Strategy governance: who decides what, in which meeting and how often

Strategy governance is the design of who decides what, in which meeting and how often, so that the strategic planopens in a new tab is executed and corrected throughout the year. It deals with strategy execution, not with corporate governance, compliance or data privacy.

This text shows how to build that governance system in three parts: the meetings (the sessions where decisions are made), the owners (who chairs and who runs each one) and the cadence (how often each one happens). You will also see how one meeting feeds the next and which questions can diagnose what already exists in your company.

What is strategy governance and how does it differ from corporate governance?

Strategy governance is the set of meetings, owners and cadences that keeps the execution of the plan under decision. It answers three questions: which meeting decides each topic, who chairs and runs that meeting, and when it happens.

The Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC) describes corporate governance as the system by which organizations are directed and monitored, focusing on the relationships among owners, the board, executive management and oversight bodies. It is a matter of power structure and accountability.

Strategy governance is closer to the day to day. It deals with how the strategy defined in the strategic plan reaches operations and comes back with results.

Which strategy governance meetings sustain execution?

Four meetings cover most of the execution: (1) results meeting, (2) operational agenda, (3) portfolio committee and (4) evaluation committee. What makes them a system, and not four loose meetings, is that each one has an owner, an agenda and an output that feeds the next.

The cadence of a meeting is a starting point, not a rule. A common sequence is to hold the operational agenda weekly, the results meeting monthly, the portfolio committee every quarter and the evaluation committee once per cycle.

When in doubt, adjust the cadence to the speed and needs of your business. What matters is matching the frequency to what is needed to correct a deviation in time.

Want to see each meeting in detail? Monthly results meetings and goal meetings have an agenda and a step by step. The strategic planning meeting is the one that opens the cycle.

For a view of how cadence fits into business strategy executionopens in a new tab, including the escalation of late actions, this guide is also worth reading.

Who owns each meeting?

Every meeting involves someone who decides and someone who runs it. Whoever decides chairs the meeting and answers for what comes out of it. Whoever runs it prepares the data, builds the agenda, records the decisions and follows up on the actions. When these two responsibilities get mixed, the meeting loses its function of deciding.

If the person who chairs also prepares the data, the meeting starts from a number that nobody checked beforehand. If the person who runs it also decides, the recording and follow-up of actions depend on what was convenient to resolve that day.

In both cases, the meeting becomes a status presentation. Everyone leaves informed, but with no decision made and no action with an owner and a deadline.

• Strategy Lead (who decides): answers for the strategic plan to the board. Chairs the results meeting and the portfolio committee and decides what to do about a deviation, such as correcting course, changing a priority or reallocating a resource.
• Planning Analyst (who runs it): makes the meeting happen. Before the meeting, gathers the indicator results, which are the numbers that show whether each goal is being met. For all areas to read the same number, each indicator needs a defined source, formula and update frequency. In the meeting, keeps the agenda and, afterward, records the decisions and follows the actions.
• Area leaders (who answer for the result): answer for the goals and actions of their own area. They arrive at the meeting with the cause of the deviation, and not only the number, and leave with actions that have an owner and a deadline.

Two precautions apply to any company. The first is never to leave a meeting without an owner, because a meeting with no one responsible becomes optional and stops happening.

The second is to make sure the owner has decision power. If the meeting cannot change a priority, a deadline or a resource, it only informs and does not govern.

How does one meeting feed the next in strategy governance?

One meeting feeds the next through the action, which is born in one meeting and is only completed in the following one. This is what separates a governance system from a sequence of meetings, because each meeting starts from what the previous one left open, not from zero.

The cycle has three moments:

1. Facing a deviation, the meeting records the cause and defines an action with an owner and a deadline.
2. Between one meeting and the next, the action stays visible next to the number it aims to move.
3. Before any new agenda item, the meeting checks whether the action was completed and whether the indicator responded.

When the action is born in a meeting, with an owner and a deadline, and returns to the agenda in the next cycle, follow-up stops depending on the memory and initiative of each person.

Siteware data illustrates this relationship. Of the 1.9 million action plans managed in Stratws, 77% were completed on time. It is a management correlation, not a guarantee that your company will reach the same number.

Stratwsopens in a new tab is the AI platform for strategic and performance management created by Siteware. Among the platform’s features is Meeting Management, which records the agenda, the minutes, the action plan and the tasks with an owner in the same environment, with the history of decisions and pending items at hand.

When the decision, the action and the verification are in the same place, the next meeting starts where the previous one stopped. In day to day practice, this is what strategy execution softwareopens in a new tab delivers.

The history matters too. With decisions recorded, a change of people no longer erases the memory of the strategy, and what you take to the board or the executive team, as in a C-level report, has a trail. The strategic plan reviewopens in a new tab also gets faster, because what changed over the year is already recorded.

How do you know if governance is working?

Three questions show whether governance works: does every action have an owner and a deadline? Does every deviation have a recorded cause? Does every decision have a history? Answer them with data from the last results meeting. See the examples below:

If two or more answers fall in the warning column, start with the meeting closest to operations, the operational agenda, and move up. Fixing the base first prevents the committee from receiving a deviation with no cause.

Strategy governance is what keeps the plan alive between one meeting and the next, with meetings that have an owner, a stable cadence and a loop in which the action is born, followed up and verified. Start with the diagnosis of the three questions and with the meeting closest to operations.

To sustain this system in the routine, Stratws brings indicators, meetings, action plans and the history of decisions together in a single strategy execution platform.

Want to see how this works in your company’s routine? Talk to an expert.

Frequently asked questions

Is strategy governance the same as corporate governance?+−

No. Corporate governance deals with how the organization is directed and monitored, in the relationships among owners, the board and executive management. Strategy governance deals with how the plan is executed: which meeting decides what, who chairs it and how often it happens.

What is the difference between strategy governance and strategy management?+−

Management conducts execution day to day. Governance defines the rules of that follow-up: who decides, in which meeting, how often and with what record. One depends on the other.

How many meetings does strategy governance need?+−

There is no single number. The starting point is four meetings: results meeting, operational agenda, portfolio committee and evaluation committee. Smaller companies can start with just the first two. The criterion is for each meeting to have a defined question, owner and output.

How often should each meeting be held?+−

The frequency is whatever the deviation requires to be corrected in time. A common starting point is weekly for the operational agenda, monthly for the results meeting and quarterly for the portfolio committee. Adjust to the speed of your business and keep the rhythm stable.

How do I know if strategy governance is working?+−

Check whether every action has an owner and a deadline, every deviation has a recorded cause, every decision has a history and the next meeting starts by checking the previous one. If any answer is no, the corresponding meeting needs adjusting.