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Planning Sessions · Any framework

Quarterly Planning Session Workbook

A full-day agenda and workbook for running a quarterly planning session: reviewing the quarter that ended, resetting priorities, and leaving with owners and dates. Free, no email required.

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What this template includes

  • A timed full-day agenda

    Every block has a duration, so the session does not spend four hours on the review and twenty minutes on the plan.

  • Last-quarter scoring

    Structured review of what was set last quarter and what actually happened, before anything new is proposed.

  • Priority selection worksheets

    Space to draft, argue about, and cut the candidate priorities down to three to five.

  • A commitment page

    Owners, dates and the first milestone, captured before people leave the room.

How to use it

  1. 1Send the last quarter's scorecard and priorities as a pre-read. The session is for deciding, not for catching up.
  2. 2Score the quarter that ended first, honestly, before anyone proposes a new priority.
  3. 3Draft more candidate priorities than you will keep, then cut to three to five.
  4. 4Assign one owner and a first milestone to each before the session ends.
  5. 5Book the weekly review rhythm for the coming quarter while everyone is still in the room.

Preview the full template

This is the complete template, exactly as it appears in the download.

Company: _____________________ Quarter Being Planned: Q___ 20___ Planning Session Date: _____________________ Facilitator: _____________________ Attendees: _____________________

📅 QUARTERLY PLANNING OVERVIEW

What is a Quarterly Planning Session?

A 4-8 hour session (or full day) where your leadership team:

  • Reviews last quarter's results
  • Celebrates wins
  • Identifies lessons learned
  • Sets Quarterly Goals for the next 90 days
  • Aligns on priorities
  • Solves key issues

Frequency: Every 90 days Duration: 4-8 hours (half day to full day) Attendees: Leadership team only

🎯 PLANNING SESSION AGENDA

Total Time: 4-8 hours

TimeActivityDurationPurpose
0:00-0:15Check-in & Opening15 minAlign and energize
0:15-0:45Previous Quarter Review30 minLearn from results
0:45-1:15Strategic Plan Review30 minEnsure alignment
1:15-2:15Issues Identification60 minSurface obstacles
2:15-2:30BREAK15 min
2:30-4:30Issue Resolution120 minSolve major problems
4:30-5:30Quarterly Goal Selection60 minSet priorities
5:30-6:00Recap & Commitments30 minAlign and close

1️⃣ CHECK-IN & OPENING (15 minutes)

Opening Question

(Choose one or create your own)

  • What's one word that describes how you're feeling about the past quarter?
  • What are you most excited about for the next 90 days?
  • Share one personal or professional win from last quarter

Team Responses:

NameResponse

Session Norms

  • Everyone participates equally
  • Be present (no phones/laptops except for note-taking)
  • Be open and honest
  • Disagree and commit
  • Start and end on time
  • Take breaks as needed

2️⃣ PREVIOUS QUARTER REVIEW (30 minutes)

Quarter Just Completed: Q___ 20___

Dates: ______________ to ______________

Quarterly Goal Completion Review

Quarterly Goals from Last Quarter:

Quarterly GoalOwnerStatus% CompleteNotes
1.✅ ❌___%
2.✅ ❌___%
3.✅ ❌___%
4.✅ ❌___%
5.✅ ❌___%
6.✅ ❌___%
7.✅ ❌___%

Completion Rate: _____ / _____ = _____%

Target: 80%+

Scorecard Performance

Key Metrics Performance:

MetricTargetAverage ActualStatusTrend
🟢🟡🔴⬆️➡️⬇️
🟢🟡🔴⬆️➡️⬇️
🟢🟡🔴⬆️➡️⬇️
🟢🟡🔴⬆️➡️⬇️
🟢🟡🔴⬆️➡️⬇️

Metrics at or above goal: _____ / _____

Wins & Celebrations

What went exceptionally well last quarter?

Individual Shout-outs (Recognize team members):

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Challenges & Lessons Learned

What didn't go as planned?

ChallengeImpactLesson LearnedApply to Next Quarter

What would we do differently?

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

3️⃣ STRATEGIC PLAN REVIEW (30 minutes)

Core Values Check

Are our Core Values still accurate and lived?

Core ValueStill Accurate?Being Lived?Action Needed
1.✅ ❌✅ ❌
2.✅ ❌✅ ❌
3.✅ ❌✅ ❌
4.✅ ❌✅ ❌
5.✅ ❌✅ ❌

Core Focus Validation

Current Core Focus:

Purpose:

_________________________________________________________________

Niche:

_________________________________________________________________

Still accurate? ✅ YES | ❌ NO (If no, what needs to change?)

