Strategic Planning
Fail to plan, plan to fail!
What is Strategic Planning?
Strategic planning is the process of gathering thoughts, collating this information and articulating what it is that your club (as a community) wants to acheive.
There is not right or wrong when it comes to creating a strategic plan, a plan helps your club committee to ensure it is working in the best interests of your members, that it can track its progress and understand where it has succeeded and not yet succeeded.
Plans are never set in stone they can be fluid and enable your club to talk to why an action or actions have not yet been achieved. You may even find that a strategy that seemed important is now not the direction the club wants to move it. It is fine to pivot!
SIMPLE STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning does not need to be complicated there are some simple questions that will help your club to understand what your members want and then allow the committee to balance this with their administration knowledge or area of expertise to round out a strategy.
VISION STATEMENT
A vision defines what your club wants to become and articulates the hopes and dreams that you have for it. Vision statements are inspirational statements of what you want the club to be. The mission statement becomes more specific and targeted.
Developing your vision should be a collaborative process and include people from all levels of your club. Ask what would you like people to think when they think about this club and what it has helped them to do. Brainstorm ideas and write rough statements to explain the vision. Use the outcomes to write the final vision statement.
The statement should reflect what is most important for your club.
MISSION STATEMENT
A mission statement is a brief description of a club’s fundamental purpose. It states a club’s reason for being. Together with a defined set of values, a mission statement will guide the direction, investment, and scope of activities that a club commits to. You may find your mission statement is already recorded in your constitution. Check to see if this mission statement is still relevant to your club.
When developing a mission statement, start by asking the following questions:
- What is the purpose of our club? What are the outcomes and results we want to achieve?
- Who are our internal and external stakeholders?
- What are our shared core values, beliefs, and guiding principles?
- How do we differ from other clubs?
- What level of service do we provide?
Your mission statement will often be included in your strategic plan to allow everyone who engages with your strategic plan to understand your fundamental reason for existing as a club.
Pony Club Australia:
A life with horses starts here.
- A list of potential stakeholders of your club
- SWOT Analysis
- Important documents your club should have
STRATEGIC PLAN DOCUMENT
A Strategic Plan will help your club have conversations with the council and/or land owners as it will help them see the club’s vision. Applying for grants becomes easier as well as you have already identified projects that might need funding or can clearly show your plans for the future.
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