Strategic Thinking: Evaluate Your Response to 2020
March 26 2021 admin Uncategorized 0 comments
It’s been a year since we all began to experience the Covid-19 pandemic in personal ways. We talked about ‘expecting the unexpected’ and about how to ‘pivot’ (one of our favorite words for 2020) and how to continue to serve your members and communities in the midst of what felt like chaos. After every TRC we conduct, we hold focus groups so we can get feedback on what Chamber staff and volunteers felt went well and what didn’t. We also review the statistics and provide those to the Chamber staff and leadership. In short, we do a comprehensive review so we can continue to improve. It’s something all good strategic planners do after a big event. While we are in no way saying the Covid-19 pandemic is over, we do think that maybe – at this one year mark – we’re all at a place in which we need to do some reviews of the last year. It will be like no other evaluation you have ever done because this last year has been like nothing we have ever done. But we challenge you to take this as an opportunity to look critically at how your chamber functions in crisis, […]
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Strategic Thinking: Networking
February 10 2021 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, YGM 0 comments Tags: networking, sponsorships, YGM
In these early months in 2021, we are focusing on strategic thinking. That’s right – strategic thinking, not just strategic planning – though they go hand in hand. You have to be thinking strategically in order to do the important work of the planning for your chamber or organization. All strategic thinking involves questions. We encourage you to grab a notepad and do some thinking with us. In our last blog post, we went into detail on why strategic thinking is important and how you can utilize it. Today, we are thinking about how we network with our members, especially now during these unusual COVID-19 times. Networking is built into chamber life – into the life of any organization, really. Members of any organization attend networking events to expand their business contacts, to be seen as a vital component of the organization, and to build their own business. Networking is about building. What are you building with your networking events? What do you want to build? Do the two answers come together with the actual attendance numbers and engagement of your members or clients? Networking What is the one event/program that most chambers have? AfterHours or a similar networking program. […]
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It Starts with the Thinking
January 22 2021 admin Blog, Chambers, TRC, YGM 0 comments
It doesn’t take long in the chamber world to realize that strategic planning, board retreats, and annual programs of work are mainstays of chamber life. For some, this is an organizational thrill ride equal to the best roller coaster, but with charts and highlighters. For others, the mere thought of this induces a queasy feeling in the pit of their stomachs. Whether you are in the first or the second group, planning can be easier, better, and more productive. Does that type of planning require a different type of thinking? Certainly. Will it be worth it? Again, certainly. Strategic Thinking Strategic planning and strategic thinking are not the same things. Having the same meetings year after year and carrying over the same plans with minor tweaks is often ineffective for a chamber and frustrating for chamber staff. Strategic thinking initiates the planning. This kind of thinking requires that chamber staff look at their program of work from a different perspective, from a perspective that views all of the programs and initiatives working together, interlocking. So often, chamber work is divided into silos, and the work is never viewed as interweaving. But the more we see chamber programming as a tapestry […]
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