Strategic Planning: Is it Just For Today, or Should it Shape the Future?

Today, the buzzword for clubs seems to be strategic planning. But just what is it?

For private clubs, strategic planning should be an investigative and forward-thinking process that involves a club’s members, Board and management, to look objectively at what the club is today and envision what it can and should be tomorrow. The planning should be conducted through a visionary process that studies the past, present and future and develops a roadmap for where to go in the years ahead by answering four key questions:

1. Who are the members that the club serves (men, women, children, golfers, families, etc.)? 
2. What must the club provide for those members (golf, racquet sports, fitness/wellness, aquatics, dining, social activities, year-round services, affordability, luxury, etc.)?
3. What quality level must the club strive to achieve with all that it does?
4. What makes the club unique and special in its marketplace?

Answers to these four questions provide what a club’s Mission and Vision should be. 

Mission and Vision Are Critical

A club must clearly know its Mission/purpose if it is to be able to achieve it. Thus, first and foremost, the Mission has to be established, so the specific goals and action plans in strategic planning can work to accomplish it. 

And when we say a club must know, we mean that the membership, Board and leadership must all be on the same sheet of music if the Mission is to be achieved. Many times in today’s club world, the members, Board and management are not unified on what the club’s Mission is. Some say the club is only a golf club. Some say it is a full-service family country club. Some want the highest-quality offerings, while others just want a basic/affordable club that they can support. 

Adding to the complexity of what a club should be, as members age and change with the times, so does their viewpoint of what the club should be for them. In other words, a Mission can change, and this must be monitored to achieve a club’s lasting success. 

The Need for Strategic Planning is Now

The complexity of a club’s membership amid the changing times we are in makes the need for club strategic planning more essential than ever. Strategic planning should not be a “one and done” process. It has to be flexible to adjust to the society of members it serves, by being an everyday part of a club’s governance, management and membership communications. To do this, a club must keep in touch with its members. 

Interestingly, today’s strategic planning for clubs seems to focus on two optional directions. One direction seeks to primarily improve existing club issues such as governance, management, finances and operations, to achieve a better club experience for members today. We call this “strategic planning for the present.” It is all about fixing today’s problems at the club, and it is needed. 

But this isn’t true strategic planning. It is well worth doing to improve today’s clubs, but it is not strategic in the context of truly understanding a club’s Mission and Vision for its future. It only fixes today’s problems. 

Visionary Strategic Planning Shapes the Future

The other version of club strategic planning focuses on the future, and how to achieve it. This is truly visionary strategic planning and is a more challenging task for clubs, as it takes dedicated and forward thinkers to plan for a future that is uncertain. But if a club is truly concerned about its future, it needs to plan for it and invest in it, to avoid someday discovering that it is no longer the club of choice in its marketplace. 

In today’s post-COVID world, about half of clubs are doing well with membership waiting lists. But the other half is struggling without them. The clubs with strong waiting lists need to conduct visionary strategic planning to stay full, while the struggling clubs must use visionary strategic planning to change their ways and become more viable and attractive to members. 

For everyone, it is only by having a futuristic strategic plan that Boards and managers can protect their clubs by maximizing their opportunities for success with a good vision of the future.