The Key Players in Setting Strategy
A plan is only as strong as the people who build and own it. Here is who belongs in the room when strategy is set — and what happens when the wrong person stays out.
Who sets the strategy
Who belongs in the room
The first question in strategic planning is not "what is our plan?" It is "who should be here to build it?" Get the room wrong and the finest process in the world produces a document nobody acts on.
The rule is straightforward: everyone who will be responsible for implementing the strategy should take part in creating it — and the ultimate decision-maker must be present from the first minute to the last. Below are the three roles every serious planning session needs.
The decision-maker
The person who will ultimately own the plan — the CEO, CFO or chairman — must be present the entire time. Only they can commit the time, people and money the strategy will need, and only they can sign off on the result. Their presence is not ceremonial; it is what makes the plan real.
The implementers
Everyone who will carry the plan out — senior executives and department heads — should help shape it. There is a simple rule of human nature at work: the more involved people are in building a plan, the more determined they become to make it succeed.
The outside facilitator
An objective guide who has worked with many companies and has no stake in internal politics. You can no more be your own strategist than a lawyer should represent themselves — a person who acts as his own lawyer has a fool for a client. Even seasoned strategists bring one in.
Two companies, one difference
What the decision-maker's presence decides
The same planning process, run with and without the leader in the room, produces opposite outcomes. Two real cases make the point starkly.
The president who stayed
At an oil company, the president sat through every minute of the planning — contributing, listening, and visibly investing in the outcome. His commitment bound the team together. They left aligned and energised, with a plan they all owned.
Outcome: the firm became one of the largest and most profitable in its field.
The chairman who walked out
At a billion-dollar company, the chairman dismissed the sessions as a waste of time and refused to attend. Without the decision-maker present, the team's enthusiasm drained away like air from a balloon, and no one felt authorised to commit.
Outcome: the company slid back into its old habits and, in time, went bankrupt.
Why involvement matters
Commitment follows involvement
There is a direct relationship between the time people spend discussing and questioning a course of action and their commitment to carrying it out. Involvement is not a courtesy extended to the team — it is the mechanism by which a plan becomes something people will fight for.
This is also why the outside facilitator earns their fee: by drawing everyone into the debate rather than letting the loudest voice decide, they raise the whole room's commitment to whatever is agreed.
Set the conditions
Create the right environment
Good strategic thinking needs room to happen. The quality of the plan rises with the quality of attention you can give it, so protect the conditions deliberately: set aside two to four days of committed, unbroken time, and hold the session in a place apart — ideally offsite, away from the phones and the daily operations that will otherwise pull everyone back into the weeds.
- Two to four days of uninterrupted time
- A place apart — offsite, ideally a resort
- Day-to-day operations and phones set aside
- The decision-maker present start to finish
- An outside facilitator to keep it objective
- Everyone who will implement, in the room
Handbook application: from concept to controlled practice
Purpose. This expanded section turns the original page into a practical handbook. It preserves the supplied material and adds a repeatable way to apply, check and review The Key Players in Setting Strategy. It does not replace a contract, legislation, a controlled standard, competent engineering judgement or specialist advice.
The operating aim is to translate the idea into a customer proposition, operating choice, financial test and controlled experiment. Read the original explanation first, then use the workflow and checks below to convert knowledge into evidence.
Use The Key Players in Setting Strategy as an operating hypothesis rather than a slogan. Translate strategy, room, decision-maker, implementers, outside into a clearly defined customer, problem, proposed outcome and evidence source. State what customers do today, what friction remains, why the proposed offer is meaningfully different and what behaviour would demonstrate real demand.
Connect strategy to unit economics and cash. Record the price basis, variable cost, fulfilment effort, acquisition cost or effort, payment timing, capacity limit and likely rework or return burden. Forecasts should show assumptions and ranges, not false precision. A profitable-looking sale can still create a cash shortfall when suppliers, inventory or labour are paid before the customer pays.
Turn the highest-risk assumption into a bounded experiment. Decide the target segment, offer, channel, budget or time limit, sample, measure and pass/revise/stop rule before running it. Measure behaviour close to value—qualified enquiries, trial completion, paid conversion, repeat purchase or contribution—rather than relying only on reach or engagement.
