30 Best Strategy Tools For Your Organization In 2025

Developing a sound strategy is something every organization strives to achieve. A highly effective strategy helps companies establish their competitive position, grow market share, and thrive in a ruthless business environment. Or they become irrelevant and slowly die.

However, choosing the right tools to execute that strategy and bring their strategic processes to life is something few are concerned with. 

In this article, we'll cover a collection of strategy tools and free templates that every growth-oriented strategist should have in their strategy toolkit:

• Strategic planning tools
• Strategic management tools
• Strategic tracking tools
• Strategy execution tool that companies prefer to keep secret 💜

Strategic Planning Tools

The first significant part of the strategic management process involves analysis and planning. The strategy tools we've listed in this section are all about helping you understand where you are today and where you should be tomorrow.

Strategy analysis tools to kickstart the strategic planning process

The first step of the strategic planning process is to study your organization's strengths and internal and external factors to inform your strategic decisions. 

💡Analysis is key to identifying weak spots and opportunities. But don't get trapped in that rabbit hole of endless evaluation. Focus on core business metrics, prioritize initiatives that move the needle, and take action. 

Here's a list of free tools and templates:

1. GAP Analysis

This strategic tool helps you understand the gap between where you're today (your current state) and what you need to do to get where you want to be as a company (your desired future state).

👉🏻 Grab your free template (Excel) to easily conduct a Gap Analysis.

2. SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is one of the most common strategy tools because it allows organizations to analyze both internal factors (strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats), providing a complete picture.

👉🏻 Use this guide with free template to help you identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats you should consider when evaluating your strategic options.

3. Strategy Maturity Assessment

Assessing your organization’s strategic maturity is a useful way to establish a baseline for planning. A maturity assessment evaluates the clarity of your strategic vision, goal-setting effectiveness, data usage, governance, and communication.

👉 Take our free 10-minute Strategy Maturity Assessment quiz to get a personalized snapshot of your organization’s current capabilities.

📚 Recommended read: What Is A Maturity Model? Overview, Examples + Free Assessment

4. PEST Analysis

PEST Analysis helps you to analyze Political, Economic, Social, and Technological factors that could impact your strategy. This strategic framework is a great starting point, providing helpful context for strategic planning and setting business direction.

5. PESTLE Analysis

PESTLE Analysis is an expanded version of a PEST Analysis. It adds two more external factors to your analysis: Legal and Environmental factors.

👉🏻 Grab a simple PESTLE Analysis Template here.

6. VRIO Analysis

The VRIO framework helps you uncover and assess your business's competitive advantages by analyzing resources based on Value, Rarity, Imitability, and Organization.

👉🏻 Get started with our free VRIO template to make the process even easier.

7. Porter's Five Forces model

Porter's framework (introduced by Michael Porter) helps you identify five forces that place competitive pressure on a company in any given industry. It focuses on these five dimensions:

• Threat of new entrants
• Bargaining power of suppliers
• Bargaining power of buyers
• Threat of substitutes
• Competitive rivalry

👉🏻 Grab your free Porter's Five Forces Template in PDF format and streamline your analysis!

8. McKinsey 7S Framework

Mckinsey 7S framework is an oldie but goldie. This strategic planning tool will help you identify strategic alignment between departments and processes by analyzing 7 components: structure, strategy, systems, skills, style, staff, and shared values.

👉🏻 Grab your template in this free collection of templates for internal analysis.

9. Ansoff Matrix

This matrix can help you determine which of four strategic directions best supports your growth strategy. Its four quadrants include market penetration, product development, market development, and diversification.

👉🏻 Grab your free Ansoff Matrix template to explore examples for each quadrant and streamline your business growth planning.

10. BCG Matrix

Boston Consulting Group developed a valuable strategic planning tool to help companies prioritize their different businesses by their degree of profitability. You can find a free BCG matrix template here. 

11. GE Matrix

McKinsey's GE Matrix is a visual tool designed to help portfolio managers determine resource allocation and analyze the best strategic direction for multi-business portfolios. 

Along with providing an overview of business units' performance, the GE Matrix also prescribes three strategic paths (grow, hold, and harvest) to inform strategic decisions.

12. Value Chain Analysis

Want to review your new product's journey? Value Chain Analysis breaks down each step in the production process, helping you identify and analyze all related activities to improve efficiency. Use this template to get started.

13. The Business Model Canvas

The Business Model Canvas is a strategic management tool for evaluating and developing new business models, whether you are an existing business or a fast-growing start-up.

14. Scenario Planning

This tool is quite different from the other strategy tools and is ideal for preparing your organization for multiple future possibilities by developing a range of "what-if" scenarios.

