Strategic Governance: How to Prepare Your Expedition to Navigate Markets

Introduction

Trop souvent, les organisations évoluent dans leurs écosystèmes ou leurs Too often, organizations evolve in their ecosystems or markets in a way that could be compared to navigation or hiking by sight. You see a wooded area, you venture into it, you find opportunities, you take advantage of them according to the means you have. But often, hikes or expeditions become more significant, and we need to structure our adventure to ensure we can achieve our objectives.

Governance constitutes the strategic foundation that allows these grand intentions to be transformed into concrete results. As a lever of coherence, alignment, and steering, governance enables an organization to move forward with clarity, rigour, and agility.

This blog offers an overview of the essential link between governance, strategic planning, and organizational structure by using the analogy of preparing for an expedition. In this analogy, governance plays the role of the experienced guide. It holds the compass (intentions), consults the map (strategic plan), validates the itinerary (action plan), and ensures that the team (structure) is well organized to move forward efficiently. It is the one that assesses risks, adapts the trajectory based on unforeseen events, and keeps the course towards the desired destination. A compass, a map, an itinerary, or a team alone or individually are insufficient to achieve our objectives. Without governance, even the best intentions and the most well-designed plans risk getting lost along the way.

Governance and Organizational Intent: Mission, Vision, Values

Defining a clear mission, a mobilizing vision, and shared values are crucial steps for any organization. However, without structured governance, these statements risk remaining mere words.

At this stage, the role of the board of directors (or a strategic management committee) is to:

• Validate the relevance and clarity of the mission.
• Ensure that the vision is realistic, ambitious, and shared.
• Ensure the concrete integration of values into management practices.

Governance acts here as the guardian of organizational identity. It ensures that decisions made are aligned with the organization’s purpose.

Governance and Strategic Planning

Relevant strategic planning does not arise in a vacuum: it takes root in the fundamental intentions of the organization. The mission defines the purpose, the vision outlines the desired horizon, and the values frame the expected behaviours.

In the context of an analogy to preparing for an expedition, the mission is the reason for the journey: why are we setting out? What is our purpose? The vision is the hoped-for destination: where do we want to arrive? What does success look like? And the values are the principles of conduct: how will we behave along the way?

It is from this foundation that governance can guide, structure, and prioritize strategic choices. In other words, strategic planning is the art of making a shared intention operational.

Regarding strategic planning, governance does not replace the expertise of general management but complements it. The board of directors plays an essential role in:

• Guiding the strategic planning process.
• Validating major priorities.
• Monitoring the implementation of the strategic plan.
• Evaluating results and adjusting based on the context.

Good strategic governance allows moving away from a purely operational logic to adopt a medium- and long-term steering posture.

From Strategic to Operational: Action Plan and Organizational Structure

The strategic plan identifies orientations, but it is the action plan that makes these orientations operational. Governance ensures that:

• The action plan logically follows from the strategic plan.
• Resources (human, financial and technological) are aligned with priorities.
• The organizational structure is adjusted to support the implementation of the plan (creation or abolition of positions, reorganization of teams, etc.).

Here again, governance acts as the guarantor of coherence between vision, means, and actions.

Adaptive Governance: Supporting Change

Effective governance is not static. It evolves with the organization. In periods of growth, crisis, or transition, it must:

• Foster a culture of accountability and continuous improvement.
• Support leaders in adjusting orientations.
• Periodically review the composition of the board or committees to ensure the complementarity of skills.

The agility of governance is a key factor in maintaining strategic relevance in a constantly evolving environment.

Conclusion

Governance is not limited to compliance or supervision. It is a fundamental pillar of an organization’s strategic vision. By establishing strong, adaptive, and mobilizing governance, organizations can truly transform their mission into tangible results, their vision into an action plan, and their values into a living culture.

And you, does your governance reflect your strategic ambition?