Day 12: Do I Need Strategic Plan?

Day 12: Do I need a strategic plan?  Well of course you need a plan.  BUT you have to follow the plan.  We prefer to call our plans business plans.  A good plan has goals, objectives and action items.  These should be thoroughly vetted with the community and your board.  The plan should include a marketing plan as that is a big piece as to why you exist.  When I first started as a consultant I met with a prospective client and after I gave my brief presentation one of the board members who also was President of a Bank said, “I’m not sure we should do this because than we might have to do something.”  WOW!  If you have a board member with that sort of attitude, lose them fast!  We have had several instances where the plan we developed was followed and the success of the community is phenomenal.  In most cases the exec went onto a better job because of the success they had following the plan.  The other reason for putting a plan together is it allows your organization to set priorities and focus on what is important.  Economic development organizations are always being asked to participate in things that might not really be important.  When you have a plan, you can say our board approved a strategic plan and this activity just doesn’t fit into the plan.  While we do strategic plans for a living, we really do feel this is the most important activity you can accomplish early in your ED job.  Next:  Do I have enough money?

Next Previous