WHAT IS A STRATEGY PLANNING SPECIALIST?

You asked: What is a strategy planning specialist? Let’s take a closer look.

As organizations look to navigate an increasingly complex and fast-paced business landscape, plotting a course forward has become challenging. And so the best strategy planning specialist providers – skilled professionals help companies develop and execute robust strategies to drive growth, enhance competitive advantage, and achieve long-term success – are taking on a bigger part in driving successful transformation.

Think of professionals in the field as expert facilitators and strategic thinking leaders. Largely what pros do is work to design and oversee the strategic planning process within an organization. That encompasses several leading functions:

Facilitating Strategic Conversations – Through carefully structured working sessions, a strategy planning specialist creates a forum for leadership teams to step back from daily operations and engage in higher-level strategic dialogue. Experts facilitate conversations to identify growth opportunities, understand emerging trends, and align on strategic priorities.

Driving Robust Strategy Development – The consultant guides the overall strategy formulation by conducting research, performing analysis, and synthesizing insights from across the organization. Pros ensure strategies are data-driven, actionable, and aligned with the company’s vision and objectives.

Project Management of Planning Cycles – Many organizations operate on an annual or multi-year strategic planning cadence. The strategy planning specialist owns project management of each planning cycle, ensuring key milestones are met, initiatives are appropriately resourced, and deliverables are completed.

Building Planning Frameworks – To bring structure to the process, leaders also develop customized planning frameworks and toolkits tailored to the organization. Effort ranges from templates for SWOT analysis and competitive assessments to strategy mapping and balanced scorecard tools.

Embedding Strategic Discipline – Beyond conducting the planning process itself, the best strategy planning specialist leaders work to instill an ongoing strategic discipline. Think introducing mechanisms for monitoring performance against strategic objectives, managing strategy risk, and facilitating periodic strategy reviews.

Cross-Functional Leadership – Given their enterprise-wide vantage point, strategy planning specialists often take a cross-functional leadership role. They align stakeholders across different business units and functions to drive execution of strategic initiatives.

Whether operating internally as a dedicated strategic office or engaged as an external consulting resource, strategy planning specialists bring critical skills in strategic thinking, facilitation, analysis, and program management. With their guidance, leadership teams can develop insightful strategies and lay the groundwork for effective execution.