A customizable template to create and communicate your HR strategy to the C-suite.
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HR Strategic Planning Template for CHROs
CHROs must adopt a dynamic planning approach.
HR strategic planning now requires more than alignment to business goals. As AI, technology investment and shifting enterprise priorities reshape workforce decisions, CHROs need a dynamic strategy that can adapt as conditions change.
Download the customizable Gartner HR Strategic Planning Template to:
- Identify business scenarios and talent implications
- Assess HR capabilities against future business needs
- Build an HR strategy with technology and metrics embedded
- Document and communicate your HR strategy with precision and clarity
About the HR Strategic Planning Template
CHROs face intensifying pressure to deliver strategic value amid escalating volatility, rapid advances in HR technology, AI’s expanding impact on work and shifting executive attention. Traditional approaches that simply align HR and business strategies no longer provide the adaptability required in today’s environment.
To succeed in 2026, CHROs must adopt a dynamic model — one that anticipates multiple future scenarios, incorporates emerging technologies by evaluating AI use cases aligned to HR priorities, and manages execution through ongoing portfolio oversight. This enables HR to proactively respond to disruption, allocate resources with greater precision and demonstrate measurable impact.
HR leaders who are engaged in crafting HR strategy can use the HR Strategic Planning Template to establish a strategy that both satisfies their business’s needs and feeds into a wider organization planning process. This resource provides a comprehensive framework that guides CHROs through the three phases essential to creating, executing and sustaining an effective 2026 HR strategy. The HR Strategic Planning Template will also help HR leaders create and communicate a clear action plan stating where the HR function is, where it needs to be, and how it plans on getting there.
Strategic Planning FAQs
Why is it important for HR to have a strategic planning process?
As business priorities continue to evolve, HR leaders should continually evaluate their strategy to ensure it aligns with the organization's overall strategy and business goals.
What does ineffective strategic planning look like?
The strategic planning process can fail for a number of reasons, including a lack of visibility into business goals and inadequately defining measures for success. The volatile conditions in recent years also require measures to keep the strategy aligned as business needs change.
What are the benefits of a strategic planning template?
A strategic planning template can help you craft a clear, concise and memorable statement that captures the essence of the HR strategy. It also can help summarize the key objectives your function will focus on in the coming one to three years, so you can enable business strategy.