Imagine this: You’re halfway through a five-year strategic plan, but the world around you has changed dramatically. Since January 20, 2025, the world order has shifted, the market has changed, and, depending on where you work, you may no longer be able to rely in the same way on your long-time partners and clients. You have a plan, but you and your board are making decisions that weren't contemplated when you created that plan. You start to wonder: Is our strategic plan still relevant? Will it get us where we want to go? Or does our direction need to change?

This is a common question I've been hearing recently from board chairs and executive leaders. We’re not talking about situations where a plan has simply reached the end of its cycle or where a policy dictates that it's time to renew it. The real challenge arises when organizations find themselves mid-way through a strategic plan cycle and begin questioning whether the world around them has shifted too much to stay on the same course.

As a strategist who serves mostly Canadian organizations, I am having this exact conversation with a number of my clients. Faced with the instability of a shifting world order and the ongoing tariff threats of our former bestie-in-trade, the USA, you too might be looking at your strategic plan and wondering whether it's time to toss it aside and start fresh. As a person who helps organizations do just that, I know it's not a decision you'll make lightly. It takes time and effort of your leadership team to renew a plan. And if you hire support, it costs money that could be spend in myriad ways protecting and defending your market share, staff, and reputation. 

So before you go down that path of making a decision, let’s break down how you can assess your plan’s relevance and determine whether it’s time for a refresh or total renewal.

Strategic plans aren't good or bad; they're designed for the time they are created

First, let’s get one thing straight: Strategic plans are not inherently good or bad. They are created based on the information, priorities, and people involved at the time of their development. But conditions change. What was a great plan two years ago may no longer serve your organization today.

The key question is not “Is our plan a bad one?” but rather, “Is this still the plan we need?”

The biggest sign that it's time for a new plan

The clearest indicator that your plan needs an overhaul is when it stops being useful in decision-making. If leadership teams are no longer referencing it to guide major organizational choices, that’s a strong sign it may be out of sync with reality. On the other hand, if your plan still actively informs decisions and aligns with your organization’s priorities, it may just need minor updates. But if no one can point to it as a guiding framework, it’s time to reassess. 

For example, I'm the board chair of Shakespeare in the Ruins, a long-established professional theatre company in Manitoba. Our last strategic plan was developed over 5 years ago, and with almost an entirely different board. It was also developed in the wake of the major social justice movements of #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter. As a theatre company that produces classical theatre (aka plays written by a privileged white guy), the board was particularly focused on commitments to inclusivity, diversity, and equity in our plan - not just in hiring, but also in our administrative practices and policies around our partnerships and procurement.

It was a great plan at the time, and it guided us to make bold and important choices for the organization. But for the past couple of years, we have stopped turning to it for guidance. It hasn't helped us in making decisions about how to balance rising costs with declining grants, how to engage a different generation of young actors who expect the perks of established talent, or how to expand our donor base as our older patrons have begun to pass their wealth on to their children. And yes, just like the shoemaker whose children wear ratty old shoes, I know that this gap falls squarely on my shoulders; we are fixing that this year. 

So in short, being unhelpful when it comes to decisions is one important factor to consider. But I want to share a few other questions I ask CEOs and board chairs when they ask me if they need a new plan.

A Quick Test: Do You Need a New Strategic Plan?

If you’re unsure, take this quick assessment. If you answer “yes” to multiple questions, it may be time to revisit your strategy:

Have there been significant changes in your external environment? 

New government policies, economic shifts, industry disruptions, or geopolitical changes can impact funding, operations, or service delivery. Were these on the radar when you built your plan, or have they emerged since? If you want to be sure, go back and revisit the outputs from your planning sessions. If you developed a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) or PESTEL (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, Legal) assessment as part of your planning work, go back and check it for the kinds of instability that we're seeing right now. Sometimes, we are better at predicting the future than we thought. You might surprise yourself when you review your discussions from the time you created your plan.

Has your leadership team or board undergone major changes?

