The Ultimate Strategy Meeting Preparation Checklist

A monthly or quarterly strategy meeting is led by an organizational or departmental leadership team. Attendees discuss long-term strategy and goals for the company or department and the progress that’s been made in achieving those goals.

If you’ve ever planned or prepared a meeting, you know it’s easier said than done. The checklist below covers everything you need so that you and all of your attendees are well prepared.

The Ultimate Strategy Meeting Preparation Checklist

You can have a great strategy and real issues to discuss, but if you don’t prepare the right people and get them in the room, ready to take part, you lose a valuable chance at long-term strategic progress. Don’t underestimate the importance of your strategy meetings, or of preparing for them.

10-15 days before: create your meeting calendar

If you’re wondering how to plan a meeting, start here. This step cannot be overlooked. Decide what day your meetings will be on, then work out every step that comes before it. The steps below follow general guidelines we’ve found helpful, but customize your strategy meeting calendar based on how your organization operates and how quickly each measure and project owner can enter or analyze their information.

6-9 days before: ask owners to update their data

To make this step work, you have to know who’s responsible for each measure and project, and you have to make sure those individuals have clear expectations for preparing and submitting that data.

For example, some people like to submit data their own way, whether through Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint, or Word, or through email, voicemail, or word of mouth. Pulling information together from all these sources is incredibly difficult for whoever has to organize it.

To fix this, have measure and project owners enter their data in a template that cannot be modified, such as Balanced Scorecard software or strategy management software. (If you’re not in a position to purchase software, you can organize this information in Excel.)

To get everyone’s data in on time, set the expectation early. You’ll learn quickly whether you need to provide 24, 48, or 72 hours (or longer) for measure and project owners to enter their data. We’ve found it very helpful for the person preparing the strategy review meeting, or another executive, to email owners a reminder to enter their information.

See how ClearPoint would run your plan — book a demo

5 days before: ask owners to analyze their data

Once all measure and project owners have updated their information in your software (or you’ve added their data to your Excel scorecard), ask the owners to analyze it. You may want to prompt them with questions like these:

• What does it mean that your data is doing better than last month but still below what you’d planned?
• Does that mean you are or are not making progress?
• Are the projects you’re working on going to be enough to help you achieve your goals or do you need more?

Many goal owners are afraid to report a project or measure with a red status (showing that it is behind progress for one reason or another), but they need to be comfortable doing so if they want to request more resources. The owner of the overall process should be able to work with each goal owner to help solve any issues they face and make sure their analysis is fair and accurate.

4 days before: draft the agenda and read-ahead

Now work out what the overall strategic information is telling you. Consider these questions as you create and structure your agenda and read-ahead documents:

• Is there a problem at the customer level, human resources level, finance level, or with any of your other strategic perspectives?
• Where should you, as a leadership team, be spending the most time during this meeting, and why?
• Where will you get the most value for your time, and why?

3 days before: pre-present to leadership

With the prep work done, pre-present the information to the executive in charge of the department. Once they understand what will be discussed, go back to your measure and goal owners and tell them which areas will take up most of the discussion. They will appreciate it.

2 days before: confirm the right people will attend

Now that you know the key parts of the strategy that will be discussed, you may want to invite additional people who have expertise in these areas to the meeting. For instance, if you’re struggling with a manufacturing line, you may want to bring the factory manager to the meeting. Or if you’re dealing with financial complications, you may want to bring several people from the finance department.

1 day before: send the agenda and read-ahead

Sending out all information in advance helps everyone prepare for the topics at hand. If decisions need to be made during the meeting, outline those topics ahead of time and set the parameters for each decision, so each attendee can think them through and prepare.

Meeting day: prepare the room

Phew! After all that preparation, you’ve made it to meeting day. To get the most out of your discussion, make sure the room itself is ready. The room should be the right size for the number of attendees and have a high-quality projector, whiteboard, or flip chart (depending on your needs). We also suggest making sure you have light refreshments or lunch brought in, depending on the time of the meeting. If your operation is diverse and has many facilities or meeting spaces, consider holding each monthly or quarterly meeting in a new spot.

Everyone is on a busy schedule, and you want attendees to want to come to your meetings. Note: This may take some prep work, particularly if you need to arrange the room in a particular way or order refreshments, so plan accordingly.

Do you need a complete strategic reporting policy at your company?

Creating a complete internal reporting process, covering everything from scorecard management to process changes, takes a lot of time and work. But you need this document to keep your team on track and your meeting planning in check.

To help, we’ve put together our own strategic reporting and accountability policies. If you need a stable internal reporting process so your strategy preparation succeeds, reach out to us today.