Employee Involvement In Planning Sessions
by Rory Rowland
In preparing for a strategic planning session, management might not give much consideration to what the employees think or want out of the planning session. Clearly a planning session encompasses setting goals and looking at what direction the credit union is moving toward in the future. But so much of that has a direct impact on the employees. By letting them participate and give feedback, they will be much more involved and commitment to the goals and the process.
This idea of great involvement give the Board and senior management team some food for thought on how they can do things better in their planning session and how to better include employees in the process. Steven covey in the “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People' says, “the great the involvement the greater the commitment.”
One idea that was recently shared at a conference for CUNA's Center for Professional Development is that as many employees as possible should be able to attend the planning session. Most consultants will tell you that any more than 30 to 40 people at a planning session can be too many. But employees want to have someone from their department, who is not a manager, and who can participate and give them feedback. One employee designee is a good thing for them. If all employees cannot be in the planning process, they would like to have representatives from as many departments as possible so they could hear from them how the process worked.
Employees said they would like to see a simple handout of what goals the credit union has set. The Virginia Credit Union Inc. has a one-page handout with their goals, and with the duties and responsibilities on that sheet. It is a powerful tool to reinforce what do we want to accomplish this year. (If you would like a copy of this handout, please send me an email at roryrowland@yahoo.com, and I will send you one.)
Another request employees have is that they want to have fun at the strategic planning meetings. There are a variety of ways to do that. One credit union plays a Clue game, and another credit union has team building exercises before the planning session to build a sense of unity in the organization. A planning session does not have to be all work and no play. Ask your employees how you can make the planning process fun.
Your credit union should focus daily on what you believe in and stand for. Have a mission statement that inspires you and your employee, board members and members. Make your mission statement 7 to 9 words or less so you can remember your mission statement and use it for everyone's benefit. The best mission statement I have ever heard is from St. Jude's Children's hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. Their mission is powerful, short and memorable. It says, “We will not let a child die in the dawn of life.” That makes a powerful statement. Even a candy striper on day one can remember that mission statement. Sure you can state your values and beliefs on other documents. But you want to have a mission slogan that says something, that inspires, that says you get up every day to do something important.
Employees want interaction and employee involvement. They don't want to hear the CEO talk the entire time. They want to participate, they want to be inspired, but they don't want to be lectured to. This shouldn't surprise you, but employees still tell me that some CEOs still conduct the planning session. For CEOs the planning session is a great time to listen in-depth to your employees. This is a time when you can really hear what is happening in the hearts, minds, and souls of everyone. It is not a time to teach or facilitate. Let someone else do that, and spend your time listening, really listening. Get feedback from everyone; don't let just one person monopolize your process.
Another idea that I heard which I found intriguing was to have the board members present the financials at the planning session. You can have them make other presentations as well and have them involved in the planning session. The employees at the CUNA conference said that when a manager or staff member makes the presentation of the financials they go into too much detail. You only need a quick overview of the financials at the planning session. Leave the details to the professional staff and leave the big picture to the board members.
Have a set agenda. Specify when will you start, when will you finish, and what do you want to accomplish? Don't make it impossible, but do make it challenging.
Make the planning session fun. Have team building exercises--where you have to learn to build trust with each other and see each other in a different light.
Have frequent updates of the planning session to your employees. They want to know how the credit union is doing in relationship to its goals. Have different employees make presentations will keep it lively. Give a reasonable amount of time to the planning session and planning process. Once I was asked to facilitate a planning session, with tons of details, and the CEO and board only set aside 5 hours for the entire process. We spent the evening before in a 5-course dinner and no discussion of the planning session. There was a tremendous amount of time wasted. Save those big banquet type functions for a board meeting or other occasion. At the annual planning session have snacks and sandwiches. There is no need to waste time on eating a big meal. A plan is too important to put little things in front of the planning session. At the planning session I attended the credit union spent more time on the meal than on the planning session.
I have seen boards play golf on Friday, and plan all day Saturday. That can work for some; you have fun together, and then go to work. But be careful of falling into a trap of spending more time and energy on the fun part of the process and putting the planning process on the back burner.
A strategic planning session can build morale and bring your organization together to work toward common goals. But don't overlook some valuable assets you have in your employees.
