Strategic Planning Survey Questions to Ask Before You Plan

Two questions that decide how every later answer is cut.

1. Which of these best describes where you sit here?Single choice, six optionsThe cut. There is no automatic routing, so this self-declared answer is what separates the front line from the executive in the results.
2. Have you been part of a planning cycle here before?Single choice, four optionsRead this beside question 21. Somebody who gave input to the last plan and does not believe this one is telling you about the last cycle, not this one.

Four questions about the mission you already have.

1. I could explain to someone outside what this organization is trying to achieve.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeWhether the direction is legible from the inside. Count the Disagree and Strongly disagree answers rather than averaging the column.
2. Our stated mission still describes what we should be doing over the next three years.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeThe mission item. A low score here is the finding that the planning day exists to act on.
3. The work I see day to day matches what we say we are here to do.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeThe gap between the stated mission and the work. Cut it by block 1: a wide gap at the front line and none at the top is worth more than either number alone.
4. In your own words, what should this organization be known for three years from now?Short text, one lineThe vision line. Tag the answers, count the tags, and put the three biggest counts in front of the planning group in the words people used.

Five open lines. This block is the SWOT analysis questionnaire, inside the survey.

1. What is this organization genuinely good at, that the next plan should build on?Short text, one lineStrengths. Anything named by several people is a strength the plan can rest on; anything named once is a candidate to check.
2. What can we do here that another organization would find hard to copy?Short text, one lineWhat sets you apart, asked as a capability rather than as a market comparison, because staff can answer the first and not the second.
3. What is the biggest weakness a plan would have to fix?Short text, one lineWeaknesses. Set the tag counts here against block 4: a weakness everybody names and nobody can fund is a scope decision, not an improvement task.
4. What change outside this organization over the next three years is the biggest opportunity for us?Short text, one lineOpportunities, scoped to changes outside the organization, so the answer is not another internal wish.
5. What change outside this organization over the next three years is the biggest threat to us?Short text, one lineThreats, scoped the same way. Read the two together: an external change named under both columns is a finding worth saying out loud.

Three separate resource statements, one forced obstacle choice, one open line.

1. We have the people we need to deliver what we are already committed to.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreePeople. Asked on its own so it can be read on its own.
2. We have the money we need to deliver what we are already committed to.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeMoney. Report all three side by side. The size of the gap between them is the useful part, not any one of the three on its own.
3. Our systems support the work we are already committed to.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeSystems. The one capacity item a plan can act on in a single budget line.
4. Which of these would most get in the way of a new plan here?Single choice, seven optionsThe obstacle, forced to one. A tick-all version lets everyone tick everything, which produces no ranking and no decision.
5. If we had to stop doing one thing to make room, what should it be?Short text, one lineThe stop question, and the only item here that asks what to take away rather than what to add. Read it beside question 20.

One direction question, two forced choices off the same list, one open line.

1. Over the next three years, how much should this organization change what it does?Single choice, five optionsAppetite for change. Cut it by block 1: a leadership team wanting to change direction while the front line wants to stay the course is the split to report first.
2. Which one of these should the next plan put first?Single choice, eight optionsPriority, forced to one. Report the share choosing each option, which gives a ranked list without asking anyone to rank anything.
3. Which one of these has been neglected longest?Single choice, the same eight optionsThe neglect question, on the same list. Put the two distributions side by side: an option high on both is the item the plan cannot leave out.
4. What is one thing we should start doing that we do not do now?Short text, one lineThe start question, paired with question 16. Together they are the only two items here that describe a plan rather than a position.

One rating and one open line, at the end.

1. I trust that answers to this survey will change what ends up in the plan.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeCredibility of the process. If this is low before you plan, publishing what changed because of the survey is the first thing to fix.
2. Is there anything else the people writing this plan should know?Long text, optionalThe catch-all. Read every line: anything urgent has nowhere else in this survey to arrive.

Send these on the leadership link. The first two replace questions 5 and 14, which a director cannot answer from outside; the other two are additions, so that link runs to 24.

1. I have enough information about how this organization is performing to help set its direction.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeReplaces question 14. A non-executive director cannot rate the systems that carry the work, but can say whether the board is given enough to steer with.
2. Board discussion here spends more time on the next three years than on the last three months.1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agreeReplaces question 5. The board equivalent of the mission-versus-work gap: where governance attention actually goes.
3. Where can the board add most to this plan?Single choice: setting the direction / testing the assumptions behind it / opening doors and relationships / holding it to account once it exists / raising money / somewhere elseAn addition. Put the same question to the executive team separately, and read the two answers on one page before the plan is drafted.
4. What would you need from the executive team to govern this plan well?Short text, one lineAn addition, and the one item here that asks the board what it needs rather than what it thinks.