Where do you see your student organization in 3 years? What about 5 years? You might still be deciding where you see your student organization next semester. 

Now imagine if your former officers were thinking 3 to 5 years into the future. They might have left you with a road map; a map to bigger things than you ever dreamed your student organization could accomplish within the term of your leadership alone. 

Thinking that far out may sound intimidating, but imagine your student club in terms of gardening. If the former officers and members planted the seed of a plan a few years ago, your organization would have been a tree by now.

Now is the time to plant the seed, so that your student organization can grow into something beautiful. 

So, what exactly is a strategic plan? Let’s start off by defining what a strategic plan is not. Strategic Planning is often mistaken as creating a list of goals your group hopes to accomplish, but there’s a very important component most groups forget about … the strategy.

Basically, a strategy is a plan of action to achieve a goal.

For example, A very common goal for student organizations is to increase membership. Not only do Organizations need to be SMART about how they approach their goals, but they also need to plan their actions and use of resources (i.e. time, people, money, and partnerships) to achieve them.

If you haven’t read my post on how to transform vague goals into “SMART” goals, I recommend you check that out!

Planning on gaining more members sounds good on paper, but how is this going to be accomplished? This is where developing a strategy comes into play.

To create a simple strategy, every goal needs a Who What? Where? When? and Why?