How Many People Should Be On Your Strategic Planning Committee? Well, It Depends.

How Many People Should Be On Your Strategic Planning Committee? Well, It Depends.

Here’s a question I get asked a lot from AE industry CEOs who are getting ready for strategic planning: “How many people should be on our strategic planning committee?”

It’s a good question. It’s also a loaded one.

Because the right number? Well, it depends.

Size Matters (But Not How You Think)

First, let’s get this out of the way: Bigger isn’t always better.

Yes, there are reasons to go big. If you need to build firm-wide buy-in, generate excitement, or make people feel included, then sure—bring in 12 to 16 people or so. Let them mix ideas, debate priorities, and emerge from the process feeling personally invested in the plan.

But let’s not get carried away. Once you cross into the upper 20s, your “strategic planning committee” starts looking more like an unruly town hall. Decision-making slows, conversations lose focus, and suddenly, you’re spending half the session explaining things to people who didn’t do the pre-read. Worse, you end up with passengers instead of drivers—people who nod along but aren’t really steering the firm’s future.

On the flip side, if you’re tackling sensitive topics—phasing out a struggling business line, managing succession issues, or addressing other delicate matters such as non-performance at high levels in the organization—then a tighter group of four to six is ideal. You need decision-makers, not spectators.

Who’s In? And Just As Important—Who’s Out?

So now that you know how many, let’s talk about who should actually be in the room.

The right mix often includes:

• Senior leaders: They bring experience, understand the firm’s history, and know where the bodies are buried.
• Young risers: These are your future leaders. They’ll be executing this plan long after the strategic planning binder has been lost under a stack of old RFPs.
• Cross-functional voices: You don’t need someone from every department to “represent” their business unit. This isn’t Congress. But you do need people who can provide firm-wide perspective.

And if you’re in a firm of 500+ people? Consider keeping the top brass (CEO, COO, maybe a couple of key execs) on the sidelines as a review committee. They’ll provide direction without micromanaging every decision. Think direction, not directions.

Rules of Thumb for Building Your Team

Here’s how you can frame your team without over-engineering the process:

1. Four to six people for tough, sensitive, high-stakes conversations
2. Twelve to sixteen for a typical level of group involvement
3. Lower to mid-20s for growth imperative brainstorming
4. Keep it under 30 unless your goal is to test the limits of human patience

And once you’ve got the right group, the next question is: What are their roles?

Roles: Who Does What?

The CEO

• If you’re using an external facilitator, the CEO should set the tone, reinforce the importance of the process, and then (brace yourself) get out of the way.
• If it’s an internal process, the CEO needs to balance leadership with listening. Nothing kills honest conversation faster than a CEO dominating every discussion.

Senior Leaders

• Provide historical context, industry perspective, and operational realities.
• In an externally facilitated process, they should challenge assumptions and help refine strategy without hijacking the conversation.
• In an internally led process, they need to be extra disciplined—otherwise, it can feel like “management’s plan” rather than a firm-wide strategy.

Young Risers

• They bring fresh thinking and a different lens on the firm’s future.
• Their job is not to rubber-stamp what senior leadership says, but to engage, question, and inject new ideas.
• If led externally, their role is to contribute openly without fear of hierarchy. If led internally, they need encouragement (or if necessary, explicit permission) to challenge the status quo.

The Wrap

So, how many people should be on your strategic planning committee?

It depends. But whether it’s four, sixteen, or somewhere in between, the real key is picking the right people, setting the right roles, and making sure your committee is a team of drivers—not passengers.

Now, go build your team. And keep it tight.

For help with your firm’s strategic planning process, contact Mark Goodale at 508.254.3914 or [email protected].