Part 4 of 8: The Spreadsheet That Shapes Strategy

Why Finance Must Build the Backbone Before Execution

So far, you’ve helped the team see what could’ve been.

You’ve shown the R50m upside that’s sitting there... waiting.

Now what?

This is where most strategy sessions stall.

Everyone agrees “we need to fix it.”

Then the ideas fly. The whiteboard fills up.

And two weeks later, nobody remembers what was said.

But not this time.

Because you’re ready,

With a spreadsheet that’s about to become the spine of execution.

Build the Intake Sheet That Actually Works

You’re not there to take minutes.

You’re building the master list of action.

Open your laptop.

Project the sheet.

Start typing.

Let the room know:

“Any idea we come up with gets captured here, live.”

The structure is deceptively simple:

Planning Columns (Part 1 – The Essentials)

• Idea Name
• Big Idea (short description)
• Logical Owner
• Estimated Financial Benefit (Year 1 and beyond)
• Workstream or Business Area
• Strategic Theme (top line, bottom line, capability, compliance, etc.)
• Start Date
• Expected Duration

This is enough to unlock flow.

You’re not bottlenecking creativity.

You’re collecting potential—structured just enough to analyse later.

Add the ROI Filters Before You Execute

Before any action kicks off, you need to see which ideas are worth pursuing.

This is your opportunity to step up again, with logic, clarity, and value filters.

For each of the following criteria, create a 1–5 dropdown score.
(Once you have the scores, you can build weighted formulas to compare initiatives.)

Planning Columns (Part 2 – ROI Filters)

• Time to Implement – how long it will take from the time you start
• Effort to Implement – number of days of all resources
• Complexity – how complicated this initiative is to implement. If it’s very complicated you may want to break the initiative into phases
• Payback Period – once completed, how long to get payback
• Criticality to Strategy- how critical the initiative is to achieve the strategy. Sometime this criterion overrides everything else
• Risk of Disruption- some initiatives are not costly, but they disrupt your customers and so  they require staff to stop what they’re doing to help with the initiative
• % Confidence in Outcome – how sure you will complete the initiative successfully
• Enabler? (Y/N) – is this a keystone that unlocks others?
• Final Priority – create a formula that combines the above scores into a single weighted score that informs wether the initiative can be prioritised over others.

Now your sheet has a brain.

You’re not just capturing ideas.

You’re ranking them by value and viability.

Start to slice and dice.

Show a chart of effort vs. value.

A waterfall of potential gains.

Suddenly, people are leaning forward again.

You’re helping the team choose, wisely.

And Yes, There’s a Third Layer

This article’s already done more than most strategy sessions.

But you’re not done.

In the next piece, we’ll add the execution layer:

Dependencies, milestones, risks, and team resourcing.

But don’t jump there yet.

Because most organisations never get this far.

You’ve just laid the groundwork that separates fantasy from actual momentum.

You’ve helped everyone feel the weight of their ideas and see their potential.

Finance has become the filter.

The strategist.

The backbone.

And nobody’s checking emails anymore.