Reading the landscape together
A structured environmental scanning tool that maps the forces acting on an organisation across three time rings (Now, Medium term, Horizon) and six categories (Capability, Culture, Operations, Customers, Competition, The Wider World), each with two sub-bearings. Marker size encodes pressure. Draws on the logic of SWOT, PESTLE, Five Forces, and Blue Ocean thinking without requiring participants to run those frameworks separately.
Strategy Radar maps the forces acting on an organisation across three dimensions on a single canvas. Time is encoded by concentric rings: Now (0–1 year, biting today or already in motion), Medium term (1–3 years, taking shape), and Horizon (3+ years, possible developments and weak signals). Category is encoded by twelve fixed sub-bearings grouped under six parents: Capability (people, tools and tech), Culture (beliefs, behaviours), and Operations (supply, delivery) on the internal half; Customers (demand, habits), Competition (rivals, alternatives), and The Wider World (rules, shifts) on the external half. Pressure is encoded by marker size. The fixed structure is deliberate: the canvas works as a self-contained tool without requiring a facilitator to interpret categories.
The radar draws on the logic of several established analysis frameworks: strengths and weaknesses analysis from SWOT, environmental factors from PESTLE, competitive forces from Porter's Five Forces, and the search for uncontested space from Blue Ocean Strategy. Participants do not need to run these frameworks separately; the canvas geometry surfaces the same questions through placement.
The synthesis question at the close of the session asks where uncontested space exists that the organisation could move into, drawing on Blue Ocean thinking. It is posed once the radar is fully populated. Meaningful opportunities typically emerge from the pattern of the whole canvas rather than from any single ring or category.
The exercise can run as a facilitated rotation, with small groups working through each ring or category in turn, or as a whole-group discussion with contributions mapped visually in real time. Extension activities, Gap Map Exercise, Customer Conversations, and Thinking in Scenarios, are available as pre-work or depth activities for groups that want to go further on specific parts of the radar.
Teams leave aligned on what they know and what's emerging, both inside the business and in the wider environment. It sets the tone for a more honest, forward-looking strategy conversation, helping leaders avoid groupthink, challenge assumptions, and make better-informed decisions.
Strategy Radar is an environmental scanning canvas that helps a leadership team build a shared, honest picture of the forces shaping the organisation. It plots three things on one map: time as rings, category as bearings, and pressure as marker size.
Introduce the canvas: three time rings for now, the medium term, and the horizon; six categories split into twelve bearings; internal forces on the left and external on the right; and marker size showing pressure. You can run the session as a facilitated rotation, with small groups spending time on each ring in turn before the full group synthesises, or as a whole-group discussion mapped visually in real time. If scanning pre-work has been done, people bring their signals in to seed the canvas.
Working through each ring or category in turn, the group maps the forces acting on the organisation. Push for specific, observable signals, and keep people away from general statements.
With the radar fully populated, ask where uncontested space exists that the organisation could move into. The most useful opportunities emerge from the pattern of the whole canvas.
Use Strategy Radar when a leadership team needs a shared, honest picture of the forces shaping the organisation. On a single canvas the team maps those forces by time, category and pressure, surfacing what is known, what is emerging and where uncontested space sits.
Using this tool with a skilled facilitator means that discussions are focused, time is used efficiently, and the group moves toward consensus, making the session productive and impactful.
