Top 5 AI Prompts Every Strategy Manager Should Be Using

If you’re managing a strategic plan—whether for a city, company, or institution—you’ve probably found yourself buried in spreadsheets, drowning in updates, or spending more time collecting data than actually using it. That’s where AI can (and should) step in.

As a product manager working at the intersection of strategy and technology, I’ve seen how the right AI prompt can completely transform how teams plan, analyze, and execute their strategy. The goal isn’t to replace your expertise—it’s to accelerate your insights, spark better conversations, and give you back time for the work that matters.

Here are five of my favorite AI prompts that every strategy manager should have in their back pocket—no coding required.

1. Benchmark Your Performance Against the Industry

Prompt: Compare this objective’s performance to typical benchmarks in our industry. Where are we leading or lagging?

This prompt works particularly well when using AI analysis and recommendations at either the element or scorecard level. It’s ideal during reporting cycles when you're updating analysis fields and want to add strategic context that goes beyond internal trends. By asking the AI to assess how your organization stacks up against industry norms, you unlock a deeper level of insight—surfacing strategic gaps and competitive risks that might otherwise go unnoticed.  

💡 Pro Tip: Follow up with, “What are the top 3 strategic risks if we don’t address this gap?” to inform executive-level reporting.

This not only sharpens your analysis but also supports stronger, more informed executive-level reporting. In the end, benchmarking through AI helps guide better decision-making and enables your team to prioritize actions based on your relative position in the market or sector.

2.Turn Scorecard Data into a Clear Story

Prompt: Summarize this scorecard’s performance in a way that’s appropriate for a board presentation.

When working at the scorecard level, one of the most valuable capabilities of AI is to generate a quick summary. With this prompt, you can take it one step further to create a strategic narrative and prepare for that upcoming review meeting or board presentation you’ve been stressing about. This is especially useful when you need a concise yet compelling overview of what’s happening across your entire strategy. It helps you cut through the noise of dozens of objectives, measures, and initiatives to craft a clear, executive-ready narrative.

💡 Pro Tip: Follow up with, “Include one key insight from each perspective,” to ensure balanced reporting.

This approach not only streamlines reporting but also improves communication with leadership by focusing attention on the insights that matter most. Ultimately, this prompt drives better strategic storytelling, making it easier for decision-makers to act quickly and confidently.

3.Pressure-Test Your Strategic Plan

Prompt: What assumptions underlie this strategy, and what indicators should we monitor to know if those assumptions change?

When building a new strategic plan or scorecard, it’s easy to focus on goals and initiatives without questioning the assumptions they’re built on. This prompt helps you take a step back and examine the foundation of your strategy—uncovering the “what-ifs” that could make or break your success. AI can help you identify those underlying assumptions and suggest key indicators to track, so you’ll know early if something starts to shift.

💡 Pro Tip: Follow up with, “What’s a sign we need to pivot our approach?” to uncover early warning signals and build in flexibility from the start.

By proactively identifying potential risks and signals for change, this prompt helps ensure your strategy is more than just a static plan. It becomes a living framework—ready to adapt as conditions evolve.

4.Connect Action Items to Strategic Goals

Prompt: Which of these AI-recommended action items most directly support our top strategic priorities, and how should we sequence them to maximize impact?

After using AI to generate action items, the next step is making sure those tasks actually support your bigger-picture goals. This prompt helps you move beyond execution for the sake of execution—and instead prioritize what will truly drive strategic outcomes. It’s especially useful when you’ve got a long list of next steps and need clarity on where to focus first.

💡 Pro Tip: Follow up with, “Can you flag any action items that may conflict with or duplicate existing efforts?” to streamline work and avoid unnecessary duplication.

With this prompt, you’re not just acting—you’re acting with intention. It aligns your team’s energy with your most critical priorities, reducing wasted effort and increasing overall impact.

5.Turn Underperformance into a Strategic Opportunity

Prompt: This measure is underperforming—what underlying strategic issue might this signal, and what’s one bold move we should consider to reverse the trend?

When a key metric is trending in the wrong direction, it’s tempting to jump straight to surface-level fixes. But with the right prompt, AI can help you look deeper. This one pushes past the symptoms to explore potential root causes—highlighting broader strategic issues that may be contributing to the decline. It’s a smart way to elevate the conversation and uncover opportunities for meaningful change.

💡 Pro Tip: Follow up with, “Frame the bold move as a strategic recommendation for our leadership team,” to turn insight into action and drive executive engagement.

By reframing underperformance as a chance to reimagine your approach, this prompt shifts your mindset from reactive to proactive. It’s especially helpful when an initiative has stalled or when you need to reenergize your team around a difficult challenge.

What Types of AI Are Available in ClearPoint?

Strategy Assistants
Located under the "Assistants" tab, these AI bots help you build entire scorecards—including objectives, measures, and initiatives—from a single prompt. Whether you're starting from scratch or building out a new department-level plan, Strategy Assistants accelerate the strategic planning process in seconds.

But that’s not all—they also act as your built-in strategy consultant. You can prompt the Assistant to perform common strategic frameworks like SWOT analysis, PESTLE analysis, or Porter’s Five Forces, giving you structured insights and external context to guide your planning. It’s like having an extra set of strategic brains on your team—ready to help you build smarter, faster, and more aligned strategies.

AI Analysis & Recommendations
Available at the element and scorecard level, these bots analyze your data and generate text for your analysis and recommendations fields. You can also:

• Copy-edit your own writing for tone or grammar

• Ask follow-up questions via “Ask Me Anything”

• Generate exception reports for underperforming objectives (scorecard-level)

AI Action Items
After generating recommendations, you can instantly turn them into action items—with owners, due dates, and next steps—so insights don’t just sit in a report, they spark follow-through.

AI Milestones
Available for initiatives, AI can generate suggested milestones based on the name and description of your initiative, saving you time while ensuring your plan is actionable.

AI Calculations
ClearPoint’s AI can help you create and troubleshoot calculations based on your element data. Whether you’re working with performance metrics, KPIs, or composite indices, AI can suggest formulas, identify issues, and even help standardize calculations across departments. Beyond the numbers, it can also recommend the most effective chart types (like line, bar, or gauge) to visualize your data clearly and highlight trends or outliers. That means less time in spreadsheets and more time telling a compelling data story.

AI Executive Summaries
Perfect for reporting cycles and board prep, this feature automatically creates high-level summaries of your strategy, pulling in key insights across scorecards, objectives, and measures. Whether you need a slide deck narrative or a quick leadership update, AI helps you surface the themes that matter most.

AI is one of my favorite features in ClearPoint. See what else made the top 12!

Ready to Get More Out of AI?

These prompts are just the beginning. Whether you’re building your first strategy, reporting to leadership, or trying to get teams more aligned, ClearPoint’s AI is built to help you work smarter—not harder.

Try out one of these prompts in your next reporting cycle and see how AI can help elevate your strategy execution.

See ClearPoint’s AI in action. Schedule a free demo!  

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