Free strategy guide
Plan and execute in 2027
A free 26-page guide for leadership teams who need their strategy delivered, not just agreed. Score your organisation in ten minutes, then build the ownership, the rhythm and the reporting that turn a plan into results.
- A 10-minute execution health check that scores your organisation out of 20, and tells you which chapters to read first
- The four-level operating rhythm, with a 60-minute weekly agenda that ends in decisions rather than updates
- The six questions a quarterly board report has to answer, in four to six pages
- A 12-week launch plan and two worksheets you can print and use in your next planning session
Free, and nothing in it needs Empiraa GPS. Someone from the team will be in touch after you download it, to see whether a walkthrough would be useful.
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Start here
Ten minutes tells you which chapters matter
The health check on page 4 is ten statements about how your organisation runs its plan today, each scored zero, one or two. Your total out of 20 lands you in one of three bands, and each band sends you to the chapters that will move you furthest.
- Score 0 to 8
The plan is on paper
The strategy exists, but there is no system delivering it. The guide points you at direction, ownership and KPIs first.
- Score 9 to 15
The plan is moving, but leaking
You have the basics. Visibility, meetings or reporting are costing you speed, so you start with the operating rhythm.
- Score 16 to 20
The plan is running
Your system works. You go to the chapters on board reporting, adapting the plan and where AI earns its place.
Why plans stall
The plan is rarely the problem
Most leadership teams are good at planning. They take time out, debate the priorities, agree a direction and leave aligned. The trouble starts on Monday, when the day-to-day takes over and the plan goes back in the drawer.
Priorities blur on the way down
In a study of more than 7,600 managers, only 55 per cent of middle managers could name even one of their company’s top five priorities.
Work breaks down between teams
84 per cent of those managers said they could rely on their boss and their direct reports all or most of the time. Only 9 per cent said the same about colleagues in other departments.
Source: Sull, Homkes and Sull, “Why Strategy Execution Unravels and What to Do About It”, Harvard Business Review, March 2015.
Chapter 6
Strategy is delivered in the calendar, not in the plan
A plan without a rhythm is a wish. The guide sets out four meeting cadences, who attends each one, how long it runs and what has to come out of it.
| Cadence | What happens, and what comes out of it |
|---|---|
| Weekly check-in | 60 minutes with the leadership team. Check KPIs, surface issues, solve the most important ones. Out: decisions and actions with owners. |
| Monthly review | Two hours with the leadership team and goal owners. Review progress on each goal, deep dive anything off track. Out: recovery plans and reallocated resources. |
| Quarterly review | Half a day to a full day. Assess the quarter, adjust the plan, set the next 90 days of priorities. Out: an updated plan and a board report. |
| Annual planning | One to two days. Set direction and goals for the year. Out: the strategic plan. |
What is inside
Fourteen short chapters, in the order you would do them
Each one ends with a short note on how Empiraa GPS handles that step, so you can see where software saves time and where it is not needed at all.
- Why 2027 plans stall
- Your execution health check
- Set direction for 2027
- Turn goals into KPIs and actions
- Make ownership visible
- Build an operating rhythm
- Run leadership meetings that end in decisions
- Measure with live numbers
- Report to your board
- Keep the plan alive
- Where AI fits in strategy
- Your first 90 days
- Worksheets
- Choosing a strategy execution system
Three things you can use immediately
Not a white paper. Templates you can put in a meeting invite.
The 60-minute weekly agenda
Five minutes of headlines, ten on the KPI scorecard, ten on goal updates, five on last week’s actions, twenty-five on the issues list, five to wrap up. The team votes on which issues to work first, so the loudest voice no longer sets the agenda.
The board report structure
Six questions, four to six pages. No board? The same structure works for an owners’ update, an investor letter or a leadership review, which is why the chapter is worth reading either way.
Two printable worksheets
Your 2027 strategy on a page, covering vision, purpose, goals, owners, KPIs and what you will stop doing. Then a weekly check-in and quarterly board scorecard you can fill in by hand.
Governance in 2027
The reporting bar is rising for mid-sized Australian organisations
Australia’s mandatory climate reporting regime is phasing in under the Corporations Act, and the guide sets out which group applies from when. Whether or not your organisation is directly in scope, boards, lenders, customers and supply chain partners increasingly expect evidence that strategy is planned, owned, measured and reviewed.
The guide contains general information only. It is not legal, financial or professional advice, and thresholds have been subject to change, so check your position with your adviser.
Who it is for
Leadership teams with a plan that crosses more than one team
It works for any organisation with a leadership team and a plan to deliver, from growing businesses to large enterprises. If you report to a board, an advisory board, investors or members, the board reporting chapters will be especially useful.
- Chief executives and managing directors
- Chief operating officers
- General managers
- Chief financial officers
- Heads of strategy and transformation
- Anyone accountable for delivering the plan
Where Empiraa GPS comes in
Every idea in the guide works on a whiteboard, a spreadsheet and a calendar. Some of it is a great deal less admin with software, so each chapter carries a short note on how Empiraa GPS handles that step. Empiraa GPS is strategy execution software: it turns a strategic plan into goals and actions with named owners, runs the leadership meetings that keep the plan moving, and builds board reports from live data.
Read the guide first. If you want to see it running afterwards, see what Empiraa GPS does or take the product tour.
See your 2027 strategy running in Empiraa GPS.
Bring your health check score, and your current plan if you have one. Fifteen minutes, set up around how your leadership team already works.