Do you have a number of new members who bring different priorities or key stakeholders who no longer align with the existing plan? Many strategic plans include priorities around the internal culture and/or structure of an organization. But sometimes, the departure of a toxic leader or reorganization eliminates the problem, leaving you with priorities that are really no longer a big deal. On the other hand, if you've onboarded folks who have disrupted your culture - in good ways or bad - you might need to take a look at what you are intentionally fostering. Is your internal culture and administration in a position to support what comes next?

Are your stakeholders’ needs or expectations different from when the plan was created? 

Have you gathered feedback from clients, funders, community partners, and staff recently? Do their priorities align with your current direction? If the last time you talked to your stakeholders was in the pandemic or recovery years, you might need a refresh. Priorities, needs, and expectations have changed significantly in the past five years. So hopefully, you have client and/or employee data that's more recent, to give you a sense of what they really care about. 

My favourite example of this is the shift that Starbucks made in the post-pandemic environment. Their quantitative data told them they could easily transition to a drive-through model in many of their locations. However, what they didn't do was actually talk to the patrons who wanted to take their grandmother out of her retirement home for a nice coffee on a Saturday afternoon or the people like me who no longer have a corporate office, who prefer to meet clients at a great coffee shop. They made some significant investments in converting eat-in coffee shops to drive-through and pick-up only - only to find patrons frustrated off that their favourite "third place" was no longer available. The company has since reversed that decision and fired the CEO who made it. But many communities are stuck with locations that don't serve us. Don't be that guy. There is so much value in actually talking to your stakeholders. Don't ignore it, and don't assume you know what they want. For more on why this is important (and how it affects the cost of planning), check out this article on stakeholder engagement. 

Does your plan assume stability in areas that have shifted? 

Does it rely on outdated assumptions about funding, public support, regulatory environments, or partnerships? We are in a different world. I would never have guessed the USA would be pulling out of its international agreements, cutting funding to critical social services, or threatening cuts to entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicaid. If your strategic plan assumed stability in funding, you may not have included strategies to build resiliency to respond to the changes we are seeing today. 

When you need to make key decisions, is your plan still helpful? 

Does it provide the necessary guidance on priorities, trade-offs, and actions? Or does it feel disconnected from the challenges you’re facing today?

If you're not sure, I like to do the "out loud" test. Take your strategy one-pager - the document that outlines your vision, mission, priorities/goals, strategies and values - and read it like a story. "Our organization has a vision of [read your vision], which we will advance by [read your mission]. For the next few years, we are focused on [# of pillars in your plan] priorities, which include [read your priorities or goal]. We will achieve these priorities/goals with the following strategies [read pillar by pillar, outlining the strategies for each]. To deliver this work effectively and aligned with our organizational culture, we will pursue this work by centering the following values every day [read out your values and value statements if you have them]. When you read that out loud, it usually becomes pretty clear what's working and what's out of touch.

But what if your plan is still brand new?

If you’ve developed a strategic plan in the past one to two years, don’t panic. A full reset may not be necessary. Instead, I'd urge you to start by:

• Reviewing your SWOT/PESTEL analysis to ensure it’s up to date.

• Gathering targeted input from key stakeholders to see if adjustments are needed.

• Refreshing language and priorities without overhauling the entire framework.

Sometimes, small refinements are enough to ensure your plan remains relevant and useful - especially at a time when you don't have time to waste. 

What’s next? Start with a leadership conversation

Rather than assuming your plan is outdated, use this moment as an opportunity for reflection. The next time you bring your leadership team together, carve out some time for a discussion. Here are some questions to guide your conversation:

• Is this still the plan we need?

• Will it get us where we want to go? Or does our direction need to change?

• What works? What's no longer relevant? What's missing?

This exercise doesn't need to be about scrapping your plan or starting from scratch. Instead, use the conversation as an opportunity to ensure your strategy aligns with the realities of today’s world. If the answers point to misalignment, it may be time to explore your next steps.

If your team needs a structured way to assess your plan’s relevance, consider setting aside time for a facilitated discussion. And if you’d like an outside perspective, I’d be happy to chat. But the first step? Start the conversation.

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I regularly write about the real-world challenges of strategy and leadership, sharing insights from working with mission-driven organizations, member associations, and government-related bodies. If these topics resonate with you, sign up to receive my next strategy blog post straight to your inbox.