Leading the Strategic Planning Process - Club Managers ...

Leading the Strategic Planning Process 143for everything that a club plans, projects, and budgets—it is the lifeblood of alldiscussion at the club.At times you may feel frustrated and confused as to why it seems as if allplanning and operations are funneled through the strategic planning committee.Take heart; that is the very purpose of the committee. When a strategic planningcommittee is established in an existing club, the committee should be thought ofas a “gatekeeper” or a filter for operations. This is an enormous responsibility fortwo reasons:1. The strategic plan flows from the club’s vision and mission, while operationsflow from the strategic plan. Because strategy flows from vision and mission,all ideas for new products or changes or improvements to the club must be“filtered” through the strategic planning committee to ensure that they areconsistent with the club’s vision and mission. With this system in place, ideallyall board members, all committees, and all staff members at all levels ofoperations will soon begin to ask themselves the question, whenever a newidea for the club comes up: “Is this consistent with the club’s strategy?” If so,the conversation should continue and perhaps the idea will move all the wayto implementation. If not, the idea should be either discarded or filed awayfor future discussion and possible implementation, should the club’s strategyever change.2. The strategic planning committee is also important because all current practicesshould be filtered through the strategic plan; the committee becomes anevaluation tool not only for new ideas, but also for what’s currently going onat the club. Sometimes old club products, services, or operational procedurespre-date the club’s current strategic plan. These “unfiltered” club elementsshould pass through the strategic planning committee to ensure that all clubelements are aligned with the club’s strategic plan. Otherwise, “filtered” orcommittee-approved operations are mixed in with unfiltered operations, tothe detriment of the club’s strategic vision. This type of club is a conglomerationof misaligned functions and is in danger of becoming a Frankensteinclub.Understanding the Internal and External EnvironmentStrategic planning includes an internal analysis of what a club is adept at doingand where it falls short, as well as an outward look at the external environmentand its challenges and opportunities.As discussed previously, the SWOT analysis—which identifies a club’sstrengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats—indicates a club’s current position.As such, a SWOT analysis is often referred to as a situation analysis. A SWOTanalysis may be used on a macro level to evaluate the club as an overall entity oron a micro level to get a “snapshot” of a particular aspect of the club, such as thegolf course, food and beverage department, membership department, or any otherdepartment or area of the club.