Strategic planning models: 7 models + 8 frameworks explained

If you're interested in creating or updating your strategic plan, you've come to the right place. There are numerous strategic planning models and frameworks you could apply, and while it's often smart to combine a few, you can't (and shouldn't) use them all.

A strategic plan is a great tool to help you hit your business goals. But sometimes, this tool needs to be updated to reflect new business priorities or changing market conditions. If you decide to use an existing model, you can benefit from a roadmap that's already been created.

In this article, we cover the most common strategic planning models and frameworks and explain when to use which one. Plus, get tips on how to apply them and which models and frameworks work well together.

What is a strategic planning model?

A strategic planning model is a structured framework that outlines the steps and processes your organization follows to define goals, assess its current state, and create a roadmap for future success. It serves as a repeatable blueprint that guides strategic decisions and ensures alignment across your organization.

Strategic planning models typically include two core elements:

• A templated structure for creating strategic goals: This provides a consistent format for defining what your organization wants to achieve and how you'll measure success.

• A governance framework: This outlines who is responsible for what, how decisions are made, and how progress is tracked and reported.

Unlike one-off planning sessions, strategic planning models give you a repeatable process you can refine over time. They help ensure that everyone in your organization understands the direction you're heading and their role in getting there.

Benefits of using strategic planning models

Using a strategic planning model brings structure and clarity to what can otherwise feel overwhelming. Here are the key benefits you can expect:

• Better decision-making: When you have a clear framework, decisions become easier because you can evaluate options against your strategic priorities.

• Stronger alignment: Models help connect your organization's mission to daily work, ensuring everyone understands how their contributions support larger goals.

• Long-term vision: Strategic planning models encourage you to think beyond immediate challenges and plan for sustainable growth.

• Adaptability: A good model gives you the flexibility to respond to market changes while staying focused on your core objectives.

• Measurable progress: Built-in tracking mechanisms help you monitor performance and make adjustments as needed.

The right strategic planning model can transform how your team approaches complex challenges, turning abstract goals into concrete action plans.

Strategic planning models vs. frameworks

First off: This is not a one-or-nothing scenario. You can use as many or as few strategic planning models and frameworks as you like. When your organization enters a strategic planning phase, start by picking one or two models to follow. This gives you a basic outline of the steps to take.

During that process, think of strategic planning frameworks as the tools in your toolbox. Many models suggest starting with a SWOT analysis or defining your vision and mission statements first. Depending on your goals, you may want to apply several different frameworks throughout the process.

For teams that want a simple, one-page framework to map value, customers, and revenue, a business model canvas template offers a fast way to connect strategy with execution.

For example, if you're applying a scenario-based strategic plan, you could start with a SWOT and PEST(LE) analysis to get a better overview of your current standing. If one of the weaknesses you identify has to do with your manufacturing process, you could apply the theory of constraints to improve bottlenecks and mitigate risks.

Now that you know the difference between the two, learn more about the seven strategic planning models, as well as the eight most commonly used frameworks that go along with them.

1. Basic model

The basic strategic planning model is ideal for establishing your company's vision, mission, business objectives, and values. This model helps you outline the specific steps you need to take to reach your goals, monitor progress, and address issues as they arise.

If it's your first strategic planning session, the basic model is the way to go. You can always build on it with other models to adjust your business strategy as needed.

Best for:

• Small businesses or organizations

• Companies with little to no strategic planning experience

• Organizations with few resources

Steps:

1. Write your mission statement. Gather your planning team and have a brainstorming session. The more ideas you can collect early in this step, the more fun and rewarding the analysis phase will feel.

2. Identify your organization's goals. Setting clear business goals will improve your team's performance and boost their motivation.

3. Outline strategies that will help you reach your goals. Ask yourself what steps you need to take to reach these goals, and break them down into long-term, mid-term, and short-term goals.

4. Create action plans to implement each of the strategies above. Action plans will keep teams motivated and your organization on target.

