Set aside 30 minutes each week to look over the horizon — beyond
your association and your industry. Encourage a handful of staff and
key volunteers to do the same. Then schedule a quarterly (or better
yet, monthly!) teleconference to talk about what each person has seen
and what it means to your association.
Why Develop This Habit?
It’s been said "Life is a series of habits occasionally
disturbed by thoughts." Most of us keep our heads down and
our eyes on day-to-day tasks. Once in awhile, we lift our eyes up
enough to work on an annual plan, and less frequently to convene a
strategic planning meeting.
Strategic
thinking helps you
- see
the bumps
- see
opportunities
- add
strength to plans and programs through innovative thinking.
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And then one day we hit a bump — lower than expected registrations,
a drop in retention, publication sales slump, a board seat goes unfilled,
another association (or business!) launches a similar product, a Senate
committee passes an unfavorable law … and you raise eyes all
the way up — a tad too late.
Could you have seen the bump coming? Perhaps. That’s one reason
to begin a habit of strategic thinking. There are others. Think of
the missed opportunities and the program that never really took off.
The membership campaign that was just good, not a record-breaker.
What is Strategic Thinking?
It’s collecting information on trends inside and outside your
industry and then routinely asking how those trends might affect you,
your members and your association. It’s challenging yourself
to think outside your inbox. And it’s not hard.
How to Develop the Habit!
- Ask key staff and volunteers to each spend 30 minutes a week looking
for industry and society trends and statistics. Tell them to listen
to friends and colleagues. Notice what people are talking about,
what they want and need. Watch the news. Scan a magazine or website.
See Navigating the Future for
resources.
- Quarterly get together by phone or in person and share what you
each have spotted.
- Ask what each means to the association. You’ll discover gems
and junk. And you’ll be surprised!
Still not sure? Contact
us and we’ll be happy to share some of the ideas we’ve
found as well as our own experiences.