Scenario planning is particularly useful in uncertain or rapidly evolving industries, helping you anticipate and adapt to potential changes.

15. Four Corners Analysis

Four Corners Analysis offers a deeper look into competitor behavior by examining their drivers, strategies, assumptions, and capabilities. It’s a powerful tool for understanding your competitors’ likely moves, which can guide your own strategic responses.

👉 Ready to get started? Download our internal analysis toolkit with a collection of templates to help you with your analysis phase.

📚Recommended readings: 

• Develop An Iterative Strategic Planning Process (+Template)
• How To Conduct Internal Analysis (+ Free Templates)
• How To Perform Gap Analysis In 5 Easy Steps 

Strategic planning tools for strategy formulation

Strategy formulation is where the rubber hits the road. By now, you should have a good idea of your internal capabilities and the situation of your external environment.

So, it's time to set goals and create an action plan to achieve them. 

1. Vision Statement Toolkit

A clear vision statement is essential for setting the direction of your strategy.

👉 This free toolkit helps you craft your organization’s vision with tools like a 4-step builder, 100+ sample statements by industry, and a vision-to-execution guide—in PDF and Excel formats.

2. Values Toolkit

Another pillar of your strategy is setting your strategic values.

👉 This free Excel-based strategy toolkit will help with that process.

💡When is the right time for a makeover of your company's vision and values? It's a good move when dealing with significant organizational changes, growth slowdowns, or cultural issues because it can boost stakeholders' motivation.

3. Strategic planning models

We've put together an overview of the five most widely used strategic planning models, including: 

• Cascade Model — Simple and versatile, suitable for executing strategy across any team or industry.
• Hoshin Kanri Model — Maintains focus and alignment across all levels of an organization.
• OKRs — A focused framework for setting clear, measurable objectives and tracking results quarterly.
• Balanced Scorecard — Organizes key performance indicators (KPIs) into four key areas: Financial, Customer, Internal Processes, and Learning & Growth.  
• V2MOM Model — A strategic planning framework based on Vision, Values, Methods, Obstacles, and Measures.

👉 Explore the links above for in-depth guides on each strategic planning model and discover tools to find the best fit for your organization.

💡Strategic planning models and frameworks are a great starting point to start brainstorming and formulating your strategy. But they don't solve your alignment and execution problems. That's why you need the right strategy tools that combine iterative strategic planning, centralized observability, and execution in one place.

4. Strategic Planning Template

Strategic planning is essential to move from high-level ideas to concrete, actionable steps that drive real results. Ready to turn your strategy into an execution-ready strategic plan?

👉 Use this free strategic planning template to set clear organizational goals, build a strategic roadmap, and assign responsibilities to ensure stakeholder engagement with your strategy.

4. KPI Cheatsheets

KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are critical for tracking progress and measuring success in your strategic plan.

👉 To get started, check out our guide on writing KPIs in 4 steps and explore our online library of free KPI examples for various industries to inspire you.

💡 Craft a custom strategic plan that suits your organization's unique goals and priorities. Start with our pre-built templates as jumping-off points for a highly effective plan. Check out some examples from our template library: 

• Corporate Strategy Template 
• Marketing Strategy Template
• Customer Service Strategy Template 
• Change Management Strategy Template

Strategic Management Tools

The second phase of the strategic management process is executing the strategic plan you created earlier—the most crucial part of every strategy. 

1. Miro

PowerPoint is a terrible tool for strategy execution, but a good presentation is a fine starting point to introduce your people to the new strategy. Up your game with an interactive Miro presentation rather than a stuffy old PowerPoint!

2. Strategic Engagement Toolkit

It all comes down to communicating your strategy and the why behind it. To drive strategy execution successfully, you need to get buy-in from relevant stakeholders.

👉 This free strategic engagement toolkit will help you plan out your strategic engagement plan to ensure you cover all the bases of effective strategy communication.

3. Alignment Map

This Cascade feature helps organizations map out how their goals are connected and impact one another. 

This is our version of a strategy map that helps you visualize the alignment of objectives across multiple strategic plans, giving you complete visibility into the execution web that's spinning inside your organization. 

As a result, you can quickly identify any risks or roadblocks, prioritize critical initiatives, and eliminate misaligned projects.

📚 Recommended reading: 

• Strategy Execution in 6 Steps
• 6 Ways To Master The Art Of Strategy Execution

Strategy Tracking Tools

The final phase of the strategic management process involves tracking the effectiveness of your strategy and then iterating where needed. These tools are all about tracking, analytics, and iteration!

Strategy tracking ensures that you’re meeting your short- and long-term goals by providing insights into what’s working and where adjustments are necessary. By using these tools, you can keep your strategy aligned with real-world results and ensure that every effort is driving meaningful progress.

