“What are important topics for a Strategic Council to discuss, debate, and decide?”
I ran this question through ChatGPT about a month ago. The answer is below.
I thought it was a decent response but lacked actionable items. To address the latter, I provide some of my thoughts and suggestions at the bottom, by category.
Chat GPT response
The topics for a strategic council meeting can vary depending on the organization and its objectives. Here are some common topics that strategic council meetings often cover:
1. Strategic Planning: Reviewing and refining the organization’s long-term goals, vision, and mission. Discussing strategic initiatives, market trends, and competitive analysis.
2. Performance Evaluation: Assessing the organization’s overall performance, financial health, and progress towards strategic goals. Identifying areas for improvement and determining strategies to enhance performance.
3. Resource Allocation: Reviewing resource allocation strategies, including budgeting, funding priorities, and investment decisions. Discussing potential risks and opportunities.
4. Innovation and Growth: Exploring opportunities for innovation, new product development, market expansion, or strategic partnerships. Assessing the organization’s competitive position and exploring growth strategies.
5. Risk Management: Identifying and evaluating risks that could impact the organization’s strategic objectives. Discussing risk mitigation strategies and contingency plans.
6. Governance and Compliance: Reviewing governance policies, ethical guidelines, and legal compliance. Discussing any updates or changes in regulatory requirements.
7. Organizational Culture and Talent: Assessing the organization’s culture, talent management practices, and leadership development. Discussing strategies to attract, retain, and develop top talent.
8. Stakeholder Engagement: Reviewing stakeholder relationships, including customers, investors, partners, and the community. Discussing strategies to enhance stakeholder engagement and address their needs.
9. Technology and Digital Transformation: Exploring the impact of emerging technologies, digital transformation initiatives, and data-driven strategies. Discussing opportunities for leveraging technology to drive innovation and operational efficiency.
Remember, the specific topics for your strategic council meetings should align with your organization’s goals and challenges. It’s important to prioritize topics based on their relevance and potential impact on the organization’s strategic direction.
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Bill’s suggestions
Topics by the categories above:
1. Strategic Planning
– Michael Porter’s Five Forces model
– Deep Competitive Analysis – assign one of your top 2-3 key competitors to a member of the leadership team. Learn why their customers buy from them and how they are different from you and vice versa.
– Customer Development – Conduct interviews with your best customers to reinforce and discover what their key struggles and how you can solve for their key functional, emotional and social buying needs.
– What would have to be true to turn all key operating functions to green (especially Marketing, Sales, Operations and Finance)? (Green => function is performing as necessary to support the business – the key leading and lagging metrics achieved)
2. Performance Evaluation
– One Thing question – What one thing could we do that would make everything else easier or unnecessary?
– What area of the business is least effective and efficient as it relates to BHAG?
– If we were to build our company from scratch to be strongly positioned to achieve the company vision knowing all we know today, how would we do it? Have all key stakeholders been considered for optimal relationship and mutual success?
3. Resource Allocation
– Where are we weakest in terms of resource allocation? How do we address these? Should we address these? Is it the best use of time and resources?
– Where are we strongest and how do we become even stronger?
4. Innovation and Growth
– As it relates to our core customer’s struggles, where are we the weakest? (Functional, Social, Emotional?)
– What technologies are we not fully taking advantage of today?
– What are our industry’s top 2-3 biggest unsolved problems today? Pick one and come up with all the possible ways to solve it and/or a list of questions that need answers to do so. When resolved or well on its way, pick the next one.
5. Risk Management
– I am a fan of incorporating this into each initiative. Conduct a pre-mortem (wildly successful and horribly unsuccessful scenarios) before assigning significant resources.
6. Governance and Compliance
– Do we have proper safeguards, checks and balances in place for all major systems and processes in the business? (Laying out each of these first may be helpful. I generated a list of generic standards for most businesses. FYI – This list will be my next post. Please contact me if you would like it sooner)
7. Organizational Culture and Talent
– What are the critical functions in our business (try to keep to less than 12 to start. The fewer the better)?
– Do we have the best person/team available in the industry to run those? If not, what would have to be true in order to bring them on board?
– What is the optimal talent management system for our company? Attraction, Hiring, Onboarding, Coaching, Developing, Exiting, other?
8. Stakeholder Engagement
– Create a list of key stakeholders and the main thing (keep to 3 or less) they want from us and we want from them (keep to 3 or less)
– What would have to be true for each key stakeholder to say that we are the best partner/team they have ever worked with?
9. Technology and Digital Transformation
– Create a list of technologies that are critical to running the business. Are there any weak links? What technologies are missing? (E.g. are you taking the fullest advantage of generative AI? If not, what is the fastest and most effective way to incorporate it into the business?)
Reminder: Check any work product from above against Vision, Core Values, Purpose, and Objectives at a minimum.
Disclaimer- This is not an exhaustive list but I believe it is a great start. (I recommend that one of these topics be discussed and decided on during a weekly Strategic Council Meeting.)
Please contact me with any questions.