Strategic Planning for the 21st Century Board: A Discussion All Boards Should Consider!


Paul D. Grucza


I recently had the opportunity at our Chapter’s CA Day event in September to conduct a session regarding Strategic Planning. What an enjoyable session it was! What an eye-opener it was! Typically, when starting a session of this type I poll the audience to determine both their familiarity with the topic along with determining, who, if anyone, has actually gone through the steps of developing and conducting a strategic planning session for their community.


With an audience of maybe 75-100 participants, who filled the room early on a Saturday morning, imagine my surprise when less than ten board members in the room actually had done something like this! I thought to myself, “well here is a golden opportunity to get some board members engaged in a really needed exercise,” and boy oh boy were they engaged.


I heard comments like, “gee, I never thought about my community in that way,” “wow, it is important to do this,” “I thought someone else had done this already,” and my favorite, “I’m just here because the person who originally registered to attend, couldn’t.” I laughed and used that person to bounce ideas off of the entire session.


But enough about that. Let’s talk Strategic Planning! This IS all about future planning. As the Cheshire Cat asked of Alice after she inquired which road to take, “Where do you wish to go?” She responds saying she does not know and the cat responds, “then it really doesn’t matter which road you take.” Strategic Planning is a lot like that! One needs to know where they are going to lay a plan for the future . . . all to get there in a fashion expected of the association.


Of course, there are bullet points to consider for the process: • Where are we now? • Where do we wish to be in the future?


• What part of the status quo do we need to change to get us to where we want to be?


• How do we make it happen? And that’s just the beginning. Like an onion, strategic planning has many layers.


1. How well do you know your association and its owners? 2. Do you know what they want?


3. Do you understand (really understand) your governing documents?


4. Is the association in a solid financial position? 5. What is really important to our owners?


If you can’t answer those, then yes, you need to do strategic planning and yes, you need to do it now.


20 Community Associations Journal | January/February 2018


There are multiple phases to the Strategic Planning process. Understand that each one of them can be expanded and discussed among your board members, the Strategic Planning Committee, or whomever works on this initiative.


Phase 1 – Write or revisit your mission statement, draft a vision statement and identify your organizational values. A vision is a dream with a deadline. Focus too on those organizational values – integrity, inclusiveness, reliability, quality, respect, dedication, honor and ethical behavior of everyone in that community.


Phase 2 – Assess your current environment with SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats). SWOT factors into what will become your final product.


Phase 3 – Identify future core priorities, create goals to fulfill priorities and define strategies to reach your goals.


Remember – A goal is a broad primary outcome; a strategy is the approach taken to achieve a goal; an objective is a measurable step taken to achieve a strategy and; a tactic is a tool used to pursue an objective associated with a strategy. They are all different but all work together.


Once the process begins, one must then build awareness of that process using strategic communications. Create the communication plan for the membership, stay on message and deliver that message repeatedly. We all live in a connected culture so the opportunities to herald initiatives can live on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, whatever you choose but the important thing is to broadcast that message of vision, mission and purpose! Hearing it, seeing it, living it makes it real and creates a tangible reason why the community exists.


As I stated in the beginning, this topic can take on many forms and many deliveries but must begin to be discussed among boards for their future success. It is not just about the now! It’s the three-year, five-year, twenty-year plan communities need to be thinking about. Your role on the board is but a mere blip in the history of your community. What legacy will you create that will live and change with the community and have it make its mark.


Don’t be the people who never even thought about it. Embrace strategic planning for the current and future success of your community. The time and effort will reap huge rewards as the years unfold.


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