Are we on track?
Jerry P. Byers | TLT President's Report April 2013
The strategic plan STLE’s board is creating will keep us heading in the right direction.
The board spent many hours peering into the future and thinking about the best use of STLE’s resources.
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HOW DO WE KNOW IF WE ARE ON TRACK? How do we know if we are doing the right things—the most important things at a given moment? It may seem like the right thing to do, but how can we be sure?
Those are the questions STLE’s board members asked themselves in May of last year. The board decided we needed to do some strategic thinking about STLE as an organization in a changing world environment. What do our members need today that may be different from what they needed in the past? What trends are emerging about which we need to be aware? What services do the newest technologies make possible now that were not possible a couple of years ago? Are we offering enough value to our members?
A few of our directors mentioned that their companies had very structured procedures for strategic planning and recommended that STLE consider a similar process. Therefore, at its October 2012 meeting in Denver, the board spent many hours peering into the future and thinking about the best use of STLE’s resources. Association board consultant Buz Buzogany helped guide us through an environmental scan and a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats). That, however, was just the beginning of the process—more work was needed!
We established a Strategic Planning Committee, chaired by Vice President Robert Heverly, to develop a list of specific goals to present at the January board meeting. True to their assignment, in January the committee presented the board with a value proposition and a list of five primary goals for STLE as it moves into the future—all of which the board approved. Good work, team!
So now we are done, right? No! Between now and next month’s annual meeting, our headquarters staff will be gathering data on where we are now with respect to each goal so we can track our progress. The Strategic Planning Committee also will meet to determine the best course of action for achieving each goal. What projects will achieve the biggest benefit compared to the demand on available resources? The committee will also assign a board champion and a staff champion to work toward accomplishing each step of the plan (Nothing happens unless someone is assigned to the task!).
Based on the recommendations from our Strategic Planning Committee, we expect that by the end of our 2013 Annual Meeting in Detroit, the board will have a strategic plan in place for STLE. Then, to ensure that STLE is on track and making progress in critical areas, the board is committed to devoting time at the beginning of each future meeting to review the plan and evaluate how well we are doing to achieve each of the goals.
Watch this column for updates on this important project.
Jerry Byers is manager of research and development for Cimcool Fluid Technology in Cincinnati. You can reach him at jerry_p_byers@cimcool.com.