A quarterly strategy review is a fixed, half-day meeting where the leadership team checks the strategic plan against the last three months and decides what, if anything, changes. It is not a status meeting and it is not a new planning session. Its outputs are short: updated priorities, next quarter's objectives and a few recorded decisions. This guide covers how to prepare, run and record one.
What the review is for
The review answers three questions: are we on track, what have we learned, and what will we do differently next quarter. Everything in the pack and agenda should serve one of those.
The main risk is drift in either direction. Some teams turn the review into a long round of updates where every manager reports activity and nothing is decided. Others treat each review as a chance to rewrite the strategy, which leaves the company chasing a new direction every three months. The discipline is to keep the three-year destination fixed between annual planning sessions and adjust only the route.
The review pack: contents and page limits
The pack is a short document circulated five working days before the meeting so the time in the room goes to decisions. Hold it to twelve pages; most of the value is in the first four.
| Section | Contents | Pages |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Summary | Three sentences on the quarter, plus the decisions the team is asked to make | 1 |
| 2. Scorecard | The KPI scorecard with targets, actuals and colour status | 1 |
| 3. Priorities | Each priority: milestone status, owner's comment, next milestone | 2 |
| 4. Financials | Actual vs budget and the updated full-year forecast | 2 |
| 5. OKR scores | Last quarter's scores and draft OKRs for next quarter | 2 |
| 6. Scenario triggers | Status of each trigger from the scenario plan | 1 |
| 7. Issues for decision | One page per issue, with options and a recommendation | up to 3 |
Each owner writes their own section in plain sentences. Comments like "on track" are not enough; ask for "on track: 210 of 300 agreements signed, pace supports year-end target." The KPI scorecard guide shows how to set those numbers up.
A half-day agenda
Three and a half hours, with one break, is enough for a leadership team of five to nine people. Keep the timings visible and protect the decision blocks.
| Time | Block | Output |
|---|---|---|
| 0:00 | Purpose and decisions requested | Agreed list of decisions |
| 0:10 | Scorecard: red and amber measures only | Owners' explanations |
| 0:40 | Priorities: milestones behind schedule | Recovery actions or re-scoped milestones |
| 1:25 | Financials and forecast | Agreed forecast for the rest of the year |
| 1:50 | Break | |
| 2:00 | Issues for decision | Decisions recorded |
| 2:45 | Next quarter's OKRs | Final objectives and key results |
| 3:15 | Decision log read-back and next review date | Confirmed log |
| 3:30 | Close |
Notice that green measures are not discussed. If the pack has been read, there is nothing to say about a measure on target, and skipping it saves the time for the hard conversations.
Handling off-track measures
When a measure is red, the owner explains the cause and proposes a response; the team then chooses to recover, re-scope or accept the miss. Treat red as information, not blame.
A simple four-question routine keeps these conversations short:
- What is the gap, in numbers?
- What caused it: a one-off event, a wrong assumption or a capacity problem?
- What will close it, by when and at what cost?
- If it cannot be closed, what does that change elsewhere in the plan?
Suppose quotes issued are at 85 a month against a target of 111. The cause is an estimator on leave for six weeks. That is a one-off, so the response might be borrowed capacity for one month and an unchanged target. If instead the cause were that the market has fewer bids than assumed, the honest answer is to lower the target and check the downside triggers in your scenario plan.
The decision log
Every decision made at the review goes into a running log with an owner and a date. The log is how the next review knows what this one decided.
Keep the log as one shared document for the whole year, with columns for the date, the decision, the reason, the owner, the due date and the status. Start each review by checking last quarter's entries: anything not done should be either completed, re-dated with a reason, or formally dropped. After four quarters, the log is the most honest input you have for the next annual plan, because it shows what the team actually changed its mind about.
Roles in the room
A review runs well when four roles are clear: chair, facilitator, owners and note-taker. In a small company one person may hold two of them, but never the chair and the note-taker together.
- Chair: usually the owner or CEO. Opens the meeting, states the decisions requested and makes the final call on contested items, speaking last.
- Facilitator: keeps time, moves the discussion from explanation to decision, and stops the meeting from re-litigating last quarter. An outside facilitator is useful for the first year, until the rhythm is a habit.
- Owners: each priority and each scorecard measure has one. They speak to their own section, propose responses and accept new due dates.
- Note-taker: writes the decision log live, on a shared screen, and reads it back at the end.
The facilitator should also be the person who enforces the pack deadline. If owners send their sections late, the meeting fills with first readings, and the review quietly turns back into a status meeting. Agree that a section not in the pack on time is discussed last, not first.
Common ways reviews go wrong
Most failed review rhythms fail in the same handful of ways. Watch for these in the first two or three quarters.
- The pack arrives the night before. Nobody reads it, and the first hour is spent presenting.
- Every measure gets airtime. Green measures crowd out the red ones that need a decision.
- New priorities appear mid-year. If a genuinely new priority is needed, something existing should come off the list at the same time.
- Decisions are not dated. "We'll look at pricing" is not a decision; "operations manager brings two pricing options to the July review" is.
- The review is cancelled for a busy month. Busy months are when the plan most needs checking. Shorten the review rather than skipping it.
How boards fit in
Where a company has a board or advisory board, it typically receives the review pack and the decision log rather than attending the working session. That keeps the review practical and gives directors a consistent quarterly view.
A practical arrangement is to send directors the summary page, the scorecard, the financials and the decision log within a week of the review, then discuss them at the next board meeting. Some boards ask for a brief strategy item each quarter and a longer session once a year. We prepare the material and can facilitate the strategy discussion, but questions about directors' duties, approvals or minutes belong with your lawyer, and financial reporting with your accountant.
A first-year calendar
Put all four reviews in the calendar the day the plan is approved. Reviews that are scheduled as needed rarely happen.
For a company with a December 31 fiscal year-end, a workable pattern is: late January for the Q4 review combined with the start of the new plan, then late April, late July and late October. The October review doubles as the start of next year's annual operating plan. Shift the dates to match your own fiscal year.
Getting help with quarterly reviews
StrategyPlanning.ca is a Canadian business consulting service in the Sedighi.ca and SAZ.ca group, based in Vancouver and led by Ali Sedighi, MBA. We run quarterly strategy reviews with leadership teams across Canada, preparing the pack, facilitating the session and keeping the decision log, online by video or in person. See pricing for how ongoing reviews are usually arranged. Call or text (604) 632-4959, or email us; a short text is a good way to start.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a quarterly strategy review take?
Half a day, about three and a half hours, is right for most leadership teams. Shorter reviews slide into status reports; longer ones start rewriting the strategy, which should happen once a year.
When in the quarter should we hold it?
Within three to four weeks after quarter-end, once the month's books are closed. Waiting longer means you are reviewing old news.
Should the board attend the quarterly review?
Usually the leadership team holds the review and the board receives the pack and the decision log at its next meeting. How your board is involved is a governance matter to confirm with your lawyer.
What if nothing has changed since last quarter?
Then the review is short, which is a good outcome. Use the spare time to test one scenario or look ahead at the next quarter's key results.