Strategic PlanningLeadership Training

April 2015

Tony van der Vooren P.Eng, Ph.D., QEPAmec Foster Wheeler

tony.vandervooren@amecfw.com

Why Strategic Planning?

“If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get your there”

“Typical” Planning Process

Exec DirectorAnnual Operational

Plan

CorporateMemory

Planning Committee

Board of Directors

Committees

Commentson Plan

StrategicPlan

MemberSurveys

BoardSurveys

Ad HocInput

OtherStuff

ExternalTrendData

InternalTrendData

IncreasedMember

Value

“Hit & Miss”

Change

Councils

Survival

Decisions

A Better Planning Process for A&WMA

Board Generated Strategic

Plan & Vision

Board Commissioned

Task Forces

Board of Directors

BoardCommissioned

Special Projects

Internal/ExternalTrends & Events

Survey Data

Recommendations

Recommendations

ED’sAnnual

OperationalPlan

Financial Stability

Member Value &

Growth

Envisioned Future

Focused

Decisions

Annual Review & Periodic Update

Councils&

Committees

Actions

What is this thing we are doing?Strategic Planning is about the leadership

team coming to consensus about what will constitute success over several time periods in the future:Establish a clear directionGuide the allocation of resourcesFocus and alignment

What is it?•It is not an operational plan – what the

organization is currently doing and wants to continue.

•It is a roadmap to change:It is about what you are not doing today,

and need to be doing in the future to sustain success.

It is about what you are doing today, and need to be doing different in the future to sustain success.

Why are we doing?

Brings focus to:Serving our

membership Financial solvencyKeeping pace with

technologyVibrancy of the

section

10 - 30 Year Planning Vision:

Core Ideology

Core Purpose

Core Values

Envisioned Future:

To Stimulate Progress

Big Audacious Goal

Vivid Description

Four Planning Four Planning HorizonsHorizons5 - 10 Years:

Critical Assumptions

Assumptions about the Future

Mega Issues

Branding

Strategic Choices

3 - 5 Years:Strategic Planning

Goals Objectives Strategies

Organizational Focus

1 - 2 Years:Annual

Operational Plan

Annual Strategic Plan

Review

Priority Setting

Action Planning

Knowledge Based Decision-Making copyright 199Tecker Consultants, LLCAll Rights Reserved

Annual

ReviewLin

kage

Continuous

Core Ideology

Core Purpose

Core Values

Delivering Value to Members..Associations have to identify and sustain

the right balance between membership and marketplace

Capitalize on product and service in a competitive marketplace

Preserving the unique nature and culture of the Association

Key Strategies for Associations

What We MUST do to

•Maintain our identity as a community (and not just as a “vendor” of services)

•Focus on our core

Core Purpose

•Guides the organization in all activities•Provides a sense of purpose•Will not change, even when other things

around them change•Unifies the organization•Exists for the long term..10 to 30 years

(or since 1907?)

Core Purpose•3M: To solve unsolved problems innovatively.•Merck: To preserve and improve human life•Nike: To experience the emotion of

competition, winning and crushing competitors

•Wal-Mart: To give ordinary folks the chance to buy the same things as rich people

•Walt Disney: To make people happy

A&WMA Core Purpose

To improve environmental knowledge and decisions by providing a neutral forum for

exchanging information

To be the global organization for the exchange of environmental

knowledge, ideas, and solutions.”

Core Values

•Essential to the organization•Set of guiding principles•Intrinsic value•Seldom change•“Organizational Glue”•Defines what we stand for

Some examples:•3M:

▫Absolute integrity▫Respect for individual▫Initiative and personal growth▫Tolerance for honest mistakes

•Merck▫Corporate social responsibility▫Unequivocal excellence in all aspects of the

company▫Science based information▫Profit, but profit from work that benefits

humanity

Examples (cont’d)

•Walt Disney▫No cynicism▫Nurturing and promulgation of “wholesome

American values”▫Creativity, dreams; and imagination▫Fanatical attention to consistency and detail▫Preservation and control of Disney magic

A&WMA Core Values▫Environmental responsibility▫Ethical behavior▫Professional▫Open Communication▫Quality service and products▫Life-long learning▫Trustworthiness▫Mutual Respect

Communication

Communication

From There

External AssumptionsMEGA Issues

GoalsStrategies

Next Steps

•Review/revise the External assumptions •Review/revise Mega Issues•Review Goals•Review/revise strategies•Prioritize•Implementation!

