Today’s Morning Buzz is by Ted Jackson, Co-Founder of ClearPoint Strategy. Follow Ted on LinkedIn.
- What I’m reading: “Mornings on Horseback” by David McCullough
- What I’m watching: “Poldark” on Netflix
- What I’m listening to: Snowball Podcast
ClearPoint just published its first-ever Strategic Planning Report. We analyzed 20,582 strategic plans across seven industries, all of which were managed in our strategic planning and execution software. In total, we analyzed 31 million rows of data.
Local government stood out as the largest sector, with 5,718 strategic plans reviewed.
Based on our analysis of all strategic plans and government plans specifically, here’s what we found.
More Measures, Fewer Projects
When we analyzed the structure of local government strategic plans, a clear trend emerged: Governments are tracking more, but pursuing less.
Here are the medians tracked across all industries:
- Five goals
- Nine measures
- Eight projects
- 17 milestones
Here are the medians specifically for governments:
- Five goals
- 11 measures
- Six projects
- 15 milestones
The Takeaway
Organizations can only get so much done. Governments choose to track slightly more metrics (measures), but pursue slightly fewer projects and project milestones.
Complexity Kills Execution
The data shows a powerful trend: Simplicity wins. Across all strategic plans, the more you track, the less you get done.
- Plans with fewer than 20 total elements (goals, measures, projects, milestones) succeed 68% of the time.
- Plans with 60 or more elements succeed just 8% of the time.
The takeaway
Complexity overwhelms even the best teams. If your plan includes dozens of strategic goals, measures, projects, and milestones, execution rates will fall. Focus is not a nice-to-have. It’s a performance strategy.
Ownership Is Broken
Across all industries and strategic plans, key elements of the plan (strategic goals, measures, projects, and milestones) lacked a clearly assigned owner.
- 74.3% of goals have no owner
- 71% of measures have no owner
- 56.8% of projects have no owner
- 68.2% of milestones have no owner
Even when owners are assigned, most don’t follow through:
- Just 13.8% of assigned owners updated their items in the past 90 days
The takeaway
Without clear, active accountability, execution stalls. Assign every element to a single individual, and apply the 90-day rule: If an owner hasn’t updated their item in 90 days, reassign it.
What Local Government Leaders Should Do Now
It’s the end of the year, and you’re probably mid-planning cycle for 2026. Here are a few ways to improve your results next year:
- Focus your plan. Try to keep it near 20 total elements (strategic goals + measures + projects + milestones).
- Watch your balance. If you’re measuring more, be sure you’re acting, too.
- Assign every element to an individual. Teams don’t own goals, people do.
- Spread out deadlines. Review the plan calendar and de-cluster execution.
Local governments face pressure from all sides. A better plan won’t eliminate the work, but it will make the work more achievable.
You can access the full 2026 Strategic Planning Report here.