Strategic Planning For FP&A: 4 roles That Are Essential

Strategic planning isn’t easy. When multiple teams and diverse skills come together, the process can go off the rails. 🛤️ Based on my past experiences, I have realized that there are four roles that are essential for successful strategic planning.

Some people can play multiple roles, and multiple people may help execute a role, but the following are needed in some form.

1️⃣𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 – This role ensures that the work is completed, and stakeholders are happy with the output. Typically, this is one person, and they are responsible for all the project management basics: scoping, roles / responsibilities, timelines and such.

Who plays this role? FP&A, strategy, a dedicated project manager or a chief of staff.


2️⃣𝗙𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗿 – This role creates or updates a financial model that helps inform the strategy, and vice versa. This person needs to understand finance, and how to build a long-range financial model, but also how to validate strategic theories with financial analysis, and how/when to calculate ROI.

Who plays this role? A person in FP&A plus the CFO and senior finance leadership.


3️⃣𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁 – This role involves considering actions that the company can take today and in the medium term, to help the company win in the long run. This is harder than it sounds, but in future posts, I’ll share some frameworks that help.

This role is really two in one, as you need a facilitator also.

A facilitator knows all the strategic frameworks, drives effective dialogue, resolves impasses, and catalyzes decisive action. This skill is an art, as sometimes conversations end in a stalemate, while other times there is not enough healthy tension.

Who plays this role? Everybody in the process should think strategically, but a facilitator can be a head of strategy, chief of staff, head of product, or even a CFO or FP&A


4️⃣𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿 – This role needs to turn the strategy and financial model into action. There needs to be a robust support system that integrates the budget, operational plans, KPIs, dashboards and feedback loops.

This area is the most challenging because different leaders will be responsible for different parts of the execution. As such, there may not be an obvious single person responsible, but everything that supports the strategy needs to be connected and sequenced appropriately.

Who plays this role? The CEO is responsible, but this could be delegated to a key executive. Ultimately, the full management team is responsible. However, the FP&A team can also be a catalyst to pull these pieces together, if they are disconnected.


Does this list resonate with you? 🤔 Did I miss any roles needed for strategic planning?