1. Keep it simple - people use tools that are easy to handle and use. A single page is always better than 100 pages, if it conveys the same information - so try to be succinct rather than hefty with your strategic plan.
2. Communicate with yourself - you will pick up this strategic plan in the future and USE it, so don't be cryptic or vague. You are talking with yourself in the future, so write your plan as specifically as you can.
3. Drive to salient information - use bullet points rather than prose, and ALWAYS answer the specific questions in your planning worksheets. If you are asked for a prediction on growth in a specific market segment, write down a number rather than an explanation.
4. Remember you can change your plan - while we don't want to be whimsical about changing our plans, we do want to go back and tidy up bits of it over time, as reality overtakes our assumptions about the future. Go back and fix it up (as a team) when fixing the plan makes sense.
5. Use the plan to drive results, not politics - this should be obvious, but your team is planning to make the credit union succeed. Don't let people use it to drive an agenda that will not get make your credit union more successful.
6. Use a structure that makes the plan easy to refer to - the Simplified Strategic Planning process is ideal for this! And be sure to watch for Simplified Strategic Planning for Credit Unions, which is currently being written!
-Robert
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