The Three Questions That Turn A Strategy Into A People Plan
By Jack Gilbert, Partner – Recruitment
People are the sustainable competitive advantage of every organisation. Three questions, asked in order, turn a strategy into a plan for the people who deliver it.
Ask a leadership team what their strategy is and most can tell you. Ask who will deliver it, and the room goes quieter.
That gap is where plans stall. A competitor can match a price, copy a product and buy the same equipment. They cannot copy the people who sell it, build it and lead it. People are the sustainable competitive advantage of every organisation and yet the people plan is usually the last thing written.
At OCG we start every engagement with three questions, asked in order.
1. What is the business strategy?
Where is the business going, and by when? A new market, a new site, an acquisition, a step up in margin. The answer should fit in two sentences. If it takes a page, the people who have to deliver it probably can't repeat it.
2. How does the commercial strategy support it?
This is how the business wins customers and grows revenue: which markets, which accounts, which offer, sold how. It is where a strategy becomes specific enough to act on.
3. What people plan delivers both?
This is the question most plans skip. It has four parts:
-
Who do we need, and do we have them?
- Do our structure, roles and succession support the plan?
- Can our managers lead people through it?
- Can the sales team deliver the number?
Why the order matters
Start with the third question and you hire for the business you have. Start with the first and you hire, promote and train for the business you are building.
It changes practical decisions. A resignation becomes a chance to redesign a role. A training budget goes to the two skills the strategy depends on, not the course that ran last year. A promotion goes to the person who can lead the next stage.
Try it this week
Take your plan for the next 12 months and write a name beside each major commitment. Where you find a blank, a question mark or the same name three times, you have the first draft of your people plan.
If you'd like help working through it, contact Jack Gilbert at OCG on 0448 280 089 or visit optionsgroup.com.au.
Jack is a specialist recruiter in the FMCG sector, focused on commercial sales and marketing roles across grocery, QSR, retail, and food manufacturing. With a background in Business (Marketing & Psychology), he combines a deep understanding of human behaviour with a commercial lens to deliver high-impact placements that align with business strategy and team culture.