Seven Tips to Ensure Your Strategic Planning is a Success

It's that time of year when most learning leaders tackle their strategic planning. In working with clients on their plans, I've found they tend to fall into two camps: those who approach it with optimism and those who find it overwhelming. Rather than building plans for my clients, my role involves guiding the planning process, challenging assumptions, and supporting difficult tradeoff decisions.

Here are seven practical tips to help ensure your next strategic planning initiative delivers meaningful results.

1. Involve Your Team

Include directors, managers, and subject matter experts in working sessions. Tell them that. I'd shy away from inviting your whole team unless it is small (five people or less). Survey the broader team separately to capture input without creating unwieldy group dynamics.

2. Anchor to Business Objectives

Identify organizational or business unit objectives and strategic initiatives, then align your learning plans accordingly. Reference these throughout planning to ensure you're enabling the business — not just keeping the learning function busy.

3. Ruthlessly Prioritize

This is the toughest element. Acknowledge that everything may seem important, but resource constraints require difficult choices. Aim for a balanced mix of quick wins, near-term initiatives, and long-term investments.

4. Consider Team Capabilities and Gaps

Evaluate whether your current team capabilities support plan implementation. Identify capability gaps — such as performance consulting skills — that must become part of the strategic plan itself.

5. Cut the Training Jargon

Avoid specialized terminology like "personalized learner journeys" or "gamification" that may confuse business leaders. Make your plans intelligible to any organizational reader.

6. Market Your Plan

Create a visually appealing presentation deck to communicate with teams, stakeholders, and learners. Anticipate questions and objections with thoughtful responses prepared in advance.

7. Create a Workable Plan

Specify each tactic with descriptions, required resources, precise start and end dates, and responsible parties. Avoid overcomplication, excessive tactics, or vague timelines. Map timing carefully to identify scheduling conflicts.

Bonus: Consider Organizational Culture

Assess whether your organization is a startup, large biotech, risk-averse, or innovation-welcoming. This context guides creating realistic, rally-able plans that will actually gain traction.

Strategic planning can elevate the learning function from purely tactical to genuinely strategic, positioning learning leaders as true business partners.