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Strategic Planning
BACKGROUND
DE
VE
LO
PE
D A Strategic Plan and approach during my Presidency (2014-2015)
FAC
ILIT
AT
ED Other Chapter
Strategic Planning Sessions over the past 5 years A
SS
IST
ED Creation of our
company’s first ever 5-year strategic plan S
ER
VE
D On the Boards of four different nonprofits
Time to Pivot
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Covid Aftereffects – A Prolonged Economic Recessionary Environment?
"Rough waters are truer tests of leadership. In calm waters, every ship has a good captain." Swedish proverb
Why Strategic Planning Is So Important
Create the Vision
Creates Alignment,
Engagement, Commitment
and Excitement
Develops Priorities
Develops Your
Roadmap
Sets the Chapter up
for Long-Term Success
6 Suggestions
Prepare yourself for
what will be different
Set focus on key
initial areas
Start planning
now
Create a vision for
each committee
Develop a planning
process & approach
Strong focus on execution
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Suggestion #1 – Prepare yourself for what will be different
• Your plans and areas of focus will likely change
• You may not have the full attention of your Board, volunteers and members as their focus and priorities may be elsewhere
• Your member firms will likely be facing extreme overhead expenditure reductions (think how this will affect membership, program attendance and sponsorship)
• You may lose members/volunteers if they become furloughed or laid off
• Continued possibility that programs and committee communications will need to be virtual for some period
Suggestion #2 – Set focus on key initial areas
• Ensure that you have a strong, committed group of volunteer leaders and BOD members
• Criticalness of focusing on your membership and their needs
• Back to basics approach to develop focus on fundamentals, while also recognizing that new opportunities will be created – be creative and have an open mind
• Focus on cash flow, reserves, budgeting, invoicing and payment. Building your FY 2020 budget based on the "new normal" is mandatory.
• Individual outreach and communication to members, firms and sponsors. Now is not the time to retreat into your shell, be aggressive about communicating the value of SMPS.
• Set realistic expectations for yourself and your BOD. Don't try to overdo it.
Suggestion #3 – Start planning now
• Hold calls with all BOD/Committee members. Take their temperature and get their initial thoughts on what the chapter should focus on this year.
• Conduct calls with BOD/Committee members to demonstrate that you care about their opinions. This will go a long way to building engagement that will be critical when you become president and program leader.
• Recognize that these will be your first moments as a leader, and start to build momentum now
• Setup your first planning session one week from now (if you haven’t already) and start to develop you planning approach for the entire summer.
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Suggestion #4 – Create a vision for each committee
• Membership
• Programs /Education
• Communications
• Finance / Sponsorship
Membership – Ask yourself…….
“Strategy” Most overused word in the business lexicon
How do we offer opportunities for our members to connect?
How do we better articulate the value of being a member?
What is our retention strategy this year?
What is our recruiting strategy?
How will we deal with members who have been laid off our furloughed?
How do we integrate and engage “new” members?
Programs/Education – Ask yourself…….
“Strategy” Most overused word in the business lexicon
How long should we offer virtual programs? How do we decide when it’s ”safe” to hold in‐person events?
How should we hold in person events so that the health and safety of our attendees is front and center?
What is our longer‐term pricing strategy for virtual programs? Do we continue to offer “free” attendance for members?
How do we approach speakers that want to be paid?
When do we start offering programs that are non‐pandemic/economic related?
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Communications – Ask yourself…….
“Strategy” Most overused word in the business lexicon
How do we most effectively communicate with our members and non‐members?
How do we “elevate” our communications to stand out above the noise?
How can we better align communications with all our committee priorities?
How can we better communicate internally with BOD and within our committees? What technologies can we leverage to do so?
Finance – Ask yourself…….
“Strategy” Most overused word in the business lexicon
How do we build a budget with so many unknowns? Should we budget for a profit? Do we have enough reserves in case they are needed?
How do we approach our sponsors this year?
What does our cash flow look like if we lose members, sponsors and/or have a reduction in our program revenue?
What areas should we continue or start to invest in?
What new revenue generation approaches could be out there that we have not considered before?
Suggestion #5 – Develop a formal planning process and approach
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• Target a virtual BOD meeting (maybe in person for some) for some time in June and at least one (or two more) in July and/or August
• Set programmatic goals for each meeting in terms of what you want to accomplish and what the outcomes should be
Approach
• Connect with everyone. What has the past few months been like? How are people feeling and dealing with everything?
• Acknowledge the situation and the challenges and opportunities. Be realistic, but at the same time be optimistic. Now is the time to project confidence and certainty that as a team we will get through this.
• Set the expectations from what you want from them. Conduct a "BOD orientation", share key takeaways from CLS, and set expectations for what being a BOD member means.
Your First Meeting
• Ask each committee member, “What's the one thing that you think is most critical for us to focus on from your perspective?"
• Facilitate a discussion from that answer, and start to build consensus on some key issues for each committee
Build Consensus
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Create Accountability
Assign each committee BOD leader "homework" - so that at the next strategic planning meeting they will be able to present a refined vision of their priorities for the year (after they meet with their committee members)
Next Meetings
“Strategy” Most overused word in the business lexicon
• Recap discussion from last meeting, including the key salient points that were discussed and raised
• Invite presentations from each BOD member on their key areas of focus
• Discuss further and refine goals and consensus on the "chapter-wide" goals for FY 2020. Discuss "theme" for the year.
• Consider broadening participation to create stronger alignment
• Begin calendar planning
• Membership - Back to Business
• Education #1• Program #1
• Education #7• Community
Connect
• New Member Event
• Education #8
• Education #2• ABX
• Program #4• UBER• Bootcamp
(w/UBER)
• Education #3• Program #2
• Education #4
• Education #9• Awards Gala• Outreach #3
• Education #11
• Town Hall Meeting
• Holiday Party• Education #5• Outreach #1
• Membership – Summer
• Education #10
• Program #5
• Education #6• Program #3
SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG
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Suggestion #6 – Focus on Execution
• Planning is meaningless without execution. Be clear on the expectations for executing the goals that we have set for ourselves.
• 3 chapter‐wide goals and committee goals printed on every agenda. Each BOD member reports on progress at every meeting.
• Think about how to streamline the "tactical" and emphasize the "strategic” discussions and approaches
Bonus Suggestion! – Use your PE and Program Lead network (your new best friends)
• As you have likely heard from others – the relationships that you develop with each other will be one of the most important resources for you throughout your year
• Use the online communities to ask questions to the group
• Develop a chapter “buddy” or smaller network of “trusted advisors
Tools & Resources
• SMPS Striving For Excellence Awards program• Read the submission requirements / review past submittals
• Chapter Management manuals (6) from HQ• Strategic Planning Manual from HQ• Past Presidents• CLS Committee• SMPS HQ Staff & BOD
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6 Suggestions
Prepare yourself for
what will be different
Set focus on key
initial areas
Start planning
now
Create a vision for
each committee
Develop a planning
process & approach
Strong focus on execution
1 2 3 4 5 6
Closing thoughts
QUESTIONS?Contact Ben SawaCLS 2020 Com m ittee Chair &Vice President, M arketingG EI Consultants, [email protected]
THANK YO U!
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