CBC Strategic Planning & Vision 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A business coach is helping a client whose company mission statement describes what the company does today. What should a vision statement add that the mission does not?
- A description of the desired future state the organization aspires to reach (Correct answer)
- A list of current products and services
- A summary of last year's financial performance
- A detailed org chart of leadership roles
Correct answer: A description of the desired future state the organization aspires to reach
A vision statement is future-oriented, describing what the organization aspires to become, while a mission describes its current purpose.
Question 2: During a strategic planning session, a client wants to skip environmental analysis and jump straight to goal setting. What is the primary risk the coach should highlight?
- Goals may be set without accounting for external threats and opportunities (Correct answer)
- The session will take too long to complete
- Employees will refuse to attend future sessions
- The company will be legally noncompliant
Correct answer: Goals may be set without accounting for external threats and opportunities
Skipping environmental scanning means goals may ignore market threats, competitor moves, and opportunities, making them unrealistic or misdirected.
Question 3: In a SWOT analysis, a client identifies 'a competitor entering our regional market' as a weakness. How should the coach correct this?
- Reclassify it as a threat, since it is an external factor (Correct answer)
- Reclassify it as a strength, since competition validates the market
- Leave it as a weakness because it hurts the business
- Remove it entirely because competitors are irrelevant
Correct answer: Reclassify it as a threat, since it is an external factor
Weaknesses are internal factors, whereas a competitor's action is external and therefore belongs in the threats quadrant.
Question 4: A coaching client sets the goal 'grow the business significantly next year.' Which SMART criterion is most clearly missing?
- Measurable, because 'significantly' has no defined metric (Correct answer)
- Time-bound, because no period is stated
- Relevant, because growth never matters
- Achievable, because growth is impossible
Correct answer: Measurable, because 'significantly' has no defined metric
The goal includes a rough timeframe ('next year') but 'significantly' provides no measurable target such as a revenue percentage.
Question 5: What is the main purpose of cascading strategic goals down through an organization?
- To align departmental and individual objectives with the overall strategy (Correct answer)
- To reduce the number of goals executives must track
- To give managers authority to change the company vision
- To eliminate the need for performance reviews
Correct answer: To align departmental and individual objectives with the overall strategy
Cascading translates high-level strategy into aligned departmental and individual objectives so everyone contributes to the same direction.
Question 6: A client's leadership team drafted a strategic plan but frontline staff have never seen it. What should the coach recommend first?
- Communicate the plan across the organization so employees understand their role in it (Correct answer)
- Keep the plan confidential to protect competitive advantage
- Rewrite the plan without leadership input
- Postpone all operations until every employee memorizes the plan
Correct answer: Communicate the plan across the organization so employees understand their role in it
Strategy execution depends on employees understanding the plan and their role in it, so communication is the essential next step.
Question 7: Which tool would a business coach most likely use to help a client evaluate political, economic, social, and technological forces affecting strategy?
- PESTLE analysis (Correct answer)
- Balanced scorecard
- Gantt chart
- Break-even analysis
Correct answer: PESTLE analysis
PESTLE examines macro-environmental factors: political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental.
CBC Strategic Planning & Vision 2
A business coach is helping a client whose company mission statement describes what the company does today.
What should a vision statement add that the mission does not?