Strategic Planning Champions: Social Craftspersons, Artful Interpreters and Known Strangers

In this article, we examine the performance of people, rather than organisations, in relation to strategy. Specifically, we introduce the concept of strategic planning champions (SPCs) to refer to strategy practitioners who introduce, promote and guide the strategic planning process in an organisation. Drawing on previous literature and an in-depth field study, we find three roles that the SPC must perform to work effectively, in addition to the traditional role of the competent and technically skilful strategic planning and thinking expert. These three roles are: the social craftsperson, the artful interpreter and the known stranger. In our empirical context we note how the SPC needs to understand and respect the specific values, interests and concerns that form the rules of the game for the work of strategy practitioners. We provide implications of our findings for practitioners and scholars who are interested in understanding the work and performance of the people doing strategy.