5. Monitor and revise the plan as you go. As with any strategic plan, it's important to closely monitor whether your company is implementing it successfully and how you can adjust it to achieve better outcomes.

2. Issue-based model

Also called the goal-based planning model, this is essentially an extension of the basic strategic planning model. It's a bit more adaptable and very popular for companies that want to create a more comprehensive plan.

Best for:

• Organizations with basic strategic planning experience

• Businesses that are looking for a more comprehensive plan

Steps:

1. Conduct a SWOT analysis. Assess your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with a SWOT analysis to gain a clearer picture of what your strategic plan should focus on. We'll give into how to conduct a SWOT analysis when we get into the strategic planning frameworks below.

2. Identify and prioritize major issues and/or goals. Based on your SWOT analysis, identify and prioritize what your strategic plan should focus on this time around.

3. Develop your main strategies that address these issues and/or goals. Aim to develop one overarching strategy that addresses your highest-priority goal and/or issue, keeping this process as simple as possible.

4. Update or create a mission and vision statement. Make sure that your business's statements align with your new or updated strategy. If you haven't already, this is also an opportunity to define your organization's values.

5. Create action plans. These will help you address your organization's goals, resource needs, roles, and responsibilities.

6. Develop a yearly operational plan document. This model works best if your business repeats the strategic plan implementation process annually, so use a yearly operational plan to capture your goals, progress, and opportunities for next time.

7. Allocate resources for your year-one operational plan. Whether you need funding or dedicated team members to implement your first strategic plan, now is the time to allocate all the resources you'll need.

8. Monitor and revise the strategic plan. Record your lessons learned in the operational plan so you can revisit and improve it for the next strategic planning phase.

The issue-based plan can be repeated annually (or less often once you resolve the issues). It's important to update the plan whenever it's in use to ensure it's still doing the best it can for your organization.

You don't have to repeat the full process every year; rather, focus on what's a priority during this run.

3. Alignment model

This model, also called the strategic alignment model (SAM), is one of the most popular strategic planning models. It helps you align your business and IT strategies with your organization's strategic goals.

You'll have to consider four equally important, yet different perspectives when applying the alignment strategic planning model:

• Strategy execution: The business strategy driving the model

• Technology potential: The IT strategy supporting the business strategy

• Competitive potential: Emerging IT capabilities that can create new products and services

• Service level: Team members dedicated to creating the best IT system in the organization

Ideally, your strategy will check off all the criteria above; however, it's more likely you'll have to find a compromise.

Here's how to create a strategic plan using the alignment model and which companies can benefit from it.

Best for:

• Organizations that need to fine-tune their strategies

• Businesses that want to uncover issues that prevent them from aligning with their mission

• Companies that want to reassess objectives or correct problem areas that prevent them from growing

Steps:

1. Outline your organization's mission, programs, resources, and where support is needed. Before you can improve your statements and approaches, you need to define what exactly they are.

2. Identify what internal processes are working and which ones aren't. A gap analysis can help pinpoint which processes are causing problems, creating bottlenecks, or could otherwise use improvement. Then prioritize which internal processes will have the biggest positive impact on your business.

3. Identify solutions. Work with the relevant teams when creating a new strategy to leverage their experience and perspective on the current situation.

4. Update your strategic plan with the solutions. Update your strategic plan and monitor if implementing it is setting your business up for improvement or growth. If not, you may have to return to the drawing board and update your strategic plan with new solutions.

4. Scenario model

The scenario model works well when combined with other models, such as the basic or issue-based model. This model is particularly helpful if you need to consider external factors as well. These can include government regulations, technical changes, or demographic shifts that may affect your business.

Best for:

• Organizations are trying to identify strategic issues and goals caused by external factors

Steps:

1. Identify external factors that influence your organization. For example, you should consider demographic, regulatory, or environmental factors.

