Strategic Planning: Student Workbook
Welcome
This workbook is your companion for strategic planning learning and application. Use these exercises and templates to apply course concepts to your organization.
Exercise 1: SWOT Analysis
Analyze your organization or a specific business unit using the SWOT framework.
Strengths: Internal advantages we can leverage
Weaknesses: Internal challenges we need to address
Opportunities: External trends and possibilities we can pursue
Threats: External challenges and competitive pressures we must mitigate
Reflection Questions
- Which strengths can we leverage to pursue opportunities?
- Which weaknesses could limit our ability to pursue opportunities?
- Which threats could exploit our weaknesses?
- How can we mitigate our top three threats?
Exercise 2: Competitive Positioning
Using the positioning map below, place your organization and top 3 competitors based on cost and differentiation.
PREMIUM
▲
│
DIFFERENTIATION │
│
NICHE ────────────┼────────── COST LEADERSHIP
│
│
STANDARD
Your Organization: _________________ Position: _________________
Competitor 1: _________________ Position: _________________
Competitor 2: _________________ Position: _________________
Competitor 3: _________________ Position: _________________
Analysis Questions
- Where is your organization positioned? Is this intentional or accidental?
- What competitors are closest to your position? What's your differentiation?
- Are there uncontested positioning opportunities in your market?
- What capabilities would you need to move to a different position?
Exercise 3: Strategic Goal Cascading
Taking your organization's top strategic objective, cascade it down to operational goals.
Enterprise Strategic Objective:
Department-Level Goals:
Team-Level Objectives:
My Individual Performance Goals (aligned to strategy):
Exercise 4: Capability Gap Analysis
Identify strategic capabilities required for your strategy and assess current state.
| Strategic Capability | Current State | Required State | Gap | Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Example: Customer Experience Excellence | Developing | Strong | Significant | High |
Gap Closure Plans for High-Priority Items:
- Capability: _________________ Action: _______________________
- Capability: _________________ Action: _______________________
- Capability: _________________ Action: _______________________
Exercise 5: Stakeholder Engagement Planning
For your strategic initiative, identify stakeholders and plan engagement.
| Stakeholder Group | Impact | Engagement | Support Needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Executive Team | High | Regular | Alignment |
Exercise 6: Balanced Scorecard Development
Identify 2-3 key metrics in each scorecard perspective that reflect your strategy.
Financial Perspective
What financial outcomes indicate strategy success?
Customer Perspective
What customer outcomes indicate strategy success?
Internal Process Perspective
What operational excellence do we need?
Learning and Growth Perspective
What capabilities must we develop?
Exercise 7: Scenario Planning
Describe three plausible future scenarios for your industry and strategic responses.
Scenario 1: _______________________________________________
Strategic Response: ______________________________________________
Scenario 2: _______________________________________________
Strategic Response: ______________________________________________
Scenario 3: _______________________________________________
Strategic Response: ______________________________________________
Leading Indicators to Monitor: _________________________________
Exercise 8: Action Planning
Based on this course, what will you do in your organization?
Action 1
What: ________________________________________________________________
Timeline: _____________ Owner: _____________ Success Metric: _____________
Action 2
What: ________________________________________________________________
Timeline: _____________ Owner: _____________ Success Metric: _____________
Action 3
What: ________________________________________________________________
Timeline: _____________ Owner: _____________ Success Metric: _____________
Key Takeaways
I will remember:
I will apply:
I will discuss with my team:
30-Day Follow-up
Return to this workbook 30 days after the course and reflect:
Have you completed your three action items? ☐ Yes ☐ In Progress ☐ Not Started
What obstacles have you encountered? ___________________________________
What support do you need? ___________________________________
What results have you seen? ___________________________________