Tools & Resources For Your Strategic Planning Process

Strategic Planning That Doesn’t Waste Your Time

Take advantage of resources to grow your business without reinventing the wheel.

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Strategic Planning Techniques and Tools You Can Actually Use

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Eisenhower Matrix

What It’s For: Prioritizing tasks by urgency and importance.

Helps With: Time management, focus, delegation

Our Pros Say:
If everything’s important, nothing is.

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Talent Assessments

What It’s For: Evaluating team members based on performance and potential.

Helps With: Team communication, team development, hard conversations

Our Pros Say:
Leadership is knowing where people actually are, not where you wish they were.

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Start/Stop/Keep List

What It’s For: Clarifying what to begin, quit, and continue doing.

Helps With: Team alignment, momentum, clarity

Our Pros Say:
Strategy isn’t always about starting. Sometimes it’s about quitting.

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SWOT Analysis

What It’s For: Identifying your organization’s internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats.

Helps With: Clarity, developing organizational strategies

Our Pros Say:
The classic SWOT analysis is great, but our guide is a fresh spin on it.

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EOS® + StratOp Comparison

What It’s For: Understanding two leading planning models and how they differ.

Helps With: Choosing your planning path, integrating methodologies

Our Pros Say:
Pick your lane. But make sure it’s going somewhere.

Templates Don’t Build Teams. People Do.

These tools don’t exist in a vacuum. Get the most out of your strategic planning process by scheduling a session with our business wizards.

Chaotic Office Environment

Where Strategic Planning Goes Off the Rails

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You treat it like a one-time event.

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You brainstorm instead of choosing.

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You confuse big goals with clear actions.

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You make a beautiful plan, then never look at it again.

Want a plan that actually leads somewhere? Contact our facilitators.

How to Use These Tools Without Overthinking It

You don’t need a consultant to walk you through every worksheet. These tools were built to be picked up and used by real leaders in real time. Here’s how to keep it simple and actually get results.

It depends on your team size, leadership style, and goals. EOS® is popular for operational clarity. StratOp adds a more reflective, long-view component. The tools here work regardless of method, because they’re about decision-making and alignment.

Vision > Priorities > Roles > Metrics > Cadence. That’s it. If your plan doesn’t give you clarity on these five areas, you’re still guessing.

Annually is common, but real leaders revisit strategy quarterly and adjust monthly. Don't wait for the calendar—wait for clarity.

Want These Tools to Stick?

Using a tool is easy. Building a culture that uses it consistently—that’s leadership. Inside The Barzel Group Leadership Circle, we put these tools to work, month after month, in real businesses led by real people.