Define a remit for an internal strategy function that is distinct from finance and operational planning.
Leadership & Management
Building an Internal Strategy Function and Annual Planning Cycle
Stand up an internal strategy function and design an annual planning cycle that connects strategic choices to budgets, targets and accountability.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Many organisations run an annual planning cycle that produces a thick document nobody reads again until the following year, because strategy work is disconnected from the budget process and owned by no one after the planning offsite ends. This course covers building an internal strategy function with a clear remit, distinct from finance and from operational planning, and designing an annual cycle that keeps strategic choices connected to resource allocation throughout the year rather than only at the planning peak. Participants learn to define what a strategy function actually does, including environmental scanning, option development, portfolio review and performance tracking, and how it should relate to the executive team, the board and business unit leaders who often see strategy work as detached from their reality. The course works through sequencing an annual cycle so that strategic choices are made before budgets are set, rather than budgets being built first and a strategy narrative fitted around them afterwards, and covers designing lighter mid-year reviews that adjust the plan without restarting the whole process. Participants leave with a proposed remit for a strategy function and a annual planning calendar sequenced to their own organisation's budget and reporting timetable.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Sequence an annual planning cycle so strategic choices precede and shape budget allocation.
Design environmental scanning and option development processes that feed genuine strategic choices.
Build a portfolio review process that reallocates resource away from lower-priority initiatives.
Connect strategic priorities to business unit targets in a way that survives translation into local plans.
Design a lighter mid-year review that adjusts the plan without repeating the full annual process.
Position a strategy function so business unit leaders see it as useful rather than as an external audit.
Who Should Attend
Newly appointed heads of strategy building a function's remit and first annual cycle.
Chief executives and chief financial officers deciding how strategy and budget processes should connect.
Business unit leaders whose annual plans must align with a central strategic planning process.
Corporate development and planning managers supporting an annual strategy and budget cycle.
Board members reviewing whether the organisation's strategy process produces decisions rather than documents.
Programme and portfolio managers responsible for prioritising initiatives against strategic priorities.
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Defining the Strategy Function's Remit
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Scoping What the Function Does
- Define the strategy function's core activities: scanning, option development, portfolio review and tracking.
- Distinguish the strategy function's role from finance's role in the annual planning process.
- Clarify where the strategy function has authority to challenge business unit plans and where it advises only.
- Set the function's reporting line and its relationship to the executive team and the board.
Session 2Positioning the Function with Business Units
- Introduce the strategy function to business unit leaders as a resource rather than an audit function.
- Involve business unit leaders in shaping strategic options rather than presenting choices as already made.
- Build early credibility by delivering a small, visible piece of useful analysis before asking for cooperation.
- Address scepticism from leaders who have seen previous strategy initiatives fail to produce real change.
02Designing the Environmental Scanning and Option Stage
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Scanning for Strategic Signals
- Design a structured process for scanning market, competitor and technology signals relevant to the organisation.
- Distinguish signals that warrant a strategic response from noise that does not merit executive attention.
- Synthesise scanning output into a small number of strategic questions the organisation must answer.
- Involve business unit leaders in validating scanning findings against their frontline knowledge.
Session 2Developing and Testing Strategic Options
- Develop a genuine set of alternative strategic options rather than a single preferred path with variations.
- Stress-test options against plausible competitor responses and changes in market conditions.
- Present options to the executive team with explicit trade-offs rather than a single recommended answer.
- Document the option development process to explain later why a particular choice was made.
03Sequencing Strategy and the Annual Budget
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Ordering the Annual Cycle Correctly
- Sequence the calendar so strategic choices are agreed before budget templates are issued to business units.
- Set clear gates between the strategy stage and the budget stage so one cannot proceed without the other.
- Avoid the common failure of building budgets first and writing a strategy narrative around them afterwards.
- Align the planning calendar with board meeting dates so strategic choices reach the board at the right point.
Session 2Translating Strategy into Targets and Resource
- Cascade strategic priorities into business unit targets that survive translation into local plans.
- Run a portfolio review that reallocates budget and headcount away from lower-priority initiatives.
- Resolve conflicts where business unit ambitions exceed the resource the strategic plan allocates.
- Document the link between each major budget line and the strategic priority it supports.
04Governing and Adjusting the Plan Through the Year
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Tracking Delivery Against the Plan
- Design a tracking process that reports progress against strategic priorities, not only financial targets.
- Set thresholds that trigger a formal review when delivery diverges materially from the plan.
- Distinguish delivery problems that need operational fixes from ones that require a strategic pivot.
- Report strategic delivery to the board in a form that supports genuine oversight rather than reassurance.
Session 2Running a Lighter Mid-Year Review
- Design a mid-year review that adjusts the plan for material changes without repeating the full process.
- Decide which parts of the strategic plan can flex mid-year and which require full re-approval.
- Capture lessons from the annual cycle to improve the process, not only the plan's content.
- Retire or extend initiatives at the mid-year point based on evidence rather than sunk investment.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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