External Issues:

Professional Structure and Competition:•There will continue to be a decline of employer support for professional development.•There will be a decline in technical engineering students.•Environmental risk identification continues to grow.•Public perception of environmental issues will continue to be media driven and sensationalized.•There will continue to be a climate change shift to adaptation versus mitigation.•Waste is shifting from disposal to alternate methods.•The marketing and use of energy globally will continue to change.•There will continue to be the need for “cross-pollination” of air, waste, water, knowledge and the inclusion of health and safety will increase.• 

External Issues:Global Business and Economic Climate:•There will continue to be slow economic growth in 2014-15, but renewed growth will take place in 2016.•Environmental spending will remain flat or decline in emerging markets.•There will be continued pressure of the use of coal in the U.S., but global coal use will increase.•Wind and solar will increase and the use of biofuels will decrease globally.•Currency markets will remain volatile.

•U.S. oil and gas production will increase.

External Issues:Legislation and Regulation:•Global climate change and adaptations will grow in importance.•The global water supply will continue to be a challenge and regulating water use will increase.•Increased U.S. regulation will drive the creation and use of new technologies.•There will be increased regulation on e-waste.•The air and waste industries will increasingly depend on international and country regulations.•U.S. will continue to be in turmoil due to litigation causing uncertainty for industry and difficulty in planning. All U.S. regulations will be litigated.•Increased local and regional regulations will cause disparity with national regulations. •Sustainable practices and reporting will drive corporate business.•Manufactures will continue to be responsible for upstream and downstream performance.•Political and regulatory uncertainty impedes businesses’ ability to plan, therefore, their willingness to invest.

External Issues:Demographics and Social Values:•There is an increasing need for young professionals to participate in the association due to retirements.•Some aging professionals will be unable to retire.•Time and financial constraints will continue to impact home and work balance.•Employers will increasingly hire temporary workers and contractors rather than career employees.•Increasingly, less qualified/non-specialists will be given greater responsibility.•The public will increasingly expect organizations to be socially responsible.•Online networking will increase.•There is a growing expectation that content will always be up-to-date and available 24/7.•The public’s concern about environmental issues will continue to increase.

External Issues:Technology and Science:•Technology will continue to advance outside of academia (i.e. industry) (e.g. data security, cloud computing).•Technology will advance more quickly than annually; current ideas will be outdated more quickly.•Our ability to sense/measure will continue to outpace our ability to interpret.•Technology will outpace policy and regulation.•“Intelligent clustering” continues to drive technological advancement.•Environmental work will continue to be integrated and cross disciplines.•Technological advancements will continue to create uncertainties in health and safety.•The advancements in searching technology will increasing affect the relevance of peer reviewed journals.•Technology transfer outside North America will happen more frequently.•Technology development and leadership will increasingly happen outside of North America.•There will be an increasing loss of intellectual property in the global economy.•Society is increasingly aware of technology and its potential implications.•Process redesign and prevention are more important leading to innovation.

External Issues:Implications of Assumptions:•What is the right balance between being known as a “generalist” versus responding to specialty content?•Should we be more “open source?”•Future role in “public awareness” of technology advances/changes?•Greater need for flexibility responsiveness in content, structure, distribution•How should we distribute content?•How should we respond to a loss of expertise, historical knowledge, and connections due to demographic changes (retirements, etc.)?•Continued importance of our role as analyzing and communicating information•Members roles and responsibilities are evolving; increased holistic views and increased specialty information• Continued need for convening professionals with multiple views and experiences•It will be more difficult for members to convene•What is our future role in “social responsibility

Mega Issues1. What types of training would be most helpful for specialists (plant manager, permit

writer, r & d specialist) who find themselves promoted to a multi media (air-water, solid waste, wastewater, safety) position?

2. How can international association promote sectional events and use them to attract a wider geographic audience? Could these events replace international events or are topics regional in nature?

3. What is the need for A&WMA, given other trade organizations in the environmental field?

4. Are we adding unique value?5. Should we retreat to “air” as a core competency?6. Is expanding to multi-media/sustainability and beyond realistic?7. How should A&WMA deal with reducing financial resources for environmental

professionals to pay for participation in A&WMA events/programs?8. Is there fundamentally a market for A&WMA in the association “pie.” If it is

agreed yes, then is membership the right ROI?9. How can we afford to do the things we want to do?10. How do we assist in providing mentorship so young professionals can succeed?11. How does the profession deal with retiring expertise and knowledge?