2. Review the worst-case scenario that the above factors could have on your organization. If you know what the worst-case scenario for your business looks like, it'll be much easier to prepare for it. Besides, it'll take some of the pressure and surprise out of the mix, should a scenario similar to the one you create actually occur.

3. Identify and discuss two additional hypothetical organizational scenarios. On top of your worst-case scenario, you'll also want to define the best-case and average-case scenarios. Keep in mind that the worst-case scenario from the previous step can often spur strong motivation to improve your organization.

4. Identify and suggest potential strategies or solutions. Everyone on the team should now brainstorm different ways your business could potentially respond to each of the three scenarios. Discuss the proposed strategies as a team afterward.

5. Uncover common considerations or strategies for your organization. There's a good chance that your teammates come up with similar solutions. Decide which ones you like best as a team or create a new one together.

6. Identify the most likely scenario and the most reasonable strategy. Finally, examine which of the three scenarios is most likely to occur in the next three to five years and how your business should respond to potential changes.

5. Self-organizing model

Also called the organic planning model, the self-organizing model differs from the linear approaches of the other models. You'll have to be very patient with this method.

This strategic planning model focuses on the learning and growth process rather than achieving a specific goal. Since the organic model concentrates on continuous improvement, the process is never really over.

Best for:

• Large organizations that can afford to take their time

• Businesses that prefer a more naturalistic, organic planning approach that revolves around common values, communication, and shared reflection

• Companies that have a clear understanding of their vision

Steps:

1. Define and communicate your organization's cultural values. Your team can only think clearly and with solutions in mind when they have a clear understanding of your organization's values.

2. Communicate the planning group's vision for the organization. Define and communicate the vision with everyone involved in the strategic planning process. This will align everyone's ideas with your company's vision.

3. Discuss the processes that will help the organization realize its vision on a regular basis. Meet every quarter to discuss strategies or tactics that will move your organization closer to realizing your vision.

6. Real-time model

This fluid model can help organizations that face rapid changes in their work environment. There are three levels of success in the real-time model:

• Organizational: At the organizational level, you're forming strategies in response to opportunities or trends.

• Programmatic: At the programmatic level, you have to decide how to respond to specific outcomes or environmental changes.

• Operational: On the operational level, you will study internal systems, policies, and people to develop a strategy for your company.

Figuring out your competitive advantage can be difficult, but it's crucial. Whether it's a unique asset, a core strength, or outstanding execution, you need to set yourself apart from others in your industry.

Best for:

• Companies that need to react quickly to changing environments

• Businesses that are seeking new tools to help them align with their organizational strategy

Steps:

1. Define your mission and vision statement. If you ever feel stuck formulating your company's mission or vision statement, take a look at others'. Maybe Asana's vision statement sparks some inspiration.

2. Research, understand, and learn from competitor strategy and market trends. Pick a handful of competitors in your industry and find out how they've created success for themselves. How did they handle setbacks or challenges? Learn from your competitors by finding out as much as you can about them.

3. Study external environments. At this point, you can combine the real-time model with the scenario model to identify solutions to threats and opportunities beyond your control.

4. Conduct a SWOT analysis of your internal processes, systems, and resources. Besides the external factors your team has to consider, it's also important to look at your company's internal environment and how well prepared you are for different scenarios.

5. Develop a strategy. Discuss the results of your SWOT analysis to develop a business strategy that builds toward organizational, programmatic, and operational success.

6. Rinse and repeat. Monitor how well the new strategy is working for your organization, and repeat the planning process as needed to stay on top of the game.

7. Inspirational model

This last strategic planning model is perfect for inspiring and energizing your team as they work toward your organization's goals. It's also a great way to introduce or reconnect your employees to your business strategy after a merger or acquisition.

Best for:

• Businesses with an adaptable and inspired start-up culture

• Organizations looking for inspiration to reinvigorate the creative process

• Companies looking for quick solutions and strategy shifts

Steps:

1. Gather your team to discuss an inspirational vision for your organization. The more people you can gather for this process, the more input you will receive.

