The job
Planning season arrives. The leadership team needs to understand the market, the competition, what customers want, and what the business is capable of. Right now that understanding lives in separate documents, in people’s heads, sometimes not documented at all. The team starts planning without the full picture.
When the station runs this dish well, two weeks before planning season, the Chef gets a comprehensive pre-read. State of the market. Competitive landscape. Customer sentiment and trends. Internal capability assessment. It’s not a deck. It’s a reference document the leadership team reads before planning conversations start.
The difference between a research package that shapes planning and one that’s just document assembly is synthesis. A package that lists five competitive moves and five market trends is a collection. A package that connects those moves and trends to the constraints or opportunities facing the business is thinking.
The recipe
All seven ingredients still apply. The leverage on this dish isn’t a single recipe ingredient. It’s the Four D’s stance. This dish lives in DECIDING on the Four D’s. The station gathers. The station structures. The Chef synthesizes. Station legwork. Chef thinking. This is where the research serves strategy.
Context matters. The station knows your business model, your market position, what matters to your strategy. Examples matter. Show the station a planning pre-read you’ve written and that shaped planning conversations. Training matters. The station learns that your research packages connect dots, not just list facts.
How to build it
- Define the sections of your planning pre-read. Market state (size, growth, shifts). Competitive landscape (top three competitors, moves, positioning). Customer sentiment (trends, requests, satisfaction). Internal capability (what we’re good at, where we’re constrained). Strategic questions (uncertainties that planning should address). Add or remove sections based on what shapes your planning.
- Define the sources for each section. Market data from analysts, news, earnings calls. Competitor data from surveillance and news. Customer data from surveys, calls, support. Internal data from financials, metrics, team feedback. Be specific.
- Define your pre-read format. Five to seven pages. Each section starts with a headline summary (one sentence). Then supporting detail. Always connect findings back to strategic relevance: why does this matter to next year’s planning.
- Define the timeline. The pre-read should be done two weeks before planning begins, so the team can read it before planning starts.
- Pull one planning pre-read you’ve written that the team actually read before planning. That’s your standard.
- Have the station assemble a mock pre-read using your sources and format. You read it. Does it give the team what they need before planning. Does it surface the right questions. Does it connect market findings to strategic choices.
- Go live. Every year, the station assembles the pre-read on schedule. The team reads it. When planning decisions reference the pre-read, the research shaped strategy.
What breaks it
- Pre-read is just document assembly. Each section is a summary of available data without connecting those data to what matters strategically. The team reads five pages of facts and doesn’t know what it means for next year. Force synthesis. Every section should answer “why does this matter for planning decisions.”
- Pre-read arrives too late. The team gets the pre-read two days before planning starts. They don’t have time to read and absorb it before planning conversations begin. Get the timing right. Two weeks is the minimum.
- Sections are uneven. The market section is 10 pages and comprehensive. The customer section is one page and thin. The team doesn’t have equal insight across categories. Make all sections similar depth and rigor.
- Pre-read includes outdated information. Competitor moves from eight months ago. Customer feedback from Q1 even though it’s Q4 planning. The team makes planning decisions based on stale data. Date everything. Refresh the data right before compilation.
- Pre-read includes uncertainty without naming it. The market assessment says “growth is 10 percent” without saying “this assumes the economy doesn’t shift” or “this is analyst consensus, not our assessment.” Name the assumptions. The team needs to know what’s certain and what’s a bet.
When it’s working
Two weeks before planning season, the leadership team receives the pre-read. They read it before planning sessions start. Planning conversations reference the research: “the market is growing here but customer feedback says they’re not ready for X, so we should.” The research shaped the strategy because it gave the team clarity before they decided.
The signal that the recipe is sharp: planning decisions reference the pre-read and connect strategy to the market reality the research surfaced.
Monday Move
Define the sections your planning pre-read needs (market, competitive, customer, internal, questions). Define the sources for each. Create your format. Pull one planning pre-read that the team actually read and referenced. The station is assembling this year’s pre-read.
Dish 9 of 10 on the Research Station. Build-note leverage: Four D’s stance (DECIDING).