1. KPI Reporting Template (Excel version)

With your strategic plan in place and KPIs set, it’s time to track them effectively.

👉 Use this free Excel KPI Reporting template to manually monitor key metrics and stay on top of progress.

2. Automated KPI Tracking (Cascade Template)

Within a strategic plan in Cascade, you can build your KPIs and connect them to your existing business strategy tools to automatically track them, and have real-time data at your fingertips. You can use our strategic planning template (pre-filled with example KPIs), customize it to fit your needs and connect it to your systems for automated tracking!

👉 Check out our integrations library to to see all the ways Cascade can automate your KPI tracking!

3. OKR Excel Template (Excel version)

If you've chosen to move forward with the OKR framework, make sure you have the right tracking systems in place!

👉 Use this free OKR Template (in Excel format) to set and track objectives and key results. You can track company, team, or individual OKRs. 

4. Balanced Scorecard Template

👉 You can use this free Balanced Scorecard Template to centralize the most important metrics in one place and measure your critical KPIs.

Since it's based on a traditional balanced scorecard framework, you can organize your KPIs and key initiatives into the four standard categories (Financial, Customer, Internal Processes, and Learning & Growth).

5. Operating & Financial Model Template (Excel format)

Tracking key financial and operational metrics is essential to understanding your organization’s current performance and ensuring your strategy stays aligned with real-world results. With this kind of insight, you can make data-driven adjustments that keep your organization on course to meet its goals.

Our free Google Sheets Operating & Financial Model Template provides automated P&L statements, essential financial and operational metrics, and dynamic dashboards for real-time visibility. Designed for CEOs, COOs, and CFOs, it helps you track revenue trends, monitor expenses, and identify optimization opportunities. By comparing actuals versus budget, you’ll gain clarity on your financial standing, allowing you to refine forecasts and allocate resources where they’re needed most.

👉 Access the Operating & Financial Model Template to streamline financial tracking and strengthen your strategic alignment.

6. Real-time dashboards and Strategy Reports

Strategy tools with real-time dashboards and reports are the missing piece that help you bridge the gap between you, your teams, and your upper leadership team to ensure successful strategy execution. 

By leveraging these tools, you'll be able to stay on top of performance, adjust your strategies on the go, and keep everyone focused on strategic goals.

👉 Create a free account in Cascade and access all platform features, including automated strategy dashboards and reports.

📚 Recommended reading: Best Reporting Tools To Drive Strategy (Pros, Cons, Pricing & Reviews)

Strategy Execution Tool

Despite the extensive list of strategy tools, templates, and models above—what if we told you that it's possible to plan, execute, and track your strategic and growth initiatives from one central hub?

A tool that top companies see as a competitive advantage and prefer to keep confidential? 

From the beginning, our goal was to make a tool that consolidates different strategy tools into a single platform—centralizing strategy and taking care of all the phases of the strategic management process:

1. Planning phase: You can use customizable strategic planning models that best fit your strategy approach. Drive strategic alignment across the organization by building a high-level company strategy plan and connecting it with strategic plans at the departmental or team level.

2. Executing phase: With its powerful integrations, strategic portfolio and project management, and goal management capabilities, Cascade helps you and your team to bridge the gap between planning and execution.

3. Tracking phase: KPI tracking, real-time dashboards, or drill-down reports—you name it, we have it. You will be able to provide data-driven insights to your C-suite team or get a real-time view of what's getting done or not. That's the only way to faster and more confident decision-making.

Today, Cascade is the leading strategy execution platform with a laser focus on progress and speed and a commitment to top-notch customer service. 

Whereas many companies fail to turn strategy into tangible outcomes, Cascade helps leaders deliver business profitability by giving them a centralized observability of what's happening across the organization. 

Boost Your Strategy Execution With The Right Strategy Tools 🚀

Strategy planning models, tools, and templates are great for fleshing out your strategy, but to successfully execute strategy and adapt as needed, you also need the right software. 

A great strategy execution platform will help you to create a single source of truth for your strategy, eliminating wasted time in disconnected strategy tools, confusion and potentially preventing a failed strategy execution. 

A single home for your strategy will help you to keep everyone on the same page, allowing leaders to focus on the most critical parts of strategy execution: clear goals, context, and strategic prioritization. 

And when you are not wasting your time in meetings to keep everyone aligned, you can focus on the greater purpose of actually helping your team members learn, grow, and deliver results

Cascade makes it easy to build strategic roadmaps and assign KPIs and owners to drive accountability. It lets your employees collaborate on shared goals to drive strategy execution across the organization. 

👉‍ Interested in seeing Cascade in action? Get started for free or book a demo with Cascade's experts.