Resourced & Ready: Clarity on needs. Flexibility by design.
Build next year’s strategy with the resources and flexibility it will truly need
The pages of next year’s plan are filling fast. Possibilities are real: better customer experiences, smoother operations, and teams spending more time on the work that matters. And two worries keep surfacing in every planning room: Will we have what we need to deliver? and What happens when things change?
In our recent LinkedIn poll, over 80% of respondents said securing the right resources and adapting to change will be the biggest challenges to keeping plans on course in 2026. The aim is simple and serious: a plan built with resource needs in mind and adaptability at its core.
1) Make Your Needs Visible
“Each project in your portfolio competes for corporate resources—not just capital but management attention and organizational talent.” — McKinsey on Finance
As you draft each initiative, get specific about what success actually requires. You wouldn’t start a recipe without making sure you have all the ingredients; don’t finalize a plan assuming the pieces will appear later. If agreement on the essentials isn’t possible now, it’s even less likely once the year is underway.
Talent
Document the roles and skills you’ll need, the training and development required, and realistic ramp-up time so your team can perform at its best. Decide early whether you’ll hire or whether your current team can carry the load. Will you need to bring in outside expertise or support?
How this might look in your plan: • Talent: product lead 0.5 FTE (Jan–Jun); data analyst 0.5 FTE (Feb–Apr); frontline training 8 hrs per teammate by Mar 15.
Tools
Think through and document the tools and materials you need to be successful—this can include systems, data access, licenses, equipment, materials, inventory, etc. It is also important to think through the lead time to get these tools in your hands. When these needs are visible from the beginning, you limit surprise approvals and delays later.
How this might look in your plan: • Tools & materials: data access to XYZ by Mar 1; 2 licenses; 10 pilot kiosks by Apr 10.
Time
For each initiative, think through the timing and sequencing within the overall plan. Making this visible early strengthens the plan and exposes places where initiatives and priorities may be overlapping. Call out pressure points (vacation season, competing priorities, audit weeks), and build buffers to give the plan room to flex when things change.
How this might look in your plan: • Time: build & test Mar–May; April audit = pressure point; +1-week buffer; fewer recurring meetings during build weeks.
Money
Now that you’ve considered talent, tools, and time needs, document realistic budget needs for each initiative. Keep it simple—no spreadsheet theater. Vet your assumptions so you’re asking for what you actually need. Offer real ranges and document the drivers that move them. Include a modest contingency, and be prepared to say what you’d trade off if asked.
How this might look in your plan: • Budget: $480–540K; drivers: vendor pricing (±$40K), training hours (±$10K); 5% contingency; if constrained, defer analytics upgrade to Q3.
As the leader in planning, your job is to put the facts on the table and set the stage for success—so when the plan is approved, the support is approved with it. Don’t go into the year hoping the pieces will fall into place. Make sure they’re in place before you decide to start. Clarity now prevents chaos later.
2) Design for Change
Even the best-resourced plan isn’t immune to change. As the saying goes, the only constant in life is change. In strategic planning, flexibility means you can adjust objectives, pivot resources, or modify tactics as new information arrives—without losing your sense of direction. The point isn’t to predict every turn—it’s to build the capacity to respond into the plan itself.
Anchor to the North Star
As you document initiatives, make explicit how each one aligns to the mission and the role it plays in getting you closer to it. A simple impact-vs-effort note beside each initiative gives you a clear view when you need to reprioritize next year. Go into the year knowing the vision will hold even if the path flexes.
“A pivot is a change in strategy without a change in vision.” - Eric Ries
Document How You’ll Monitor for Change
Write down the handful of signals you’ll actively monitor throughout the year—customer behavior, service speed, unit economics, capacity, key milestones—and pair each with a clear action threshold: If X crosses Y for Z period, we will do __. By leveraging data, you can spot trends early and adapt proactively rather than reactively. Organizations that combine real-time monitoring with clear responses navigate change faster, serve customers better, and often outpace competitors who wait for certainty.
Make Flexibility Visible at the Initiative Level
Think through—and document—how each initiative can flex without losing the outcome. Keep it pragmatic and write it down:
Must-do vs. nice-to-do elements
Sequence swaps that buy capacity without breaking promises
Dependency workarounds (e.g., an interim approach if a partner slips)
This turns a rigid list into a living plan—one that can move with momentum and purpose.
Build the Habits into the Plan
Flexibility is sustained by habit, not hope. As you’re writing the plan, document these disciplines:
Regular reviews: the cadence for checking relevance and progress (e.g., monthly/quarterly)
Open communication: how you’ll encourage teams to raise concerns and surface ideas early
Data analytics: which reports, dashboards, or analyses will inform adjustments
Contingency thinking: the specific scenarios you’ve considered and the responses you’ll use
Stating these now tells everyone how you’ll make adjustments next year—calmly and consistently.
Bringing It All Together
While securing the right resources and adapting to change may be the biggest hurdles ahead, the good news is that you can build both into the plan:
Make needs visible with specifics anyone can grasp—people, tools, time, money—and vet the assumptions behind them.
Design for change while you write: tie each initiative to the North Star, document how you’ll monitor movement, make flex points explicit at the initiative level, and state the habits and decisions that will keep you moving when reality shifts.
You’re not planning for a perfect year—you’re planning for a real one. Build these elements now, and you’ll step into 2026 with a plan your stakeholders believe in and a path your team can follow—steady, equipped, and ready to turn disruption into forward motion.