Mega Issues12. How do we deal with the reduction in support for travel when face to face networking

continues to be important?13. What replaces trade shows for vendor connections/contacts and does A&WMA play a

role?14. How will the Association handle students in the next 2 – 3 years? Will they still be

recruited? Will they be considered more of a customer?15. Has there been any consideration for having a smaller “academia: focused conference?16. How should the Association handle the inability of federal government employees to

travel to our meetings?17. How can we engage industry into Association activities and increase their active

participation?18. How can our infrastructure be changed so our ability to produce content and delivery

mechanisms is improved?19. How do we include/mange the sustainability or supply chain environmental work that

includes air and waste but is broader than our core purpose?20. How do we build/maintain vibrancy and energy on the international Board?21. How should the Association engage 3/4th of the current members who are not engaged

and most at risk of leaving?22. We seem to be comfortable with lower membership. What changes are needed to

maintain financial stability at reduced revenue?

Mega Issues23. What should the Association do to become one aligned organization under one

broad versus disparate local organizations that see little value in the international organization?

24. What is the optimal membership level? How do we balance between membership and customers?

25. How does the organization scale operational and fiscal practices to handle a dynamic membership?

26. At what point does the organization cease trying to adapt to each changing member need and focus on the core?

27. What is the mechanism for grooming leadership within a dysfunctional membership?

28. How should the Association deal with “local membership?”29. How should the Association deal with student members, student chapters, faculty

who help us recruit students?30. How do we deal with support for graduate students going forward? Do/can we

make the professors and students who leave customers?

Mega Issues:31. How to communicate Association values to Sections and Chapters without

alienating locals?32. What are the best practices to improve communication between local units and the

Board?33. How to communicate this out to the local units?34. Eliminate Councils and Committees and do a total reorganization, start clean.35. Need to sell to customers and give members more free content.36. Focus Board selection on quality and not other criteria

Goals..what do we want?

•Students and student chapters•Young Professionals•Bringing in the regulators•Bringing in Industry•Succession Planning•???•???

Strategies – Goal A, B, C and DDone by

developing:Strategies

What will we do?Who will do it?When will they be done?What will it cost?

Milestones Metrics (both success and

failure)?How have we done?Do we need to adjust?

This will be our roadmap of the future

The Process

•From here: •Develop “strategies” for each Goal•“split” the strategies into:

▫Just do them▫Task Group or other

•Prioritize the strategies (3 or 4 per year)

Strategies (Actions)

Describe how the Organization will commit its resources to accomplishing work toward the goal.

Serve as a link from long-term planning to annual planning.

Become part of the budgeting process.Set accountability and strategic priorities

for employees.

Goal 1: Industry and Regulators•Goal:  Industry and regulators effectively

engaged in A&WMA activities•  •Objectives:

▫ Improve alignment of industry and regulator needs and content

▫ Enhance delivery of content▫ Improve effectiveness of communications to industry

and regulators▫ Increase industry and regulator participation at all levels

Goal 2: Balanced Global Ideas

•Goal:  Parties seek out A&WMA for a balanced exchange of global environmental information, knowledge, ideas, and solutions

•  •Objectives:

▫ Improve balance between the number of theoretical and applied/solutions at Association event

▫ Improve availability and interpretation of global information, knowledge, ideas, and solutions

Goal 3:Strategic Relationships•Goal:  Professionals and organizations

engage in A&WMA as their gateway for strategic relationships

•Objectives:▫ Improve the effectiveness of tools for strategic

relationships▫ Increase the proportion of interactive

programming▫Enhance the collaboration with partner

organizations 

Work Group Reports

Goal 1:  Industry and regulators effectively engaged in A&WMA activities

▫ Improve alignment of industry and regulator needs and content▫ Enhance delivery of content▫ Improve effectiveness of communications to industry and regulators▫ Increase industry and regulator participation at all levels

Goal 2:  Parties seek out A&WMA for a balanced exchange of global environmental information, knowledge, ideas, and solutions

▫ Improve balance between the number of theoretical and applied/solutions at Association event

▫ Increase the proportion of interactive programming▫ Improve availability and interpretation of global information, knowledge, ideas, and

solutions

Goal 3:   Professionals and organizations engage in A&WMA as their gateway for strategic relationships

▫ Improve the effectiveness of tools for strategic relationships▫ Increase the proportion of interactive programming▫ Enhance the collaboration with partner organizations 

Product/Service Portfolio Review

New

Discontinue Enhance/Improve

Deemphasize

An Annual Review and Update of the Strategic Plan

Five Key Questions

1. To what extent have the plan’s milestones been achieved?

2. Are we satisfied with the plan’s progress?

3. Has anything changed in the external assumptions?

4. What has been experienced in executing the plan’s strategies?

5. Based on the answers to the above questions, what if any part of the plan, needs to be changed?