The Necessity of Research in Vision Casting and Strategic Planning
“Research is formalized curiosity. It is poking and prying with a purpose.”
— Zora Neale Hurston
Research is one of the most powerful, proactive tools in your vision casting and strategic planning toolbox. It’s not just a nice-to-have—it’s essential. Without it, your efforts can become costly and misguided.
Research acts as a leading indicator for your organization. It helps you see what’s coming, not just what’s happening. While it can feel overwhelming, expensive, or time-consuming, skipping it often leads to blind spots, biases, and outdated assumptions. Too many leaders rely on gut instinct or past experience to guess their way through market trends, customer needs, and competitive landscapes. That’s a risky game.
Strategic planning often turns inward—focused on your team, your goals, your resources. But to cast a compelling vision and build a winning strategy, you have to look outward. Without research, you’re flying blind.
Research Enables Data-Driven Decision Making
Think of research as your organization’s external pulse check. Just like a culture survey reveals internal health, research gives you clarity on your external environment. This information will either support or debunk your vision or strategy insights.
Key Questions Research Helps Answer:
+ Do consumers actually want what you’re offering?
Research uncovers customer personalities, buying habits, and purchase triggers. Do they want things that you are currently not offering?
+ Where do you fit in the marketplace?
Understand your position relative to competitors. Are you leading, lagging, or lost in the noise?
+ Do you have blind spots?
You don’t know what you don’t know. Insights from customers, competitors, or adjacent industries can reveal what you’ve missed.
+ Are you working with the most current, decision-driving data?
Strategy should be built on today’s data and trend insights. Assumptions, while sometimes helpful, can be an unsafe foundation for decision making.
+ Are you tracking trends and anticipating what’s next?
Hindsight is 20/20, but foresight—when informed by research—can be your competitive advantage.
+ Are you addressing what matters to the marketplace?
Are you tuned into topics like sustainability, innovation, and human-centered values?
Research Provides 360-Degree Vision Around Your Organization
When conducting research, focus on these core areas. This information will help you build your vision casting and accurately inform your strategy initiatives.
+ Your Competition
Who are your direct and indirect competitors? Are they local, national, digital, or physical?
+ Your Current Customers
What pain points are your ideal customers experiencing? What triggers them to think of you—and do they know how to buy from you?
+ Product
How is your product perceived? Are you testing it in the market? What improvements or innovations are needed?
+ Your Brand Influence and Metrics
Awareness, loyalty, your unique value proposition (UVP), purchase intent, and customer satisfaction all matter.
+ Your Industry & Beyond
What does the buying landscape look like inside your industry? Is it structured and logical, or impulsive and emotional? What’s happening in your industry —and in adjacent ones—that could impact you?
Research Must Be Purposefully Collected and Strategically Applied
Research doesn’t have to be complicated—but it must be organized and accessible. Research can be endless if you let it. That’s why it’s important to set boundaries—define how much time and budget you’ll invest, and what you expect to learn.
“The essence of strategy is choosing what not to do.”
— Michael Porter
Sometimes, you only need a quick data point to validate a decision. Other times, you need deep certainty before moving forward. Either way, be clear about what you’re trying to uncover. That clarity will guide the type and depth of research you need.
Research Tools
+ Primary Research:
Direct from the source—interviews, surveys, focus groups, and observations.
+ Secondary Research:
Indirect sources—websites, publications, online searches, annual reports, and word- of-mouth insights.
+ Data Analytics:
Data that captures key insights and can transcribe them into visuals for easier data consumption.
Research Guidelines
+ Ask unbiased, clear, and productive questions.
+ Capture and organize data effectively.
+ Maintain confidentiality and data integrity.
+ Update your data regularly—research should precede your planning process.
+ Assign someone (often marketing) to own the research data.
In many cases, an outside consultancy can help collect, analyze, and interpret data. For more specialized or sensitive research, a certified research organization may be necessary.
Research Accessibility by Those In the Organization
Research should be used at all levels of the organization. While detailed findings may guide day-to-day operations, executive summaries should be available to leadership, boards, and stakeholders to support strategic decision-making.
Research Pays Off
Many organizations feel overwhelmed by the idea of conducting research and, as a result, skip this critical step in the vision casting and strategic planning process. However, without a clear understanding of the external forces shaping your environment, you risk undermining your core values, limiting future growth, and reducing profitability. In truth, research is a relatively low-cost investment—an insurance policy against the far greater expense of being caught off guard by what you didn’t know.
Seeking Research Assistance?
If your organization is ready to make smarter, more confident decisions—start with research. Whether you need help designing a research plan, conducting interviews, or analyzing data, we’re here to help.
Let’s talk about how research can power your next strategic move. Reach out today to start the conversation.