This week I was facilitating a strategy meeting where the group wrestled with an important but common misunderstanding: the difference between strategic planning and strategic thinking.
The goal of the meeting was to work at a high level, identifying the key strategies that would guide the organization forward. At one point, the board made a powerful decision: the organization would expand from a state-based footprint in Florida to a national one. That is strategy. It sets direction, shapes priorities, and defines what success will look like in the future.
But almost immediately the conversation shifted into questions like:
Which cities should we go into first?
Should there be a director in each city or regional oversight?
Should local marketing teams report back to Florida headquarters?
These are important questions, but they are not strategy. They belong to strategic planning, the tactical details of how to bring a strategy to life.
Leadership Roles
It is also worth noting that not every organization has a board of directors. In smaller privately held companies, the senior management team usually takes on the role of strategic thinking. The responsibility shifts depending on the structure, but the principle is the same: strategy lives at the top of the organization.
Making Hard Choices
Regardless of structure, strategic thinking is about choosing the handful of core areas where the organization will focus. At its foundation, strategy is the allocation of scarce resources. Just as important as deciding where to invest is having the courage to say no. The discipline to turn down opportunities, projects, or initiatives that do not warrant resources is what allows an organization to fully commit to the ones that do.
Planning Belongs to the Doers
Strategic planning, on the other hand, should be owned by the people who will actually implement it. The team in marketing should decide how to build campaigns. Operations should determine how to structure staffing. Finance should map the budgets. Leaders set direction, but they should not be telling functional experts how to do their jobs.
In the case of national expansion, the plan will require detailed analysis: which cities make the most sense, what the competitive landscape looks like, how marketing should be structured, and what kind of resources are needed. That work is best done by the people closest to the execution.
Here is the takeaway:
Strategic thinking sets the destination, strategic planning designs the road map. Both are essential, but they belong to different groups at different times. Mixing them up not only causes confusion but also weakens both processes.
This is a distinction I focus on often when facilitating strategy sessions. Keeping the conversation at the right level is what allows organizations to make the big decisions that truly shape their future.
If strategy has ever felt confusing or theoretical, this guide will help.
It offers a practical way to think strategically, focus your efforts, avoid common missteps, and stress-test your ideas before they’re put into play.
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