Your Strategic Planning Checklist for Next Year
(aka: The Reality Check You’ve Been Avoiding)**
If you read Part 1, you already know I believe most leaders aren’t stuck because they’re not smart — they’re stuck because they’re trying to drag last year’s habits into next year’s goals.
This section is where we shift from insight to action.
Below is the exact Strategic Planning Checklist I use with clients. And yes, it’s thorough. Yes, it’s meant to make you pause. And yes… it’s also the reason so many leaders decide to bring a coach into the process. When you see what actually goes into building a solid plan, you understand why winging it never works.
Let’s get to it.
1. Review This Past Year Honestly
Start with a Plus/Delta — what worked, what didn’t, and what needs to change.
Skip the sugar-coating. This is your business, not a Hallmark movie.
Ask yourself:
- What were the true wins?
- What created those wins? (No, “luck” is not an answer.)
- Where did you fall short — and why?
- What repeated problems did you politely ignore?
- What did you know needed attention but kept postponing?
Patterns don’t magically fix themselves. They follow you until you break them.
2. Review Your Financials (For Real This Time)
You cannot build a strategic plan if you don’t understand the numbers.
And no, glancing at revenue once a month doesn’t count.
Look at:
- Revenue (actual vs. the fantasy version in your head)
- Profit margins (healthy or on life support?)
- Expenses (which ones ballooned when you weren’t looking)
- Cash flow cycles
- Pricing strategy and whether it still makes sense
If you want help finding the leaks, cracks, or “mystery expenses,” that’s where I come in. Coaching shines a very bright flashlight in the corners.
3. Define Where You Want to Be
Clarity = momentum. Vagueness = chaos.
Break your goals down into three layers:
Your 3-Year Vision
Who do you want to be as a leader?
Where do you want your business to sit in the market?
Your 1-Year Outcomes
What needs to be true by the end of next year?
Be specific. “Grow” is not a plan — it’s a wish.
Your Quarterly Priorities
Quarterly structure is where plans start becoming reality.
(Or unraveling — depending on your level of honesty.)
4. Identify the Resources You Actually Have
Before you decide what you want to do, look at what you can do.
Evaluate your:
- Time
- Budget
- People
- Skills
- Systems
- Capacity
This prevents the classic mistake: building a beautiful plan based on imaginary resources and superhero energy you absolutely do not have.
5. Review Your Team (Succession Included — Don’t Skip This)
People are your greatest asset or your biggest bottleneck.
Sometimes both, simultaneously.
Ask:
- Who’s ready for more responsibility?
- Who needs development?
- Who’s overwhelmed and not telling you?
- Who’s misaligned with the future direction?
- Who takes over if someone leaves tomorrow?
You cannot grow a business faster than you develop the people inside it.
6. Identify the Gaps Between Where You Are and Where You Want to Be
This is where strategic planning becomes real planning.
Every gap becomes:
- a project,
- a system,
- a development plan,
- or a priority.
Leadership gaps, skill gaps, process gaps, structural gaps — they all count.
And yes, these gaps are exactly where coaching becomes invaluable.
7. Build the Plan One Step at a Time
This is the “eat the elephant one bite at a time” phase.
(Side note: some of you have been nibbling on the same elephant since 2020. It’s time to make real progress.)
Your plan should include:
- Clear priorities
- Measurable targets
- Owners and deadlines
- Review checkpoints
- Built-in accountability
If you’re thinking, “Wow, this is a lot,” congratulations — you’ve just discovered why “strategic planning” on a whiteboard rarely survives contact with reality.
And Here’s the Not-So-Subtle Point…
You can go through this checklist alone.
But the question is: will you actually follow through?
If you could break old patterns alone, you already would have.
Coaching doesn’t give you magic — it gives you structure, clarity, accountability, and momentum.
And that’s how you break the cycle.
Want the Fillable Worksheet?
Email me and I’ll send you the full version — the one my clients use to build plans they actually execute.
And if you’re ready to turn next year from “hopefully better” into “intentionally better,” let’s talk about working together.
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