2. Brainstorm big, hairy audacious goals and ideas. Encouraging your team not to hold back with ideas that may seem ridiculous will do two things: first, it will mitigate the fear of contributing bad ideas. But more importantly, it may lead to a genius idea or suggestion that your team wouldn't have come up with otherwise.

3. Assess your organization's resources. Find out if your company has the resources to implement your new ideas. If they don't, you'll have to either adjust your strategy or allocate more resources.

4. Develop a strategy that balances your resources and encourages brainstorming. Far-fetched ideas can grow into amazing opportunities, but they can also bear great risk. Make sure to balance ideas with your strategic direction.

Now, let's dive into the most commonly used strategic frameworks.

8. SWOT analysis framework

One of the most popular strategic planning frameworks is the SWOT analysis. A SWOT analysis is a great first step for identifying opportunities and risks, helping you create a strategic plan that accounts for growth and prepares for threats.

SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Here's an example:

9. OKRs framework

A big part of strategic planning is setting goals for your company. That's where OKRs come into play.

OKRs, or objective and key results, are a goal-setting framework that helps your organization set and achieve goals. It provides a holistic approach that connects your team's work to big-picture goals.

Key benefits of using OKRs:

• Alignment: Links individual tasks to organizational objectives

• Motivation: Team members understand how their work contributes to success

• Focus: Helps prioritize what matters most

10. Balanced scorecard (BSC) framework

The balanced scorecard, developed by David Norton and Robert Kaplan in the 1990s, is a strategic framework for businesses seeking a holistic approach beyond financial performance. Companies around the globe use it to:

• Communicate goals

• Align their team's daily work with their company's strategy

• Prioritize products, services, and projects

• Monitor their progress toward their strategic goals

Your balanced scorecard will outline four main business perspectives:

1. Customers or clients, meaning their value, satisfaction, and/or retention

2. Financial, meaning your effectiveness in using resources and your financial performance

3. Internal process, meaning your business's quality and efficiency

4. Organizational capacity, meaning your organizational culture, infrastructure, technology, and human resources

Using a strategy map, you can visualize and communicate how your company creates value. A strategy map is a simple graphic that shows cause-and-effect connections between strategic objectives. The balanced scorecard framework is an amazing tool, from outlining your mission, vision, and values to implementing your strategic plan.

You can use an integration like Lucidchart to create strategy maps in Asana.

11. Porter's Five Forces framework

If you're using the real-time strategic planning model, Porter's Five Forces is a great framework to apply. You can use it to determine your product's or service's competitive advantage before entering the market.

Developed by Michael E. Porter, the framework outlines five forces you have to be aware of and monitor:

1. Threat of new industry entrants: Any new entrant into the market increases pressure on prices and costs.

2. Competition in the industry: The more competitors that exist, the more difficult it will be for you to create value in the market with your product or service.

3. Bargaining power of suppliers: Suppliers can wield more power if there are fewer alternatives for buyers or it's expensive, time-consuming, or difficult to switch to a different supplier.

4. Bargaining power of buyers: Buyers can wield more power if the same product or service is available elsewhere with little to no difference in quality.

5. Threat of substitutes: If another company already meets the market's needs, you'll have to create a better product or service, or offer it at a lower price while maintaining the same quality, to compete.

Remember, industry structures aren't static. The more adaptable your strategic plan is, the better you'll be able to compete in a market.

12. VRIO framework

The VRIO framework is another strategic planning tool for evaluating your competitive advantage. VRIO stands for value, rarity, imitability, and organization.

It's a resource-based theory developed by Jay Barney. With this framework, you can study your firm's resources and determine whether it can transform them into sustained competitive advantages.

