Poll Results Are In: The Biggest Barrier to Strategic Planning Is Cross-Functional Misalignment

Katy Moses, Founder, Sage Connections

Last month, I surveyed my network on the most persistent challenge in strategic planning. The results were clear: lack of cross-functional alignment was the leading issue. Supporting this, Gartner reports that nearly 70 percent of strategic initiatives fail due to inadequate collaboration across departments.

This finding aligns with my earlier blog, "Four Challenges in Building Your Go-to-Market Strategy," where I emphasized that even the most well-crafted plans falter when key functions are excluded from the conversation. Silos not only impede execution; they undermine strategy at its core.

Why Cross-Functional Alignment Breaks Down. From my observations, research, and the feedback, misalignment often arises from:

• Unclear ownership of strategic goals

• Fragmented communication between teams

• Lack of shared frameworks or planning rituals

• Over-reliance on top-down directives without cross-team input

When strategy is developed in isolation, it is destined to be misunderstood, misapplied, fail in execution, and ultimately in your customer experience with your brand.

Practical Tips to Rebuild Alignment. If you’re facing this challenge, here are several strategies to shift from fragmentation to a cohesive plan:

• Facilitate early collaboration. Involve marketing, product, sales, and operations from the outset. Use co-creation workshops to identify blind spots and foster shared ownership and engagement.

• Utilize shared planning tools. Establish a single source of truth—whether a modular GTM framework or a dynamic roadmap—that all teams can reference and contribute to in a centralized location.

• Define success collectively. Agree on what success looks like across functions. Move beyond vanity metrics and create measurement frameworks that reflect strategic targets and drive revenue growth.

• Revisit regularly. Strategy is not static. Set checkpoints to adapt, realign, and re-engage cross-functional teams as market conditions evolve. Dates will move, but you will be less reactive and have a roadmap for success.

From Insight to Impact: Strategic planning is not just about vision; it’s about translation. This translation is effective only when every function speaks the same language. As I noted in my previous post, "Cross-functional buy-in is the cornerstone of a solid plan." Without it, even the most brilliant strategy will struggle to extend beyond your go-to-market plan and fizzle out as the team attempts to execute.

If you’re navigating this challenge or developing new rituals for alignment, I’d love to hear what strategies are working for you.