Too often, the strategic planning many groups conduct once every three to five years is dry and ineffective. And for an increasing number of association executives, traditional strategic planning is not seen as something that can drive results for them. So what can be done to make strategic planning work in today’s dynamic environment of shifting member needs and increased competition for member-generated revenue?
This was the question that crossed my mind while I read a recent blog post that involved an association executive in the beginning stages of coordinating a strategic planning session for her board of directors. She was seeking questions and topics from her peers to help survey her membership. As a researcher who specializes in translating data into actionable insights, in my opinion this senior leader was starting her endeavor with exactly the right question: What do I need to learn from my members before I even begin my strategic planning?
Typically, when it’s time to focus on strategic planning, associations and nonprofit organizations perform two “pro forma” tasks: They hold regularly scheduled strategic-planning exercises, and they conduct member services. Neither is especially productive. However, when an association is able to marry these two initiatives methodically, with a forward-looking viewpoint, powerful results occur. Here are a few ideas to consider:
Explore and test. Start your strategic planning exercises by understanding member needs now but also make a point of devoting time to the discussion of industry shifts and trends with an eye on how these might affect members’ potential future needs or how your group can capitalize on related programs. While validating current member needs, explore possible solutions and benefits that will provide them with additional value in their changing environment. Don’t hesitate to explore creative new offerings and solutions, but do test the market before you invest in what your leaders consider to be a smart offering—doing so can save you a significant amount of time, money and grief.
Track and validate assumptions. Carefully record all assumptions being made by the planning team throughout your strategic planning discussions. Then validate as many of these assumptions as possible by questioning your membership and potential client market and exploring what-if scenarios that will provide you with a better risk assessment. Knowing always beats guessing when it comes to mitigating risk.
Consider bringing on a research firm. Carefully weigh the merits of conducting this work internally versus hiring an experienced research organization to handle the work for you. Association executives juggle many roles and, as such, usually have an in-depth understanding of their membership; however, everyone has their limits and time constraints, and external expertise has often been found to provide a high return.
What might constitute the need for an external research organization?
1. If you don’t have the time or resources to allocate to the task of mining data already compiled.
2. If you’re unsure of how to form questions in a way that will collect unbiased results and offer high value and high return for your strategic planning.
3. If you need help designing an effective method for data collection, perhaps through focus groups or phone surveys versus an electronic survey collection.
4. When your group needs to analyze all of the gathered data holistically, an effective research firm will be adept at translating facts and figures into meaningful and insightful information and insights that will support your strategic planning exercise and help translate ideas into action.
As an association executive, you need to be out talking to members and validating future needs while performing your strategic planning exercise as opposed to viewing these as two distinct exercises. Why? Because you don’t know what you don’t know. In the long run, the best way to stay on top of what members need is to continually explore those needs in partnership with them.