Here's how you can showcase your strategic planning and goal setting skills during an interview.

Aligning your thoughts/comments with the interview is a key to success. By researching what are the values of the organization, you can understand the strategic planning by simply asking about it and how the current plan is aligned with the values and how you believe in those values.

Most if not all of the people that the organisation is interviewing have knowledge of strategic planning and the interviewer gets to hear a lot of theoretical views from the candidates. One thing that captures an interviewer' s interest and engagement is hearing a response that speaks to the challenges that the organisation is currently facing. For example, a financial institution that offers credit to it's clients will definitely be grappling with the problem of loan default and loan loss provisioning. Offering an example of how you have formulated strategies that have helped financial institutions to effectively manage their portfolio at risk (PAR) makes the recruiter want to have a further discussion with you and possibly work with you.

When citing specific examples from your past experience, use the STAR method to bring structure to your story and avoid digressing or confusing your interviewers. Describe the Situation (provide background information), the Task that needed to be done, the Action you took, and the Results achieved. This method helps to clearly and effectively communicate your experience.

Identifying your teams, stakeholders, and partners is important to ensure inclusivity and strategic plan ownership. One thing that I have found useful is walking with your teams and stakeholders through the process from sensitizing them, collecting their feedback on expiring strategic plans (its success, challenges, etc), pointing to them the projected focusing to pick their perspective and sharing with them the broad final strategic plan. I would disagree with involving the parties only at the tail end and assuming that you know it all.

In an interview, it is not the strategic plan document that is important, for many have been produced. What separates you from the pack is the show of transformation that results from your strategies. One way I find helpful in showing the impact, is showing how substantially a certain goal was achieved. Percentages help you to do this. Comparing achievement against previous year's performance gives the interviewer a better view of the impact that your strategic plan has had. I am opposed to expressing generalities such as, turnover grew by 15%, without indicating projected growth as per plan and what has been the growth without the current strategies. It could be that 12% of the 15% achieved was possible without strategy.

Having the expertise in the areas of strategic planning and effective leadership is evident in how you frame your questions and comments. Active listening and fully absorbing your interviewer’s side of the conversation can’t be overstated. Leaning into the dialogue, seeing the big picture during the conversation and steering it the right direction is the #1 way to demonstrate confidence.

Highlight Past Achievements: Discuss specific instances where your strategic planning led to successful outcomes. Describe the goals you set, the strategies you employed, and the measurable results achieved. Discuss Your Process: Explain your approach to strategic planning. Detail how you analyze data, identify key objectives, and develop action plans. Emphasize your ability to prioritize tasks and allocate resources effectively. Showcase Problem-Solving Abilities: Share examples of challenges you've faced and how your strategic planning skills enabled you to overcome them. Highlight your ability to adapt strategies based on changing circumstances or new information.