Strategy: Planning Initiatives #
The Initiatives section of the Strategy tab is where you identify the strategic projects that will move your organization toward its annual milestones and long-term BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal).
During the early stages of planning, this section serves as a collaborative workspace where your leadership team can capture ideas, prioritize projects, and begin outlining the work that will drive execution.
What Are Initiatives? #
Initiatives are the high-impact projects and strategic actions your organization will complete to achieve its milestones and long-term objectives.
Unlike goals, which define what you want to accomplish, initiatives define how you will accomplish it.
Each initiative should support one or more milestones within your strategic plan.
Using the Initiatives Section as a Planning Workspace #
During annual planning, use this section as a brainstorming space.
You can:
- Capture strategic project ideas.
- Identify major organizational priorities.
- Discuss and refine initiatives with your leadership team.
- Organize initiatives before building detailed execution plans.
At this stage, every detail does not need to be finalized. The objective is to identify the initiatives that are most important to achieving your strategy.
Adding an Initiative #
To create an initiative:
- Navigate to Plan → Strategy.
- Scroll to the Initiatives section.
- Click Add Initiative.
- Choose one of the following:
- Select an existing initiative already in your company.
- Create a new initiative.
- Enter a descriptive name.
- Add a brief description of the desired outcome.
Initially, focus on defining the initiative and its purpose. Additional details can be completed later as planning progresses.
Setting Target Dates #
As your strategy becomes more defined, you can assign an expected completion date to each initiative.
Target dates should align with the milestone they support, helping ensure strategic projects are completed in time to achieve your annual and long-term objectives.
These dates can be refined as your execution plan develops.
Reordering Initiatives #
To prioritize initiatives:
- Click Reorder.
- Drag and drop initiatives into the desired sequence.
- Save your changes.
Reordering allows your leadership team to focus on the initiatives that will have the greatest strategic impact.
From Strategy to Execution #
As initiatives become more defined, they transition from planning into execution.
Over time, you can:
- Assign owners.
- Build roadmap items and action plans.
- Add tasks and due dates.
- Track progress.
- Monitor completion through dashboards and meetings.
The Initiative progress indicator provides visibility into how much work has been completed as roadmap items are added and finished.
Best Practices #
- Begin with a shortlist of your highest-impact initiatives rather than trying to plan every project at once.
- Write initiative descriptions that clearly define the desired business outcome.
- Align each initiative with a milestone or long-term strategic objective.
- Prioritize initiatives based on business impact and available resources.
- Build detailed execution plans only after your leadership team has agreed on the strategic direction.
Using the Initiatives section as a collaborative planning workspace allows your leadership team to move from strategy to execution in a structured, organized way while keeping every initiative aligned with your long-term vision.