Description

Strategic Planning for Organizational Success

“There are two primary reasons for strategic planning: to transform and to differentiate your credit union.” -. Rich Jones

L2L’s Strategic Planning Competencies

Rich Jones has worked in the financial services sector for over 30 years and understands how difficult it is to create and execute a meaningful strategic plan. Having advised over 50 financial institutions and non-profit organizations, he has identified common barriers to strategic success and has developed a process to identify these barriers. This intimate knowledge of organizations will allow them to achieve their strategic objectives.

Strategic planning isn’t just about dreaming big, it’s about knowing the organization, its culture, values, purpose, and readiness to execute things that matter.

My process includes understanding the organization’s operational, project, and cultural alignment. When an organization realizes alignment, it will create a future that allows it to transform into what you want it to be while differentiating your organization in your markets of choice.

My L2L Strategic Planning Process (LSPP) uniquely includes how to connect strategy to leadership, culture, and execution. LSPP is a three-step process, Discovery, Strategic Planning and Launching the Business Plans. Delivering these three steps helps to realize the organization’s goals. This process includes a deep dive understanding of the organization, knowing the culture and leadership, and the key differentiators. This understanding sets the stage for executing mission-critical projects, doing the proper work at the right time, the right way. As a result, your organization’s future self is within your grasp. The process specifics are:

 The L2L Strategic Planning Process – Statement of Work

1. Discovery – Before the Planning Session

   Rich Jones will interview senior Management and critical staff via Zoom. These interviews are the mechanism for the team to provide input in place of the traditional Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threats (SWOT) analysis. This Discovery methodology offers the team more time to think through responses while eliminating groupthink and acquiescence in most SWOT conversations. It is a proven method of getting more honest and relevant input.

Discovery will be conducted over two to three weeks. These interviews must be completed 30 days before the planning session to share the findings in a Strategic Engagement Report for the strategic planning team.

During Discovery, I will understand where the organization has been, how you got to where you are, how strategically and culturally aligned your organization is, what you are good at, what you are doing well, and where you struggle and need improvement. In addition, Discovery allows me to learn the organizational readiness for growth and expansion.

Most strategic plans and cultural alignment challenges fail at the middle management level. So, hearing from those at the supervisor/manager level is vital to know the organization. Discovery is a great starting point to begin strategic planning.

The deliverable of Discovery will be a Strategic Engagement Report (SER). The SER will detail what was learned about the organization. It will highlight your strengths, weaknesses, and often some surprise “Ah-Ha” situations. All comments will be anonymized, so interviewees feel comfortable telling their truth. I will recommend steps to improve strategic and cultural alignment and leadership consistency in the SER.

I anticipate 15-20 interviews of 55 minutes each. I will work with the Admin at the company to ensure we get the employees into an interview schedule.

As an option, Discovery can be done on-site, which would take three days, or via Zoom, which would take ~3-weeks. Discovery would be scheduled at least 30 days before the Strategic Planning Day.

2. Strategic Planning Day

   With the Board and Senior Management – one day on-site

Facilitation agenda

1. 1. Chairperson and CEO kick-off – 10 minutes
   2. Review of the Discovery document – 30 minutes

• • Re-affirmation of the Mission, Vision, Purpose, Promise, and Core Values – 30 minutes

Break – 15 minutes

1. 1. Leadership team review of the current strategic objectives and progress – Do they need to be abandoned or amended? – 60 minutes

Lunch – 60 minutes

1. 1. Dreaming Big – Identify a vision of how the credit union wants to serve its members and the community three-five years from now. Are your current objectives going to get you there? – 30 minutes
   2. Identify which strategic objectives are “Run the Business” and “Change the Business” – 15 minutes.

• • Identifying the BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to place one key objective that is so big it scares you –15 minutes.
  • Narrow the list to 3-5 critical strategies – 30 minutes

Break – 15 minutes

1. 1. Ask, “Will any of these objectives differentiate the organization’s markets of choice?” – 15 minutes
   2. Assign a strategic owner for each identified objective – 10 minutes
   3. Set expectations for the strategic owners – 10 minutes

• • Attendee insights from the day – 20 minutes
  • My insights from the day – 10 minutes
  • Chairperson and CEO share insights and close the session – 20 minutes.

3. Strategic Business Plan Presentations – one day on-site

The Strategic Business Plan Presentations are scheduled 60-90 days after the strategic planning session. This delay will allow the strategic owners time to research and build a business plan. Each strategic objective owner will present a business plan that details the initiatives and projects needed to realize this strategy in the next three years, quarter by quarter. These presentations should include anticipated milestones, costs, and the reporting schedule. It is understood the business plan details will be more refined in the first and second quarters and less developed as you move farther out on the calendar Board participation for this day is determined by the CEO and Chair. Some organizations feel they can skip this step, but I have found that, often, once the team returns to the office, they get caught up doing urgent and vital strategic work idles.

The Strategic Business Plan Presentations agenda is:

1. 1. CEO Opens – 10 minutes
   2. Presentations – Strategic owners – 2-3 hours with a break

Lunch – one hour

• • Revisit the objects as Run the Business and Change the Business – 30 minutes.

1. 1. Negotiate and establish Priorities for resource allocation and budget demands – 60 minutes
   2. Next steps – 10 minutes
   3. My reflections from the day and the entire process – 30 minutes

• • Comments from Management – 30 minutes
  • CEO Closes – 10 minutes

Rich will provide a Business Plan Template and mentor the strategic objective owners:

1. 1. Two one-hour virtual business plan consultation meetings (via zoom or conference call) with each strategic objective owner. These meetings are scheduled with the strategic objective owner. The Meeting Content:
      • Review progress, resolve issues, share resources, options, and other concerns
      • Review of the business plan before the presentation
   2. Two virtual meetings of one hour with the strategic owners together. These meetings will be scheduled at four months and eight months post-launch of the strategic plan; The Meeting Content:
      • Review progress on identified initiatives and projects for each objective
      • Coordinate priorities for each project for the next two quarters
      • Identify barriers to success.
      • Determine how to overcome these barriers.
      • Acknowledge how disruption is affecting each strategic objective.
      • Determine what resources and budget need to shift.

Note: The agenda is a recommendation and may be amended by the CEO or Board Chair to meet your credit union’s needs.