Firmed resources can be tangible (e.g., cash, tools, inventory, etc.) or intangible (e.g., copyrights, trademarks, organizational culture, etc.). Whether these resources will actually help your business once you enter the market depends on four qualities:

• Valuable: Will this resource either increase your revenue or decrease your costs and thereby create value for your business?

• Rare: Are the resources you're using rare, or can others use your resources as well and therefore easily provide the same product or service?

• Inimitable: Are your resources either inimitable or non-substitutable? In other words, how unique and complex are your resources?

• Organizational: Are you organized enough to use your resources in ways that capture their value, rarity, and inimitability?

It's important that your resources check all the boxes above to ensure you maintain a competitive advantage over others in the industry.

13. Theory of Constraints (TOC) framework

If the reason you're currently in a strategic planning process is that you're trying to mitigate risks or uncover issues that could hurt your business, this framework should be in your toolkit.

The theory of constraints (TOC) is a problem-solving framework that can help you identify limiting factors or bottlenecks preventing your organization from hitting OKRs or KPIs.

Whether it's a policy, market, or resource constraint, you can apply the theory of constraints to solve potential problems, respond to issues, and empower your team to improve their work with the resources they have.

14. PEST/PESTLE analysis framework

The idea of the PEST analysis is similar to that of the SWOT analysis, except that you're focusing on external factors and solutions. It's a great framework to complement the scenario-based strategic planning model, as it helps you define external factors that affect your business's success.

PEST stands for political, economic, sociological, and technological factors. Depending on your business model, you may want to expand this framework to include legal and environmental factors as well (PESTLE).

These are the most common factors you can include in a PESTLE analysis:

• Political: Taxes, trade tariffs, conflicts

• Economic: Interest and inflation rate, economic growth patterns, unemployment rate

• Social: Demographics, education, media, health

• Technological: Communication, information technology, research and development, patents

• Legal: Regulatory bodies, environmental regulations, consumer protection

• Environmental: Climate, geographical location, environmental offsets

15. Hoshin Kanri framework

Hoshin Kanri is a powerful tool for communicating and implementing strategic goals. It's a planning system that involves the entire organization in strategic planning. The term is Japanese and means "compass management," and is also known as policy management.

This strategic planning framework is a top-down approach that starts with your leadership team defining long-term goals, which are then aligned and communicated with every team member in the company.

You should hold regular meetings to monitor progress and update the timeline, ensuring that every teammate's contributions align with the company's overarching goals. To connect long-term vision to day-to-day execution, visualize your initiatives using a strategic roadmap template. It helps teams align timelines, milestones, and ownership across departments.

How to choose the right strategic planning model

With so many strategic planning models available, selecting the right one can feel overwhelming. Use this table to quickly match your situation to the best model:

Consider your organization's size and experience:

• If you're new to strategic planning, start with the basic model to establish foundational processes.

• Larger organizations with established practices may benefit from more comprehensive approaches, such as alignment or issue-based models.

Evaluate your market environment:

• Stable industries work well with structured models like the basic or issue-based approach.

• Volatile or rapidly changing markets call for adaptive models such as real-time or scenario models.

Match the model to your goals:

• Need to address specific challenges? Try the issue-based model.

• Want to align IT and business strategy? The alignment model is your best choice.

• Looking to inspire your team during a transition? Consider the inspirational model.

Combine models and frameworks

Remember, you don't have to choose just one. Many organizations find success by combining a primary model with supporting frameworks. For example, you might use the scenario model as your main approach while applying SWOT and PESTLE analyses to gather insights.

Reach your strategic goals with the right model

Whether you're a small business just starting out or a nonprofit organization with decades of experience, strategic planning is a crucial step in your journey to success.

If you're looking for a tool that can help you and your team define, organize, and implement your strategic goals, Asana is here to help. Our goal-setting software lets you connect all your team members in one place, visualize progress, and stay on target. Get started today and turn your strategic vision into reality.

Frequently asked questions about strategic planning models