Organizations aiming to become more strategic in the year ahead face a fundamental challenge: strategy only works when the people leading it have the skills, structure, time, and discipline to lead the processes involved. As leaders assess limited budgets and rising expectations, they often confront a pivotal question: Should we develop internal capability or bring in outside experts?
Both paths offer value and risk. The key is understanding which approach strengthens your competitive position and reduces organizational risk.
Upskilling Your Team
Upskilling is the right choice when the goal is to build long-term strategic maturity. Organizations benefit when staff own the strategic management process, sustain annual planning cycles, and integrate strategic thinking into everyday decisions. This path works especially well when leadership is stable, talent is eager to grow, and the organization wants to institutionalize strategy management rather than rely on outside expertise.
The benefits are significant as knowledge stays in-house, capability grows over time, and culture becomes more aligned around continuous improvement. But upskilling requires time, practice, and bandwidth. Without protected time, mentoring, and training, upskilling often fades before it produces meaningful change.
Outsourcing Strategic Experts
Outsourcing is most effective when organizations need speed, precision, and objectivity. External consultants bring proven methodologies, unbiased facilitation, and real-world benchmarks. This is especially valuable when the stakes are high, e.g., competitive pressure, political volatility, shifting leadership, or past planning failures.
However, over-reliance on consultants can create dependency or result in a strategy and management process that isn’t fully owned by the organization. Outsourcing works best when experts act as strategic integrators, not just delivering a plan but coaching internal teams to sustain it.
A Hybrid Approach
Alternatively, there’s a hybrid approach. Here organizations upskill internal teams in core competencies like environmental assessment, priority setting, cascading, and performance management, while using experts for complex components such as scenario planning, enterprise risk mapping, and transformation.
This blended model accelerates results, builds internal capability, and ensures that strategy management is both high quality and built to last.
Primary Consideration
At the end of the day, strategy management succeeds when people are equipped to lead it. Whether you invest in internal development, external expertise, or a mix of both, the goal remains the same: a more strategic, aligned, and resilient organization.
Want a more strategic, aligned, and resilient organization? Let’s talk about the right path for your team.