Gratitude: Thanksgiving weekend is always a good time to reflect on what is going well in your life and who helps make that happen. I am thankful for my family, for the usual reasons. I had a lovely weekend hosting some family members who are on a road trip from Saskatchewan, laughing and reflecting on the stories of family adventures. I am also grateful to have a flexible schedule - the upside of consulting and board work - which allows me to shift things around to make time for what really matters. I hope each of you had a lovely weekend as well, and named at least one thing that you are grateful for.

Strategic Planning Guide: As you can tell from the focus of this month’s newsletter, I have been thinking about strategic planning. One of my clients is planning a board retreat to discuss their strategic objectives. Another organization - where I am the board president - is discussing its upcoming priorities, so I created a first draft of a strategic plan. As one of my skills is developing practical tools for repeatable processes, I developed a strategic planning guide. Email [email protected] to request a free copy.

Recent Webinar. Please forgive a brief bragging moment. I recently delivered a webinar aimed at directors and executive leaders to sharpen their understanding of where governance ends and operations begin, and how to collaborate and engage more effectively in the boardroom. I was pleased with the feedback: “Practical tools and ideas to support our Board and leaders” |  “Sound information throughout.” | “So many useful takeaways.” |  “Patricia is an excellent, well-informed presenter.” |  “Patricia is very knowledgeable about effective governance. Her presentation was informative and approachable”.

When the board reviews a new strategic plan, there is often a mix of optimism and unease. The plan may look impressive, but soon someone is wondering “Are we sure this is actually the right strategy?”

That question, simple as it sounds, is where the director’s greatest contribution begins.

When The Board That Looked Past the Surface

A few years ago, a colleague on a large non-profit board told me a story about receiving a detailed plan promising to “modernize” the organization through a suite of new digital tools. It checked every box - forward-looking, innovative, measurable.

But when the board stepped back to ask a few simple questions - What’s driving this? What are we solving for? - they realized the underlying issue wasn’t digital tools at all.

The real problem was relevance: their core clients’ needs had shifted faster than the organization realized. The programs hadn’t evolved and they hadn’t been listening to their clients.

That short conversation changed the direction of the plan entirely. The strategy moved from “digital modernization” to “client reconnection”.  This involved investing in feedback loops, partnerships, and thoughtful service design.

It wasn’t glamorous, but it was what the organization needed.

Role of the Board In Strategic Planning

Management often views the role of the board as endorsing or tweaking the strategic plan they developed. Directors sometimes see their role as adding their ideas to the mix. But effective directors know their role is to test the plan’s foundations.

Even when the board is involved in the strategy brainstorming stage, directors should step back afterwards and assume the testing role.

In my work with boards, I’ve found that the most valuable contribution directors make is better questions – curious questions that surface assumptions, expose gaps, and sharpen priorities.

The Five Prongs to a Strategic Plan – Director Questions

1. Diagnose the Challenges & Opportunities

Seek to identify: “Are we sure we’re solving the right problem?”
Boards add the most value here by testing management’s diagnosis and the depth of their insight.  

Questions directors can ask:

• Does the diagnosis consider both internal performance issues and external change pressures?

• What important issues or opportunities might be missing from this diagnosis?

• Do the challenges and opportunities identified feel like symptoms or root causes?

• Is there evidence that stakeholder needs and expectations are clearly understood, or are they assumed?

This is where good directors gently slow the conversation down to consider, “What’s really going on underneath this?”

2. Make Choices on Direction

Seek to identify: “Have we made real choices, or just listed everything we could do?”
Strategic plans sometimes look like Thanksgiving dinner – multiple dishes of every category. The board’s role is to bring clarity and courage of strategic choices.  

Questions directors can ask:

Resources That I Found Interesting:

Leading Boards Rethinking Strategy and Enabling Innovation

A Fork in the Road - The Director's Role in Strategy

The Board and Strategic Planning

AI in Strategic Planning: Leveraging Practical Tools

Rather than spending hours reflecting on a new strategic plan, documenting your ideas, and wondering what you might be missing, consider how to leverage AI (ChatGPT, Co-Pilot or other AI tool) to start the brainstorming processes and identify gaps.

Here are some examples:

• Prompt AI to create a list of potential long-term big picture strategic objectives and year 1 goals aligned with the organization’s purpose/mission. Instruct it to consider your organization’s key documents, such as reports, board meeting minutes and action items, customer and employee feedback, etc.

• Prompt AI to create a list of strategic operational objectives that ensure the organization runs effectively and delivers quality products and services. 

• Prompt AI to propose ideas that capture emerging trends (i.e. technology; regulations; public policy; industry partnerships; competition moves; financing/funding pressures; etc.) that are creating risks or opportunities for the industry.

• Ask AI to identify what might be missing based on the objectives, goals and major initiatives identified in peer reports & recent industry news.

Take the ideas generated by AI as potential inputs to the strategic plan, building on your own ideas and the specifics of your organization.

As always, be careful with any documents being fed into the AI tool – use code words or generic concepts for proprietary or sensitive information. Use internal enterprise tools or private settings to maintain confidentiality where appropriate.

Giving Back by Supporting Non-Profits: Is your organization improving the world on a tight budget? Each year Puimac Consulting Ltd. provides a number of presentations pro bono. Non-profits with limited budgets can inquire for more information and on availability.

Please share this newsletter - my services may be exactly what they need right now.

Referrals are always appreciated!