I've facilitated strategic planning processes for dozens of organizations — health centers, libraries, nonprofits, foundations, government agencies. And I can usually tell within the first hour whether the organization is going to end up with a real strategy or just a nicely formatted wish list.
Here are the five warning signs.
1. Every Goal Is a Home Run
When every goal in your plan requires everything to go right, you don't have a strategy — you have a fantasy. Real strategic plans account for the fact that the world is uncertain and that some of your assumptions are wrong. They build in the capacity to adapt.
If your plan reads like a victory speech written before the game, it's a wish list.
2. Nothing Got Cut
Strategy is about choice. It's about deciding what you will do and what you won't do. If your planning process ended without anyone feeling even slightly disappointed that their pet initiative didn't make the cut, you probably didn't make real choices.
The most powerful moment in any strategic planning process is when the group says, "We can't do everything, so what matters most?"
3. The Plan Lives in a Binder
If your strategic plan is a document that gets referenced once a quarter at board meetings and otherwise sits on a shelf, it's not functioning as a strategy. It's functioning as proof that you went through a process.
A working strategy is a living framework that people use to make daily decisions. It should be simple enough to remember and specific enough to be useful.
4. Everyone Agreed Too Easily
Genuine strategic alignment requires genuine disagreement first. If your planning process felt harmonious from start to finish, it's likely that people self-censored rather than engaged authentically with the hard tradeoffs.
The best facilitation creates a space where it's safe to disagree — because that's where the real thinking happens.
5. You Can't Explain It in Two Minutes
If you can't explain your strategy to a new board member in a brief elevator conversation, it's too complex to actually guide behavior. The most effective strategies are elegantly simple — not because the thinking was simple, but because the synthesis was rigorous.
Want to build a strategic plan that actually works? Schedule a free call to talk about your organization's unique challenges.