Strategic Planning

"Knowing The Right Direction Is The Most Important Part of Any Journey"

Strategic planning establishes the direction of the club, adds consistency to the decision-making process, aids in the communication of goals, and provides the “how to’s” of achieving those goals. Club Mark Corporation has participated in literally hundreds of strategic planning projects in private clubs throughout the county over the past twenty-five years. Over that time we have found that there are three ways in which a Club may wish to engage our services to assist in the strategic planning process. Obviously, as this is a very important process for the Club, we will also custom design a process that meets your very specific needs.

CMC Engagement Opportunities - Strategic Planning Process

Board/Committee Retreat - In some cases, Boards may have the time, experience and committment to tackle the strategic planning process in its entirety. In these instances Clubs may wish to simply have a facilitator involved in setting the process in motion.  In this case CMC can participate in a one day workshop or Board Retreat (three to eight hour workshop) to develop an outline of the plan, direct the development of sub-committees, and provide a road map for the Club's Strategic Planning Committee to complete the plan by themselves. CMC will provide a guided tour through all of the steps required to complete the plan, guidelines for the generation of a written report and assistance in determining what sub-committees should be created as part of the planning process.

A "normal process" of completing a strategic plan may take four to six months to complete, or even longer if all of the research is being performed by the Board.  CMC generally recommends that a market analysis and member survey be provided before the meeting so that the Strategic Planning Committee will have an understanding of your market area's ability to sustain membership growth and your member's perceptions of various areas of the club's operations.  CMC can assist you in this process or we can use information that you may already have accumulated.

Ongoing Facilitation - For the Club that wants to develop the plan themselves, but would like the benefit of having a facilitator develop the initial process (As in the Retreat), develop a market analysis and facilitate a member survey and then be available to the sub-committees to provide on-going advice and direction, CMC provides a facilitator service.

In addition to the work as described in the Retreat, CMC will facilitate an online member survey providing a general sense of the member's wants and needs and their satisfaction with various areas of the Club's operation.  In this process CMC will facilitate the development by the Club's department heads, a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis of each department and a capital needs assessment for the next five years. CMC will embody this information in the form of a written report so that the SPC has a reference tool in moving forward.

In the first meeting with the results of the market study, member survey, SWOT and capital assessments in hand, CMC will provide an objective oversight on the development of sub-committees to address the issues uncovered through the various analyses. In addition, CMC will work with the Club in this initial meeting to identify the necessary vision for the future and translate this vision into required goals and action steps to be developed by the sub-committees. The first meeting will address all of the issues, set to develop sub-committee responsibilities, address how to write the plan and set timetables for deliverables to the SPC from the sub-committees.

Subsequent to the first meeting, CMC shall be available to the sub-committees and SPC to provide ongoing oversight and advice as the sub-committees and SPC move toward the development and completion of the plan. The ongoing assistance program is designed to keep the process focused, in line with the proper facilitation of a strategic plan and in line with developing a meaningful document that will address the ongoing and strategic needs of the Club. CMC will review the progress of the sub-committees and SPC and provide monthly written comments as well as meeting opportunities via telephone or video conference facility.

Full Facilitation and Development of the Written Plan - For the Club that prefers to have a full time facilitator to direct the entire process and provide full minutes of meetings and the development of the written plan; this is the option that would be most appropriate.

Within this program CMC will provide all of the services as outlined in the Retreat and Facilitator processes, but will also take responsibility to ensure that appropriate meetings are scheduled, will participate in each meeting and will provide written summaries of each meeting. In addition, CMC will create the full Historical and Situation Analysis in a written format before the first meeting.

In the full facilitation process, CMC participates in each meeting, taking appropriate notes and develops the written plan for each sub-committee for the SPC. CMC also provides a monthly written report to each sub-committee and the SPC.

Ultimately, CMC will prepare the written strategic plan based upon input by each sub-committee and approval by the SPC.