Elements of an Effective Strategic Planning Session
By Rory Rowland
Following a few simple pre-planning steps can help your credit union insure that you have an effective strategic planning session. Pre-planning through use of SWOT analysis and surveys can help your credit union be more focused on its goals and better set to accomplish what needs to get done.
One of the first steps is to establish a time frame that is appropriate for the goals established. Some credit unions try to have planning sessions that are too short for what they want to accomplish. A planning session needs to be at least an evening followed by a full day of work. Any time less than that and you will not accomplish much. If you try to cram too much in, you will feel frustrated and you end up feeling that nothing was accomplished.
Pre-planning can save a tremendous amount of time. One way to do this is to use SWOT analysis completed by senior management before you even start the planning process. SWOT stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and treats. Completing a SWOT analysis will save you almost an entire hour in the planning process.
The next step is to have the senior management team and the board complete a pre-planning session survey. What do they think the critical issues are? What are their concerns? This way the survey can be done before the planning session starts and the critical issues can be identified. These two items alone can save as much as two to three hours in the planning session. This way when you arrive at your meeting you can hit the ground running. You are well on your way to address the strategic issues of the credit union rather than trying to complete the prep work the day of the session. Everyone's time is important, don't waste his or her time with prep work that can be done before the meeting.
This pre-planning survey should be shared with the CEO and the Board Chair before the meeting. Then this information can be digested and used to help focus the planning session. It is powerful when the planning session has a clear focus. When the management team has shared with the facilitator what they want to accomplish, then great things are possible. When the board chair and the CEO are singing out of the same hymnal and the same page it gives leadership and guidance to where the sessions are going.
Another valuable tool is to have an employee survey and member survey done before the planning session. This can be basic feedback you need to focus on what is important. The more information you have, the better the start to the planning process. You need to see what critical issues are facing your employees and members. Then bounce that information off of your outside facilitator to get an unbiased feel for what is happening in your credit union. Certainly, at times an outside facilitator can give you another perspective that you haven't thought of before, and they can widen you window of opportunity.
Other mistakes credit unions make is that they set goals that are too easy to attain. For example, a credit union that grew at 12% in share the last three years only sets a goal to grow 8% in shares this year. Hitting that goal should come as no challenge for the credit union and staff, but they would not be stretching the team to its highest level of performance. Have goals that make you reach—reach for achievement, don't settle for achievement.
My grandmother always said “it is always better to play once the chores are done.” That philosophy should also hold true in your planning sessions. One credit union shared that the board spent more time planning the golf outing than planning for the credit union's growth. The emphasis should be on the credit union's success and then you can focus on enjoying a round of golf together. If we don't focus on what is important now, then how can we play golf 10 years down the road with a clear conscience. The credit union has to be the most important item first, and then everything else falls into place.
Selecting an outside facilitator for your planning session can help you gain new insight into your organization that you were too close to to see before. The complaints I hear from employees and senior managers who have had to endure a planning session from an insider are far too many. An outside facilitator can help you focus on what is important, but they don't have the internal biases and agendas. A planning session has too big an impact on the growth and the future of your credit union not to trust the process to a polished professional. However, select someone that will spend some time with you before the session. The pre-planning process can save you headaches and heartaches.
By doing the few pre-planning steps outlined you can make your planning session both and fun and productive event that can boost morale and give focus and direction to your organization. It is fine to mix work and pleasure. Set realistic goals and iron out the details before the meeting with the CEO, Board chair, and facilitator. Your organization can go far if you plan for it.
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