Common Pitfalls in Strategic Planning

Avoiding the Traps: Common Strategic Planning Pitfalls for Small Businesses

Problem

Many founders go through strategic planning once a year and still feel stuck. The plan exists, but nothing changes. In South Africa, where time and resources are limited, a bad planning process is more than annoying – it’s expensive.

Why do strategic plans fail in practice?

Approach

The research synthesises work from M3 Planning (My Strategic Plan), Kaplan & Norton, and Powell, plus related SME studies.

Common pitfalls identified include:

1. Lack of ownership: Employees have no input into the planning process and don’t feel responsible for executing it.
2. Lack of empowerment: Staff tasked with delivering the strategy don’t have the tools, skills or authority.
3. Weak accountability: No clear responsibility for implementation or specific goals.
4. Poor communication: Strategy isn’t clearly communicated; people don’t understand it.
5. Overwhelming plans: Too many goals and actions; nothing gets done.
6. Lack of buy-in: People don’t believe in the plan or see its relevance.
7. One-off events: Strategic planning is treated as a once-a-year event, not an ongoing process.

Kaplan & Norton note that organisations define and think about strategy in very different ways – financial, customer-focused, process-oriented, HR-oriented – which can create confusion and misalignment.

Powell’s research on SME strategy development found:

1. Many SMEs only review strategy when forced by a major event.
2. SMEs often poorly understand their markets, leading to unrealistic plans and forecasts.
3. Key challenges include time constraints and lack of knowledge.

This is empirical and survey-based work (in Powell’s case) combined with practice-based observations.

Results

Across these studies, a consistent picture emerges:

1. Strategic planning failure is often organisational, not technical.
2. Lack of ownership, empowerment, communication and realistic focus kills execution.
3. SMEs, in particular, struggle with time, knowledge and market understanding, which undermines planning quality.

Lessons for founders

What the research shows

1. Plans fail when:
   1. They’re created top-down without input.
   2. People don’t have the means to execute.
   3. There is no clear accountability or communication.
   4. They’re too complex and not revisited.
2. SMEs are especially vulnerable due to resource limits and weak market insight.

What this suggests you might try in your startup

1. Co-create your plan.
   Even with a small team, involve key people in defining goals and actions. Ownership grows when people contribute.
2. Match ambition with capacity.
   Before finalising the plan, ask:
   1. Do we have the skills, tools and time for these priorities?
   2. What must we stop doing to make this realistic?
3. Assign one owner per outcome.
   Avoid “shared” accountability. For each strategic goal (e.g. “expand to KZN”), one person is ultimately responsible.
4. Simplify ruthlessly.
   For an early-stage South African business, choose:
   1. 3 main strategic goals for the year.
   2. 1–3 actions per goal for the next quarter.
5. Talk about the strategy often.
   Use weekly or bi-weekly standups to link tasks back to the strategic priorities. This keeps the plan alive.
6. Plan smaller, review more often.
   Instead of a big annual event, try:
   1. Annual high-level direction.
   2. Quarterly strategic reviews.
   3. Monthly check-ins.
7. Invest in understanding your market.
   Allocate time for customer interviews, site visits, and talking to other founders. Better strategic planning decisions flow from better insight.