A three-year strategic plan is a written agreement among the people who run the company: where the business will be at the end of year three, the choices that make that likely, and what those choices will cost. We facilitate the decisions and do the writing. You finish with a plan document of 12 to 20 pages, a one-page strategy and a financial outline your budget can be built from.
What it is and who it is for
It is the anchor of the planning cycle and the document every other tool refers back to. It suits owner-led companies with no written plan, a plan more than two years old, or a plan that lists ambitions without making choices.
It is particularly useful when:
- the owner wants to step back from daily decisions and needs managers to decide the way they would;
- a board or advisory board has asked for a plan it can approve and monitor;
- the company has more good opportunities than people, and keeps starting things it can't finish;
- a lender, partner or successor will want to see a considered direction.
If what you need is a business plan for a bank loan or a feasibility study for a new venture, that is a different document; BizConsulting.ca, a sister practice in our group, specialises in those.
What is included
The engagement has four stages, each with a defined output.
- Preparation. We assemble a numbers pack covering revenue, gross margin and mix by line of business for the last two or three fiscal years. We interview each leader for about an hour and run a short anonymous survey.
- Facilitated offsite. A one- or two-day session, in person or online by video, where the leadership team settles the destination, the choices and the priorities. The format is described on our leadership offsite page.
- Drafting. We write the plan document and the one-page strategy, then run two review meetings to refine them. Every priority gets an owner, a year-one milestone and a year-three end state.
- Approval and handover. We prepare the board version where needed, present it with the owner, and hand over every file.
The plan document's eight sections
The document follows a fixed structure: where we are now; what we heard; the year-three destination; strategic choices; priorities; financial outline; risks and scenarios; and how we will run the plan. Our guide to writing a three-year plan explains each section and its page limit.
Timeline
Most plans take six to ten weeks. The main variable is how quickly the leadership team can schedule interviews and the offsite, not the drafting itself.
| Weeks | Activity |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | Numbers pack, interviews, survey |
| 3–4 | Pre-reading circulated; offsite held |
| 5–7 | Drafting and two review meetings |
| 8–10 | Board version, approval, handover |
For a plan that should drive next year's budget, start at least ten weeks before your fiscal year begins.
How results are measured
A plan is measured by whether it changes decisions, not by its length. We look for three signs in the first two quarters.
- Priorities have owners who report on them. Each of the three to five priorities appears on the scorecard with a named person and a target.
- The budget reflects the plan. Money, hiring and timing in the annual operating plan can be traced back to specific priorities.
- Things were stopped. A good plan names at least one activity the company will stop doing, and in six months it has actually stopped.
If those three are not true by the second quarterly review, the plan needs attention, and the review is where we fix it.
Mistakes to avoid
Most failed plans fail for predictable reasons, and all of them can be avoided at the drafting stage.
- Too many priorities. Eleven priorities means none. We hold the line at three to five.
- A destination without numbers. "Become the preferred provider in our region" can't be measured. "$12 million in revenue with 35% from service agreements" can.
- No financial outline. If the plan doesn't say what the priorities cost, the budget will quietly undo it.
- The owner writes it alone. Managers won't defend choices they didn't help make. The offsite exists to share ownership.
- No review dates. A plan without four booked reviews is filed by April.
A short worked example
Consider a company at $8 million in revenue with an 11% operating margin that wants to reach $12 million by year three. That is about 14.5% compound growth a year. If the plan says half of the growth will come from a new maintenance-agreement program priced at $600 a year, that program needs about 3,330 active agreements by year three to supply $2 million. With 1,000 today, the company must add roughly 780 net agreements a year. That single calculation tells the operating plan how many sales and service staff to fund, and it tells the scorecard what to count every month.
Prices for a plan sit within our project range; see pricing. To discuss your situation, call, text or email us. A brief text with your company's size and the question you are trying to answer is a good start.
Frequently asked questions
Why three years instead of five?
Three years is long enough to change the shape of a company and short enough that the numbers still mean something. For most owner-led businesses, five-year figures are guesses, and managers treat them that way.
How much leadership time does it take?
Plan on a one-hour interview per leader, a short survey, a one- or two-day offsite and two review meetings of about 90 minutes each. The owner spends a few more hours with us on drafts.
Who owns the finished plan?
You do. The plan document, the one-page version and all working files belong to your company, and you are free to share them with lenders, advisors or your board.
Does the board have to approve it?
Where there is a board, it usually reviews and approves the plan, and we prepare a board version and can present it with you. How approvals work in your company is a governance question for your lawyer.