_________________________________________________________________

10-Year Target Progress

10-Year Target:

_________________________________________________________________

Are we still on track? ✅ YES | ⚠️ ADJUST | ❌ NO

Progress this quarter:

_________________________________________________________________

1-Year Plan Review

1-Year Goals:

GoalProgressOn Track?Notes
1.___%🟢🟡🔴
2.___%🟢🟡🔴
3.___%🟢🟡🔴
4.___%🟢🟡🔴
5.___%🟢🟡🔴

Are we on pace to hit our 1-Year Plan? ✅ YES | ⚠️ MAYBE | ❌ NO

Adjustments needed:

_________________________________________________________________

4️⃣ ISSUES IDENTIFICATION (60 minutes)

Brainstorm ALL Issues

Instructions: Capture every issue, obstacle, opportunity, or idea. No discussion yet!

Issues from:

  • Scorecard review
  • Priorities that didn't complete
  • Customer feedback
  • Employee feedback
  • Market changes
  • Strategic opportunities
  • Process problems
  • People challenges
#IssueCategoryImpact (H/M/L)
1People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
2People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
3People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
4People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
5People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
6People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
7People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
8People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
9People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
10People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
11People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
12People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
13People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
14People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
15People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
16People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
17People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
18People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
19People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other
20People / Process / Customer / Strategic / Other

Prioritize Top 5 Issues

Vote on which issues are most important to solve:

RankIssueVotesPriority
1🔴 HIGH
2🔴 HIGH
3🔴 HIGH
4🟡 MED
5🟡 MED

5️⃣ ISSUE RESOLUTION (120 minutes)

ISSUE #1: _________________________________

Time Box: 25 minutes

IDENTIFY

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

DISCUSS

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

SOLVE

Solution:

_________________________________________________________________

Action Items:

  • _________________________________ | Owner: _____ | Due: _____
  • _________________________________ | Owner: _____ | Due: _____

Status: ✅ SOLVED | 🔄 ONGOING | 📅 BECOMES A QUARTERLY PRIORITY

ISSUE #2: _________________________________

Time Box: 25 minutes

Identify, Discuss, Solve

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Action Items:

  • _________________________________ | Owner: _____ | Due: _____

ISSUE #3: _________________________________

Time Box: 25 minutes

Identify, Discuss, Solve

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Action Items:

  • _________________________________ | Owner: _____ | Due: _____

6️⃣ QUARTERLY GOAL SELECTION (60 minutes)

Next Quarter: Q___ 20___

Dates: ______________ to ______________

Brainstorm Potential Quarterly Goals

Based on:

  • 1-Year Plan goals
  • Issues that need to become Quarterly Goals
  • Strategic priorities
  • Key opportunities
Potential Quarterly GoalImpactOwnerAligns with 1-Year Goal
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L
H / M / L

Final Company Quarterly Goals for Q___ 20___

Select 3-7 most important priorities:

QUARTERLY GOAL #1

_________________________________________________________________

Owner: _____________________ Due: _____________________

QUARTERLY GOAL #2

_________________________________________________________________

Owner: _____________________ Due: _____________________

QUARTERLY GOAL #3

_________________________________________________________________

Owner: _____________________ Due: _____________________

QUARTERLY GOAL #4

_________________________________________________________________

Owner: _____________________ Due: _____________________

QUARTERLY GOAL #5

_________________________________________________________________

Owner: _____________________ Due: _____________________

QUARTERLY GOAL #6 (Optional)

_________________________________________________________________

Owner: _____________________ Due: _____________________

QUARTERLY GOAL #7 (Optional)

_________________________________________________________________

Owner: _____________________ Due: _____________________

7️⃣ RECAP & COMMITMENTS (30 minutes)

Key Takeaways

What are the 3 most important things from today's session?

Cascading Message

What do we need to communicate to our teams?

_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Who will communicate it: _____________________

By when: _____________________

Individual Commitments

Each person shares ONE key commitment for next quarter:

NameCommitment

Session Feedback

Rate this planning session: _____ / 10

What made it valuable:

_________________________________________________________________

What would make it a 10 next time:

_________________________________________________________________

✅ POST-SESSION ACTION ITEMS

  • Document all Quarterly Goals in project management system
  • Send session summary to all attendees
  • Communicate cascading messages to teams
  • Add unresolved issues to weekly open issues list
  • Schedule next Quarterly Planning Session
  • Update Strategic Plan if any changes were made
  • Set up Quarterly Goal tracking in GoalCadence

📅 QUARTERLY PLANNING SCHEDULE

Plan your year:

QuarterPlanning Session DateNotes
Q1
Q2
Q3
Q4

Track your Quarterly Goals and run better Quarterly Planning Sessions with GoalCadence. Try free!

See also: quarterly planning software

Related templates

Common questions

How long should a quarterly planning session be?

A full day for a leadership team is typical, and two days when the annual plan is also being set. The common failure is compressing it into two hours, which reliably produces a list nobody owns.

Who should attend quarterly planning?

The leadership team that will own the priorities. Large groups produce discussion but not decisions; most sessions work best between five and ten people.

What should come out of a quarterly planning session?

Three to five priorities, each with a named owner, a measurable done-condition and a first milestone, plus the meeting rhythm that will review them. A session that ends without owners and dates has produced a wish list.

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