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Tactics & Organization for Strategic Planning

2007-2008

Planning will be comprehensive, creative and coordinated. The organizational process is designed to assist in meeting those objectives. At the same time, it provides a simple structure that is relatively easy to manage.

While the association had completed a long-range plan initiative beginning in 1999, since then neither the plan priorities nor the objectives have been reviewed or modified. The strategic plan being initiated now should project the association’s future operations into the next five to seven years. After it is completed, subsequent planning should be continuous rather than sporadic. This specific document provides a broad blue print for the current planning process.

Two committees will perform the heart of planning: one on amenities and one on natural environment. Their memberships will be chosen from association members. A significant attempt will be made to identify individuals who already have experience with amenities and environment either by virtue of their having served on a similar standing committee or by virtue of their other life experiences. Those with a visionary perspective would be particularly helpful.

The two committees will be charged with evaluating existing operations to see if any should be discarded, the extent to which supporting operations should be increased and/or enhanced, and the extent to which new operations should be initiated. Their thinking should be visionary. Their recommendations will be prioritized, projected over a five to seven year period, and the cost and staffing implications of each proposed activity will be provided. However, while estimating the cost is important, it should not be an obstacle to creative thinking. Financial constraints are best considered toward the end of the process rather than at the beginning so that constraints are not placed on members’ thinking. Ultimately the board should receive recommendations in a form which allows it to choose among them given their costs and projected benefits to the members. The board’s ultimate set of choices will become the association’s formal plan.

The organizational chart (PDF) includes a third committee, on research. This is not a formal standing committee per se, but represents the need that from time to time the committees on amenities and environment will call for assistance from others. Such assistance might include general research, and determining the infrastructure, financial, and human resource implications of their recommendations. At a minimum, the two committees will be provided with information on projected member population, age levels, percentages of members who are residents and non-residents and some measure of projected member interests. The research committee will, at a minimum, draw on the work of the association staff and a demography consultant.

Coordinating all efforts of the two committees and research committee is the overall planning committee. It will be composed of the chairs of the two committees and the chairs of the association’s human resources, major repairs and finance committees. These three chairs will bring expertise from their respective fields. The association’s chairman of the board and chief operating officer will serve as ex-officio members. A member of the board will chair this overall planning committee.

Each committee, including the overall planning committee, will have both an association staff member to assist in its daily work, as well as have an opportunity to hire a consultant when that seems appropriate. It is the staff member’s job to facilitate meetings, take minutes and provide correspondence on behalf of the chair. To identify a consultant, a search of local universities might identify a department of community or urban planning. A consultant would perhaps work on the overall planning process and he/she could identify one or more student interns. In addition, the consultant might identify examples of the best practices of community associations and similar organizations and share them with the relevant committees.

The committees on amenities and environment will meet when necessary. It is important that they develop their own internal plans of work almost immediately after they are appointed. These plans will include early identification of goals and objectives that will be consistent with the charter given them by the board. The overall planning committee will meet at least once monthly. Its chair will make progress reports at every board meeting, and will inform the overall planning committee of any thoughts the board might have on the status of planning. This will keep the board involved in the planning process throughout the year so that the final report it receives will not contain any surprises.

The chairs of the two committees and their members will be chosen and appointed by the board. Each committee will have approximately five to seven members. Their terms will exist until the board approves a final plan. Thereafter, the plan should be updated every year or two. Subsequent boards will determine the manner of follow-up planning. However, they are urged to make planning a continuous process such that there is always a five to seven year plan in place.

It is important that association members at large be involved in the planning process. This can occur at least twice in the cycle. It can initially occur within the first few months of 2007, even before the formal process gets underway. It can also occur toward the end the planning process. Initially a phone bank or questionnaire can provide broad questions about what services members would like to have provided in the future. Because a representative sample can be used, not all members need to be contacted. In addition, all members who wish significant involvement could be invited to participate in focus groups to gather similar information. Conference calls can be used for those away from the island. In addition, a general email asking for responses in writing would be provided to all members. This was done in the last planning process with helpful results. Not only were good ideas provided, but all members who wanted to be part of the process were heard. It is important, however, to say that the final plan might well include items not suggested by current members. They might not be aware of some new activities or possibilities that could enhance member welfare that the two committees may unearth through their extensive visioning and research.

A second member contact might occur after the committees have developed their tentative recommendations. This contact might assist the committees in prioritizing the recommendations.

It is possible to envision some early activity. Almost immediately, the board can name its representative to chair the overall planning committee. Even before March of 2007, the staff and an external consultant can begin to collect information on demography and ideas about “best practices.” Consultants can also be identified. The amenities and environment committees could be appointed and provided with a charter by March/April. Within a month of receiving that, or in May, each committee will provide a plan of work to the overall planning committee. Within six months of the origination of the process, about the beginning of September, each committee will provide a draft plan to the overall planning committee; the draft will be prioritized and will include projected costs. Within eight months, or about the beginning of November, each committee will provide a broad plan to the overall planning committee, which will be shared by the board, and by January 11 of 2008, the overall planning committee will present a prioritized plan to the board. The board should finalize the association’s plan by the end of February 2008.

The overall planning committee must be allowed to alter this suggested process as it encounters specific challenges, or simply concludes that some aspects of the plan are not appropriate.

The board has a special challenge in developing committee charters that are as explicit as possible, including expressing the quality of service desired for the membership. To the extent that the board charge is explicit, the committees planning outcomes will have a much greater chance of matching board expectations. Board involvement throughout the planning process will also assist in that match.

The association could not engage in a more important task than this one. Its results will set the association’s direction for the next several years. That direction is no less than to significantly improve the quality of life for all members. The quality of that direction should reflect the association’s on-going goal of being the best community in the nation.

Post-script: At its January 8, 2007 board meeting, the board approved this methodology, and appointed board member Russ Crane as chair.