A one-page strategic plan your people will actually use.
A one-page strategic plan fits the year on a page: the three things that matter, up to three priorities under each, the behaviours behind them, and what each leader owns. This template splits it into three short pages: where we're going, how we roll, and what's my part. Print it, fill it in with your leadership team in about two hours, and test it with three questions.
How to fill it in, in two hours
- Name three things that matter this year, in words a team leader would use. Twenty minutes.
- Three priorities under each, with an owner and a date. Cross out anything that doesn't fit. Forty minutes.
- Write the behaviours: four to six, each as what someone does at two o'clock on a busy Tuesday. Thirty minutes.
- Each leader writes their part for this quarter, tagged to a priority. Twenty minutes.
- Test it. Ask five people the three questions without notes this week. Rewrite whatever they can't say back.
Start from your rough notes.
Fill in what you know and open the prompt in the AI assistant you already use. It cuts your list to three things, writes the behaviours in plain words, drafts each leader's part and flags what's vague. Then bring the draft to your leadership team and fill in the pages below together. Nothing you type is sent to us.
Nothing you type is sent to us. The prompt only leaves this page when you copy it or open an assistant. Use roles, not names, and leave out anything confidential.
More prompts: an honest culture check and an email to whoever signs off, on Resources.
Where we're going
Three things that matter this year, and up to three priorities under each.
1.
2.
3.
We're stopping:
How we roll
Four to six behaviours. Write what someone does, not a word on a poster.
Example: "If a customer is waiting, we answer them before we finish the internal email."
What's my part
One per leader. What I own this quarter, which priority it serves, by when, and how we'll know.
Three questions, no notes
- Where are we going?
- How do we roll?
- What's my part?
Ask five people this week. If three can't answer, the plan isn't finished.
Get the template as a document you can edit.
Questions people ask
- What should a one-page strategic plan include?
- Where you're going (three things that matter and the priorities under each), how you'll behave to get there, and who owns what this quarter. Anything else belongs in a supporting document.
- Is this the same as the Scaling Up One-Page Strategic Plan?
- No. That's a fuller planning tool with more sections. This template is deliberately smaller, so people below the leadership team can hold it. It works alongside EOS, OKRs or Scaling Up.
- How often should we update it?
- Review page three every quarter and pages one and two every year. Announce anything you drop.
Want help filling it in properly? That's what the two days are for.