Strategy should make decisions easier.
The best strategic work gives a team a shared language for deciding what belongs, what does not, and what deserves attention next. It should reduce hesitation, not create another layer of ceremony.
Look for the change in the brief.
When the strategy is working, the creative brief gets sharper. The audience is clearer, the promise is more useful, and the work has a stronger reason to exist.
Make it usable.
A strategic idea earns its place when the people closest to the business can use it without needing the strategist in the room.