Although every strategic planning session is different depending on the needs of each organization, most strategic planning agendas have a similar structure.
Below is a sample strategic planning agenda that you can use and customize to your needs. We recommend including your team in the planning process as early as possible to increase company-wide buy-in and implementation after the session.
We also recommend using a strategic planning facilitator to help guide the conversation, to ask tough questions, encourage those who may not participate as actively, and to keep the agenda on track.
Below is a sample strategic planning agenda for a two-day off-site planning session that we have adapted for this article.
Strategic Planning Meeting Agenda Day 1:
8:45 – 9:00 - Welcome
9:00 – 9:15 - A Look Back
9:15 – 10:00 - Segue
10:00 – 10:15 - break
10:15 – 10:45 - Review Year to Date
10:45 – 11:15 - break
11:15 – 12:15 - Team Building Exercise #1
12:15 – 12:45 - break
1:00 – 2:30 - SWOT / Issues List
2:30 – 3:00 - break
3:00 – 4:30 - Vision / Strategic Business Leadership
4:30 – social event
Strategic Planning Meeting Agenda Day 2:
8:45 – 9:00 - Opening remarks
9:00 – 11:00 - Establish Yearly KPIs
11:00 – 11:30 - Team Building Exercise #2
11:30 – 12:00 - break
12:00 – 2:00 - Tackle Key Issues
2:00 – 2:30 - break
2:30 – 3:15 - Next Steps
3:15 – 4:00 - Conclude
Every organization has its own strategic priorities and every strategic planning facilitation agenda is unique to different organizational needs.
Hopefully, this sample strategic planning agenda is helpful in developing your 2-day off-site strategy meeting, or any other strategic work you might do.
But, if you only have time for one day for your strategic planning, mush is still possible. We have a sample agenda for one day too - check it out here.