Enterprise
Enterprise strategy / strategic intent
Where the business is going, and what it is deliberately not chasing.
ExampleGrow profitably in healthcare and education markets.
Open this in the builderOrientation · Strategic Planning Architecture™
How the whole cascade fits together, on one page.
Read it top to bottom. Each stage carries a one-line definition, the example that runs the length of the page, and a link into the part of the builder where that work is done.
Example — not saved plan data. One worked example runs down the whole page so the cascade is obvious. Nothing here is read from or written to a plan.
Enterprise outcome
Financial / P&L outcomes
The financial result the strategy has to produce — a constraint and an outcome, never a strategy of its own.
ExampleRevenue +15%. Operating margin at or above 12%.
Measures: Lagging — reported after the period closes.
Open this in the builderEnterprise
Strategic imperatives
The few things that must change for the strategy to be true. Each has one owner.
ExampleWin more high-value ground-up projects.
Measures: Leading: qualified target opportunities · Lagging: signed revenue and margin.
Open this in the builderCross-functional
Value streams
The end-to-end flow of work that creates value for a customer, crossing several functions.
ExampleOpportunity → Proposal → Design → Delivery → Repeat / Referral.
Measures: Leading: flow and hand-off health · Lagging: conversion rate and delivered margin.
Open this in the builderFunction
Functional / department goals
A target owned by one department that supports one or more value streams or imperatives.
ExampleBD / Marketing: 12 qualified target opportunities per quarter. Project Delivery: 90% or better milestone-on-time rate.
Measures: Leading: weekly activity · Lagging: monthly contribution.
Open this in the builderTeam
Team objectives
What a team commits to inside the quarter to move its function's goal.
ExampleConvert 4 qualified opportunities per quarter.
Measures: Leading: pipeline movement · Lagging: converted opportunities.
Open this in the builderIndividual
Individual goals
What one person changes in their week — and it must trace upward to a team, function, value stream, imperative or enterprise outcome.
ExampleMark develops 4 qualified target-account conversations per month.
Measures: Leading: conversations held · Lagging: opportunities created.
Open this in the builderMeasurement
Individual / team scorecards
One sheet per person or team holding both kinds of measure: leading measures you can still act on, lagging measures that report the result.
ExampleWeekly leading measures. Monthly lagging measures. Same sheet.
Measures: Both, where both are useful.
Open this in the builderRenewal
Review cadence and ARC™ renewal
The rhythm that keeps the cascade honest: weekly on leading measures, monthly and quarterly on outcomes, and a periodic renewal of the plan itself.
ExampleWeekly review · Monthly and quarterly outcome review · ARC™ renewal each period.
Measures: ARC™ — Assess → Refine → Commit.
Open this in the builder
Value stream vs functional goal
Value stream — the cross-functional flow that creates customer or business value end to end. It crosses departments, so it has one stream owner and a shared measure.
Functional goal — a target owned inside one department that supports one or more value streams or imperatives. It is a contribution to the flow, not the flow itself.
Traceability runs both ways
Read down for translation: strategy becomes an imperative, a flow, a functional goal, a team objective, a person's week.
Read up for traceability: every individual goal must name the team or functional goal, value stream, imperative or enterprise outcome it serves. A goal with no parent is a gap, not a plan.
Review cadence
The cascade is only real if it is read on a rhythm.
- Weekly
- Leading measures
- Change the result while there is still time to change it.
- Monthly / quarterly
- Lagging and outcome measures
- Confirm whether the cascade is actually producing the enterprise outcome.
- Periodic
- ARC™ renewal — Assess → Refine → Commit
- Re-read the evidence, refine what the plan says, and re-commit owners and measures.
Not sure where to start?
Three questions, and we point you to the right instrument.
Under a minute. From this page, most leaders begin with The organization.