By Ray Birch
TACOMA, Wash.—Strategic planning at a distance—can it be done, and done well?
One strategic planning expert, who has facilitated a number of sessions with CU leaders this year, said the new reality of 2020, remote planning, has its advantages—and some disadvantages too.
Michael Beall, chief strategic and advocacy officer at CU Strategic Planning, told CUToday.info that it’s difficult to say whether CUs find it harder to plan with everyone at home, but he noted what is driving effectiveness in planning sessions this year is executives arriving at meetings extremely well prepared.
“They are more prepared than in the past, and as a result the strategic planning sessions I have facilitated have been focused,” said Beall.
Beall’s comments are being featured as part of a series in CUToday.info examining how strategic planning is changing in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic and consumer behavior changes.
Beall said the pandemic has prompted some credit unions to delay planning sessions this year, but he believes most planning sessions for 2021 and beyond are now under way or will soon take place.
“Some planning sessions have been delayed from the summer to the fall,” explained Beall. “I think many were waiting to see if they could get back together to hold the meetings face-to-face. But once that still looked challenging, the meetings have been taking place. It looks like virtual planning sessions are the norm this year.”
The Plusses & Minuses
Beall said there are plusses and minuses to the remote sessions. For instance, he said it can be challenging to closely interact with the facilitator when that person is in a separate location than those leading the planning at the CU.
“One of the more significant changes I have seen is senior management teams are really getting involved much sooner in the planning,” said Beall. “We’re doing a lot of pre-work.”
Some of the pre-work not done in the past that’s being completed this year, at least for those with whom Beall has worked, includes conducting surveys of the credit union’s to get their opinions and get them involved sooner.
“Which is all leading to sessions that I would say are more sharply focused,” explained Beall, who said in the past a lot of the work was put off until the sessions began.
Changed Discussion
Beall explained much of what is being discussed is credit unions working through what is different for them now, as a result of the pandemic.
“They are really examining how their year is looking for them financially,” said Beall.
A separate CUToday.info series has examined how credit unions are addressing potential cost-cutting and different methods to manage the balance she
Mike Beall
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“The timeframe for their strategic viewpoints has gotten shorter,” said Beall.
Beall said his experience has found that sometimes during the virtual sessions executives sometimes “hear each other better.”
“They are hearing each other a little bit differently—people are not talking over each other as can often happen when you are all sitting around a table,” he said.
So far, Beall said the virtual sessions have not “felt strange,” although he said one session he facilitated on-site, with executives in a room and socially distanced, was odd.
“Everyone had masks on, and I have to tell you that actually felt stranger than doing the sessions virtually,” said Beall. “It's really difficult to be in the room with a whole group of people that you are working with, not get close, not shake hands or go off in the corner and talk. I was wearing a microphone for the meeting with 14 people, and we were all separated—spaced apart. There were a few people online.”
‘Want to Get it Done’
Beall acknowledged that due to the pandemic and how business and the organizations themselves have been disrupted, he was concerned about strategic planning sessions being held and their effectiveness this year.
“But, again I think they have actually been more effective this year because the because of the focus. I think folks really wanted to get the plan done, get it done well, and get it out,” he said.