4 Fixes to Common Strategic Planning Mistakes

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC1RrkvSPOM&width=400&height=225&centervid=1&modestbranding=1[/embedyt]

In my con­ver­sa­tion with a CEO I’ve worked with for years, we dove into a press­ing issue: why do strate­gic plan­ning process­es often fail? This CEO, an expe­ri­enced leader and part of a thriv­ing CEO group, raised a con­cern many lead­ers share: despite using proven method­olo­gies like Scal­ing Up, suc­cess can still feel elusive.

After years of work­ing with lead­ers and orga­ni­za­tions, I’ve iden­ti­fied four key rea­sons why strate­gic plan­ning fails. Here’s what we uncov­ered and how to address each chal­lenge to ensure your com­pa­ny stays on the growth track.

1. Too Com­plex

One of the biggest pit­falls is over­com­pli­cat­ing the plan. Many com­pa­nies cre­ate intri­cate, visu­al­ly stun­ning plans that are impos­si­ble to imple­ment. These plans often attempt to cap­ture every idea gen­er­at­ed in a brain­storm­ing ses­sion, but com­plex­i­ty hin­ders align­ment and engagement.

The Fix: Sim­pli­fy. Strip the plan down to essen­tials — ensure even a 12-year-old could under­stand it. A clear, action­able strat­e­gy aligns your team and dri­ves results.

1. Not Focused on the Core Drivers

Anoth­er com­mon issue is miss­ing the core growth levers of the busi­ness. Strate­gic plans should focus on the engine of growth — the fun­da­men­tal activ­i­ties or process­es that dri­ve suc­cess. With­out this, you risk spread­ing your efforts too thin.

The Fix: Use tools like Jim Collins’ fly­wheel to iden­ti­fy and empha­size the key dri­vers of your busi­ness. Build your plan around what tru­ly mat­ters and fuels growth.

1. Too Dis­tract­ed by Shiny New Things

Curios­i­ty is valu­able, but too much can derail focus. Lead­ers often get caught up in excit­ing new oppor­tu­ni­ties that fall out­side their company’s core com­pe­ten­cies. This can dilute ener­gy and resources, pulling the orga­ni­za­tion in too many directions.

The Fix: Stay in your lane. One CEO I worked with used to say, ​“That’s a great idea — for a dif­fer­ent com­pa­ny.” Focus on your core strengths and resist the urge to chase distractions.

1. Too Com­pas­sion­ate or Complacent

When goals aren’t achieved, it’s easy to fall into a pat­tern of com­pla­cen­cy or exces­sive com­pas­sion. While empa­thy is impor­tant, high-per­form­ing orga­ni­za­tions hold them­selves account­able. Missed goals should spark a con­ver­sa­tion, not excuses.

The Fix: Cre­ate a cul­ture of account­abil­i­ty. Like ath­letes review­ing game tape, eval­u­ate why a goal wasn’t met and iter­ate for improve­ment. Cel­e­brate wins but main­tain a relent­less focus on get­ting better.

Keep­ing It Sim­ple and Focused

To build a suc­cess­ful strategy:

1. Sim­plic­i­ty is key.
2. Focus on core growth dri­vers.
3. Avoid dis­trac­tions by stay­ing in your lane.
4. Hold your­self and your team account­able for results.

At our quar­ter­ly meet­ings, we cel­e­brate suc­cess­es but imme­di­ate­ly shift to ​“iter­ate mode,” ask­ing, ​“How do we per­form bet­ter next time?” This bal­ance of cel­e­bra­tion and iter­a­tion fos­ters con­tin­u­ous improve­ment and keeps us on the path to growth.

The Chal­lenge

• Which one of the above points could you apply to make your strate­gic plan­ning much more impactful?

Oth­er Blogs

• Pre­serve Your Strate­gic Think­ing Time
• The Dilem­ma of Big­ger vs Better
• Exec­u­tive Team Alignment

Old­er Podcasts

• The 7 Mis­takes Lead­ers Make at Annu­al Strat­e­gy Meetings
• Get the Most From Your Strate­gic Plan­ning Framework