Strategic planning is more than a fall weekend

With fall’s arrival, credit union strategic planning season is in full swing. For some, strategic planning meetings are a necessary event that won’t significantly impact the credit union’s plans. They typically include updates by senior executives regarding the credit union’s progress and plans going forward, followed by input from the board on key issues.

This is not true strategic planning. It’s business planning for the coming year.

There is nothing wrong with business planning. It is an important part of most credit unions’ annual cycle. But strategic planning is different — and difficult. It deals with uncertainties. Strategic planning is not focused solely on how the credit union is going to move forward. It also addresses what the credit union is moving toward and why those outcomes are important.

The notion that a strategic plan locks an organization into specific actions, creating the possibility of missing new opportunities or failing to address new challenges, is misguided. Today’s financial services landscape is continually changing. Economic shifts influence members’ lives and behaviors; interest rate changes lead to changes in consumer borrowing and saving; moves by traditional competitors intensify competition in certain product segments or markets; and moves by emerging competitors cause disruptions that were not on the radar previously. These variables are exactly why strategic planning is important.

 

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