Worksheet · Strategy Health Check
Turn the goals into choices
It prints on A4 with room to write.
A goal says what you want. A choice says where you will get it and what you give up. This sheet turns each goal into choices and records the options you turned down. It builds the Competent step of the check:
Explicit where-to-play and how-to-win choices exist, and some genuine options were rejected.
Step 1. Lay out the options for each goal
For each goal, write at least three options. Draw them from four kinds:
- Strengthen our position where we already compete.
- Shift the mix toward better segments, or out of worse ones.
- Make a segment more attractive, for example by raising the cost of entry.
- Do nothing. Cost it, so the other options have something to beat.
Step 2. Choose, and record what you gave up
| Goal | Option | Kind (1 to 4) | Chosen or rejected | Reason | What we will not do as a result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| e.g. EBIT up by a third in four years | Enter the small-business segment | 2 | Rejected | Our cost to serve is twice the leader's | No small-business product or sales team |
Step 3. Check
- Every goal has at least one chosen option and at least one rejected one.
- Each chosen option says where you compete and how you win there.
- The "will not do" column would surprise somebody in the business.
Done when: each goal has a written where-to-play and how-to-win choice, and at least one rejected option with its reason.
Adapted from our own strategy checklist (PSP, 2010).
From the Strategy Health Check. Your report links the sheet for each of its moves.