RUNNING YOUR CHAPTER STRATEGIC PLANNING
Strategic planning in your Chapter can have an exponentially positive impact on your chapter and ease your administrative functions. We encourage chapters to hold a longer meeting amongst Chapter leaders at least once a year to discuss planning and ideas and to conduct a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats).
Why host a retreat?
- It invigorates leaders.
- It sets a common agenda.
- It encourages strategic thinking and planning.
- It allows volunteers to plan for their participation in the year's activities.
- It strengthens the chapter's agenda and resolve.
Here are some planning tips:
It doesn't matter when you conduct the retreat, so we encourage you not to put your retreat off if you haven't done one recently. You may have greater success if you:
- Give lots of advance notice,
- Set aside at least 3-5 hours for discussion;
- Create an agenda prior to meeting and distribute it in advance;
- Assign leaders with responsibility for leading certain agenda discussions; and
- Encourage big thinking — don't make this just a longer board meeting
Topics to consider:
- Who is your competition for the hearts, minds, and time of your members?
- What do your members really want from their local Chapter of ACC versus what they want from the myriad other groups interested in serving them?
- What is your market niche and how will you exploit it to your members' advantage?
- Why does the chapter offer the current plate of services it offers? Is it because that's the status quo or is it because that's what you're organized to offer, or is it because that's what will best serve the interests and needs of your members?
- Should you offer services or activities that are not traditional to a bar association? (Think like a "start-up" for a change, and then see if there's something that is a clever way for your local chapter to provide a needed service/activity.)
- Does the chapter need to generate additional revenue? How much revenue do you really need to accomplish the kind of agenda you want to implement?
- What is the chapter's relationship with vendors/outside counsel, and what would you like it to be?
- How can the Chapter increase its membership? Attract General Counsel? Institute better member retention strategies?
- Are there ACC resources that your local members are not taking full advantage of, such as the Member-To-Member Community, and so on?
- What strategic relationships would you like to engender with local law schools, local branches of minority bar associations, and local pro bono programs?
Finally, a survey of your members before the retreat provides invaluable direction.
Review resources from fellow chapter leaders.
