions that must
1 Capability be met to enable the initiative to
1 capture value
As firms take on more transformational initiatives, Process Req 1
1
it has become harder for stakeholders to Value Driver
pressure-test assumptions about what resources • Internal: Assets, capabilities,
an initiative will need to reach its goals. processes, resources, etc.
Value • External: Suppliers, partners, etc.
Create visual maps (example at right) for how
Relationships
an initiative plans to use resources, capabilities, Map dependencies between
assets and internal processes to create value. value requirements and individual
value driver nodes
This helps to pressure-test each part of the
resource plan and identify flaws in the initiative’s
design early.
Source: Adapted From ReadyAlly*
*Pseudonym
Related tool for Gartner clients
Gartner Initiative Accelerator
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 6
4 Be clear about who owns what
Avoid this mistake: Assigning project ownership right before execution
59% of organizations
that are fully successful Three Key Challenges Impacting Successful Execution of Strategic Objectives
at achieving strategic Showing Difference in Percentage of Respondents to Select
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 7
5 Cascade plans side to side, not just top-down
Avoid this mistake: Turning strategy cascades into a one-way, top-down communications activity
impact on succeeding
Key Strategic Imperatives
with strategic objectives.
Source: 2022 Gartner Barriers to Continuous Strategy Execution Survey
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 8
6 Focus performance measures on key strategic assumptions
Avoid this mistake: Tying initiatives to metrics that relate mostly to day-to-day performance
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 9
7 Pressure-test plans against a limited set of future scenarios
Avoid this mistake: Under- or overinvesting in how future scenarios might change strategic plans
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 10
Bonus: Use a powerful visual to communicate your function's strategic plan
2023–2024
Example: Drive efficient growth by focusing on customer value, Example: To help achieve company goals of improving growth by providing solutions that help business partners make
purposeful evolution of the marketing function and continual better R&D decisions.
optimization of brand value.
4 to 7 key metrics characterizing your 4 to 7 initiatives Do Don’t 4 to 7 key metrics characterizing your
current state required to • Reconcile conflicting views • Push ahead without consensus and target state
achieve the • Build strong buy-in buy-in
target end state
Do • Focus resources and attention Do
• Accurately measure the organization’s • Describe the organization’s desired end state
baseline and progress toward target state Example: Implement targeted digital advertising as part of the integrated account-based marketing • Set goals to determine when the end state
program to increase MQLs.
• Capture risks to achieving mission-critical will be reached
business priorities
Example: Launch new master brand campaign internally and externally. Don’t
Don’t • Target scenarios too distant from the current
• Create overly detailed metrics related to state
day-to-day performance
4 to 7 assumptions Do Don’t
that must be true • Communicate explicitly • Create confusion or disagreement
for the plan to • Specify quantifiable thresholds around basis of strategy Example: MQLs grow by 15% year over year.
Example: Marketing-influenced sales succeed • Omit risks that must be mitigated Eighty percent of MQL growth to come
pipeline — 3,500 MQLs FY 2021; 65% from • Allow for real-time course corrections from existing customers.
existing customers
Example: Return to face-to-face events and scaling of hybrid experience events will enable the
reestablishment of valuable lead-generation opportunities. Example: NPS up from +25 to +45 by end
Example: Brand health — Net Promoter of 20XX
Score 25+
Example: Able to recruit a new strategic brand agency by 3Q21.
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 11
Strategic plan for your marketing function
Type in the fields below to complete
the interactive form.
Vision Statement
Vision
State Statement
where the organization wants to go, what you want to accomplish. Statement of Strategy
4 to 7 assumptions
that must be true
for the plan to
succeed
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 12
Actionable, objective insight
Explore these additional complimentary resources and tools
for marketing leaders:
Already a client?
Get access to even more resources in your client portal. Log In
Discover world-class
conferences for every
core business area
Gartner conferences provide clients and nonclients alike with
the management skills and technical knowledge they need to
prepare for the future. Through actionable, objective insight from
Gartner experts, solutions from experienced providers and peer
networking opportunities, you can refine your strategies, reduce
risk and get the competitive edge you need to succeed.
Strategic Planning Essentials Gartner for Marketers Follow Us on LinkedIn Become a Client 14
Gartner BuySmart™
Confidently manage the
technology life cycle
Streamline your team’s path to better tech purchasing
decisions — fueled by industry-leading Gartner experts
and peer insights.
Become a Client
© 2023 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. CM_GBS_CF_2157200