Strategic Planning is an organizational management activity that is used to set priorities, focus energy and resources, strengthen operations and ensure that management, employees and our owners are working toward common goals. It establishes agreement around intended outcomes/ results, assesses and adjusts the resort’s direction in response to a changing environment. It is a disciplined effort that produces fundamental decisions and actions that will shape and guide our resort, who it serves, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. Effective strategic planning will articulate not only where our resort is going and the actions needed to make progress, but also how we will know if it is successful. At ORPS, we have an annual budget of $5.25 million. In addition, we collect $1.2M in reserve funds, of which we spend approximately $1M annually. We have an obligation to ensure we spend our funds wisely. To do that, a Strategic Plan is critical to ensure our investments support our vision of the future. What happens if you don’t have a Strategic Plan? Has anyone ever been to the Winchester house? There is an example of someone who could have used a strategic plan. We don’t want to have staircases that lead to nowhere. Okay, that is an extreme example, but you get the idea. Last year, the Strategic Planning committee issued a survey in an attempt to focus our spending of capital and reserves funds on projects that were indicated by the results of the survey. As is the case with many surveys, the results were very difficult to translate into actionable plans. At the end of last season, the Strategic Planning Committee invited members of the Facilities Planning Committee, Finance Committee, Board of Directors and others to an offsite meeting to discuss what needed to be done to set a direction to follow. There was consensus that we needed a Master Plan for the resort. It was agreed that we should look at hiring a consulting firm that specializes in HOA and club stra- tegic planning. We looked at several firms that work in this industry and made the decision to go with the McMahon Group. Why the McMahon Group? Here is an excerpt from McMahon’s website. We not only identify the challenges facing clubs, we work with board members and general managers to develop unique solutions. McMahon understands trends in the club industry and has unparalleled experience in every aspect of club life, including an acute understanding of club politics. We can provide objective, unbiased consulting that is essential for achieving club goals. Discovering the issues. Understanding the challenges. Applying proven solutions. Choosing to follow McMahon Group process will position your club for maximum success . The engagement process with McMahon has already started with a survey of the Board. That will be followed by a planning session on December 19. After that, McMahon will start putting together a survey that will go to all owners. They will engage focus groups to hone the questions and then the survey will be sent to all owners in the February timeframe. This requires the residents/members to start volunteering for the survey focus groups in late December for them to attend in mid-January. This would have the main membership
As we start this new calendar year, we are busily planning for our next fiscal year. Budgets are being reviewed as are our list of summer projects. Speaking of future projects, the Board has been working with a strategic planning consultant that specializes in working with homeowners, associations, and country clubs, which is what we are here at ORPS. For more information, please see Greg Framer’s article in the adjacent column. Another new item on the horizon is a work order software system. Our current system was custom built approximately 8 years ago for us and is inadequate for tracking, inventory, and reliable reporting. Our new system is produced by a company named MicroMain. With it, owners will be able to log work orders online without having to call in or come into the office. This enables work orders to be distributed directly to our maintenance and landscape staff in the field. Of course, calls and office visits will always be welcome! In addition, it will help better track our inventory, manage a preventive maintenance plan for our equipment, create a prescriptive maintenance plan based on work orders generated on the same pieces of equipment and reliable tracking of work orders processed. It is our goal to have this system online and operational for the start of January. On a separate note, my Community Chats will be continuing in January, February and March. The dates, times and locations will be emailed in my Out and About. If you are currently not signed up for our email blasts, please contact Jennifer Miranda at jmiranda@orps.com and register your email address to receive updates. As a reminder, the community chats are an informal conversation regarding things in the resort and an opportunity for questions and answers as well as discussion.
Here’s to a great start to the New Year!
survey questionnaire sent out in early February to the owners and having the results completed/tabulated by late March. Then with the survey completed and incorporated into the Refresher plan, we would be able to begin the facility planning in mid-April and be able to develop and present a Facility Improvement project to the community in early November. The Strategic Plan will be finalized through interaction with the Board and the GM. Following that, the Plan will be communicated to the owners. to achieve buy-in. We have a great resort and the Strategic Plan will help ensure we keep it that way for years to come.
Greg Farmer Board President
2
Made with FlippingBook Publishing Software