INDUSTRY FOCUS
Strategic planning for
HOAs
It is a systematic process of planning , scenario setting , forecasting , and identifying the impact of occurrences before they happen . It involves a number of phases of thinking and application that identify the current status of the association , including : its mission ; vision for the future ; operating values ; needs ( strengths , weaknesses , opportunities , and threats ); goals ; prioritised actions and strategies ; action plans ; and monitoring and review processes .
Strategic planning is about projecting where your association expects to be in five , 10 or 15 years – and how your association will get there . It also ensures that your association will remain financially sustainable , and be able to maintain its reserves .
Strategic planning is the foundation of every common-interest community . Without strategic planning , communities will never know where they are at the moment , where they are going , or if they will ever get there . An important concept of strategic planning is understanding that , in order for the community to grow , everyone needs to work to ensure that the team ’ s goals are met . Team members include all association home owners , the board of directors , professional management , and various service professionals such as accountants , auditors , strategic consultants , engineers and financial professionals . This team needs to work as a collective body to be successful . Part of the team concept is the establishment of roles for the team players .
BENEFITS OF THE LONG-RANGE PLAN In short , some of the benefits of strategic or long-range planning are :
• It stimulates thinking to optimise the use of the association ’ s resources .
• It ensures that responsibility and scheduled work are assigned to the individuals or teams that are best equipped to fulfill that role .
• It ensures coordination and unification of effort .
• It facilitates better control and evaluation of the association ’ s activities and the association ’ s mandate , thereby ensuring accountability .
• It creates awareness well in advance of obstacles that may occur so that they can be overcome through sound decision making .
• It identifies opportunities that may otherwise have been overlooked .
• It ensures that creative thinking is used to solve potential problems .
While there are numerous strategic planning models that your community association could adopt , this document does not advocate a specific model or technique , but focuses rather on the essential steps , components and outcomes of the strategic planning process .
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