A strategic plan is really a master plan which maps out where you are now, what goals or objectives you want to achieve, and what you will do to achieve your goals. It is a plan for success. Many Clubs will already have in their minds an approach they are taking, but it is important that this is enshrined in a document and created as a forward-looking plan. Strategic planning is a disciplined process for getting to the important decisions, and the plan is simply the document that frames these decisions. A strategic plan allows you to put effective collaborative governance into action at your Club and set about achieving the high levels of customer satisfaction that will dictate your future success.  

The Management Group should engage with members and then create a strategic plan on behalf of the Club and its membership. The plan should also be informed by the knowledge of professional staff and insight from supporting Clubs. The strategic plan should involve the Management Group: 

• Envisaging the future of their Club.
• Developing the structures and procedures required to achieve that future.
• Acting as custodians of the strategy on behalf of the membership. 

A strategic plan can fit on a single piece of paper, or it can stretch to a dozen or more pages. Its success is not dependent on the size of the document or the level of detail it contains, but the sense of direction it takes.  

Due to the nature of the governance structure in Clubs, the elected leaders change on a regular basis and in the absence of a plan, this can result in inconsistency of mission. Having a strategic plan in place will help to safeguard the priorities of a Club by providing consistent aims and objectives that all elected Management Group members need to work continuously towards. This new consistency will help the Club focus its resources in the areas identified by the membership as key priorities for the Club and will help to prevent individuals acting on their own views instead of agreed common objectives. 

• Greater unity throughout the Club on what makes your Club attractive, and why people would want to join and remain as members.
• Identification of a manageable number of key performance indicators for evaluating Club performance and individual performance at all levels of the Club.
• Less crisis management, with the Management Group kept busy working on the business, rather than in the business.
• Agreement on accountability for each key area of the Club's business, and identification of any training gaps to help achieve those goals.
• Improved selection of committee members identified for their knowledge and commitment to specific areas of the strategic plan.
• Greater unity and morale amongst staff who will welcome a consistent approach to the established direction of the Club and will have clarity in their roles.
• Continuity of aims when handing from one committee to another after annual election.
• A more professional approach to the collaborative governance of the Club resulting in a more rewarding term of office for volunteers.