Build controls as the model becomes repeatable. Assign ownership for sales, delivery, quality, complaints, records, finance and supplier performance. Document the minimum standard process and the exceptions that require approval. In Australia, confirm current registration, tax, employment, privacy, consumer and industry requirements with the responsible authority or adviser; this handbook is operational guidance, not legal or tax advice.
Step-by-step operating method
- Define the customer problem. Specify the target customer, context, unmet need, current alternative and evidence of demand.
- Shape the proposition. State the promised outcome, differentiation, delivery model and reasons the offer is credible.
- Test the economics. Estimate price, variable cost, acquisition effort, capacity, cash timing and downside exposure.
- Run a bounded test. Use a small experiment with a measurable success criterion and an explicit stop or revise rule.
- Build repeatability. Document the process, responsibilities, controls, records and review cadence needed to scale.
Illustrative decision experiment
Illustrative method—not a guaranteed result. Choose one uncertain assumption that can change the decision. State the present evidence and the smallest test that would materially reduce uncertainty. Set a budget or time box, define the target population and success measure, and write the pass, revise and stop thresholds before collecting results. Record negative and ambiguous findings as carefully as positive ones. The output is a decision with evidence, not an impressive activity report.
| Element | Question | Required record |
|---|---|---|
| Assumption | What must be true for the proposal to work? | One falsifiable statement |
| Evidence | What do we know now and how reliable is it? | Source and limitation |
| Test | What is the smallest ethical, useful experiment? | Population, method, budget and timing |
| Measure | What behaviour or outcome indicates value or harm? | Definition and collection method |
| Decision | What will we do for each possible result? | Pass, revise and stop rules |
Common failure modes and recovery actions
1. Watch for
Describing a broad market while failing to identify the first reachable customer.
Recovery: Return to the governing definition or requirement and restate the decision in one sentence.
2. Watch for
Confusing interest, clicks or compliments with willingness to pay.
Recovery: Separate evidence from assumption, assign an owner and set a date for validation.
3. Watch for
Forecasting revenue without capacity, working-capital and cash-timing assumptions.
Recovery: Run a small counterexample, boundary test, pilot or independent check before proceeding.
4. Watch for
Making advertising claims that cannot be supported with evidence.
Recovery: Record the consequence, decision and rationale, then update the controlled baseline.
5. Watch for
Scaling acquisition before the offer, fulfilment and retention process is repeatable.
Recovery: Escalate when the issue affects safety, compliance, acceptance, material value or an agreed tolerance.
Review checklist
- What customer evidence supports this decision?
- Which assumption has the greatest effect on cash or viability?
- What result would cause us to stop, revise or scale?
- Which legal, tax, consumer and record-keeping requirements need specialist confirmation?
- Are mandatory requirements distinguished from recommendations and illustrative values?
- Are sources, assumptions, units, dates and versions recorded closely enough to reproduce the decision?
- Have safety, legal, ethical, stakeholder and operational consequences been considered at the appropriate level?
- Is there a named owner and a trigger for review, escalation, change or retirement?
Questions for deeper application
What is the most important distinction a practitioner must preserve when applying The Key Players in Setting Strategy?
Answer with a fact or cited source where available. Where evidence is incomplete, record the assumption, consequence, responsible owner and next validation action.
Which assumption about strategy would change the result most if it proved false?
Answer with a fact or cited source where available. Where evidence is incomplete, record the assumption, consequence, responsible owner and next validation action.
What evidence would allow an independent reviewer to reproduce or challenge the conclusion?
Answer with a fact or cited source where available. Where evidence is incomplete, record the assumption, consequence, responsible owner and next validation action.
Which boundary, exception or failure case has not yet been tested?
Answer with a fact or cited source where available. Where evidence is incomplete, record the assumption, consequence, responsible owner and next validation action.
What must be handed over, monitored or reviewed after the immediate work is complete?
Answer with a fact or cited source where available. Where evidence is incomplete, record the assumption, consequence, responsible owner and next validation action.
Authoritative references and use notes
The sources below were selected as institutional or primary guidance for the broader practice. They support the handbook method; they do not imply that every statement or clause in a source applies to every project. Confirm the current edition, jurisdiction, contract and application before treating any requirement as mandatory.
- Develop your business plan — Australian Government — business.gov.au. Used for objectives, priorities, risks, finance and operating plans. Accessed 2026-08-13.
- Make a risk management plan — Australian Government — business.gov.au. Used for business risk planning and stakeholder consultation. Accessed 2026-08-13.