Three Questions Every NED Should Ask Before Signing Off a Growth Plan

Part 4 in the “Strategy Without Illusion” series

The deck is clean. The numbers are bold. The management team presents with confidence.

But before you nod through that growth plan, ask yourself this:

Are we sure we’re backing a strategy, or just approving a budget with assumptions?

From the touchline, this moment matters. It’s the point where trust, intent, and discipline need to align. And it’s where Non-Executive Directors (NEDs) and Chairs have a unique responsibility: to test for clarity without undermining confidence. To probe for realism without stifling ambition.

Here are three questions I always ask before signing off any growth plan, and why they matter more than they might seem.

I come at this from the perspective of someone who’s often brought in as Interim CEO when the wheels have already started to come off. Most of the issues I face weren’t caused by bad intent, they were caused by silent misalignment at the point of sign-off. This article is part of that recovery process: surfacing what needs to be asked earlier, when there’s still time to steer.

One of the most common issues I see is boards and management teams rushing to get the budget approved, often for the bank, sometimes just because it’s “that time of year.” But if deadlines are tight, perhaps the planning process started too late. Or perhaps the CEO and FD need to have a proper discussion with the bank. The plan is important, after all. Don’t be bounced into signing it off just because the calendar says it’s time.

Question 1. What is the strategy – in plain terms?

Don’t let the team repeat buzzwords. Ask them to describe the strategy clearly, without slides, without bullet points. What are we doing, why, and how will we win?

If they can’t tell a story in simple, grounded terms, they’re not ready to execute. Plans that rely on presentation polish rarely survive real pressure. Real clarity should travel in conversation, not just on paper.

In the military, mission analysis starts with two simple questions: What’s the plan (Mission)? And what’s my role in it? If your leadership team can’t answer both, your strategy might still be surface-level.

Question 2. What needs to change operationally to deliver this?

Growth is never just a sales number. It’s a shift in behaviour, in systems, in pace, in resource.

Ask where the delivery effort will come from. What routines, roles, priorities or reporting structures will need to evolve? Who’s losing something in this plan, time, resources, attention, and how will that be handled?

If this question causes confusion or deflection, there’s likely a gap between ambition and execution.

Question 3. What’s the rhythm for staying aligned?

Even with a good plan, businesses drift. Strategy fades. People default back to the familiar. So ask:

How will the team stay connected to the plan? Where are the natural reflection points? How are we going to surface friction early and keep execution honest?

If the answer is “monthly board meetings”, it’s not enough. Good delivery lives in rhythm and routines, not in a retrospective review from the FD. By the time the FD tells us what happened four weeks ago, we’ve already missed several weeks of opportunity for action.

What These Questions Really Do

You’re not there to tell the team how to do their jobs. You’re there to test readiness. These questions aren’t about catching people out, they’re about surfacing assumptions, gaps, and misalignments early.

The goal isn’t to slow the plan down. It’s to make sure the wheels don’t fall off three months in.

And if you’re reading this thinking, we’ve already signed the plan off, that’s not the end of the conversation. It’s a signal to reset the rhythm now. Rebuild the connection between strategy and action. Ask the team to rearticulate the plan in plain terms. Reconfirm the key delivery shifts. And introduce the discipline of regular reflection before drift sets in too deep.

The best operators welcome the challenge. It shows you care about delivery, not just direction.

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