Customer Article: Strategic Planner Helps NEHES Board Set Goals for One, Three, and Five Years Out

The NEHES Newsletter, December 2010

By Steven Jalowiec, P.E., CHFM, 2010 NEHES President

Barry facilitating the NEHES Board of Directors

At our annual NEHES Board of Directors Planning Retreat November 4-7 in Killington, VT, we included a two-day session for strategic planning. We brought in Barry MacKechnie, founder of CEO Services, to facilitate our strategy mapping session. As part of our preparation Barry had us complete three background surveys that he compiled into a report that was issued to us one week before our planning session.

Using that pre-retreat work as a foundation, we went through discussions about the challenges and issues that confront our membership on a daily basis as they manage their facilities, people, and ever-tightening budgets. We discussed the mission of NEHES and how the Board continues to support that mission. Barry then took us through his trademark goalsetting program where we identified strategic goals that reached out one year, three years, and five years.

NEHES Board working on strategic plans

Those goals that we set for the Board and membership of NEHES to achieve are as follows:

  1. Provide members with more education programs that improve and secure the employment futures of NEHES members. A team headed by Jack Gosselin, FASHE, CHFM will create that curriculum so that it is expanded to technical and certification programs as well as programs beyond the technical engineering world in the areas of management. Programs will be developed to provide better communications to the membership through the NEHES web site and newsletters. Education and career advancement programs will be offered at the annual Spring Seminars and Fall Conferences, as well as through state and local training programs that are closer to the workplaces of our membership. The commitment of the Board to provide scholarship funds to members was re-affirmed with budget allocations to grow the size of the total fund so that more annual scholarships can be awarded in the future.
  2. Programs were identified to improve and support the activities of the state and local chapters as well as to expand the NEHES interactions with ASHE. We identified 20 different programs that we will complete during 2011 in order to fulfill our strategic goals for the year. All of these programs will provide NEHES with the foundation to reach its three-year and five-year strategic goals.
  3. The Board committed to invest 97% of the annual net cash flow to these programs that are a direct benefit to all NEHES members. The 3% reserve was set aside to assure the continuing financial stability of NEHES.
  4. As measurements of the success of these programs, the Board set some goals that will provide real measurement of the success of these programs. Those goals are:
    • Grow and retain membership of NEHESM
    • Improve attendance at the Spring Seminars and Fall Conferences
    • Improve membership survey ratings
    • Maintain the financial stability of NEHES.

As part of the commitment to improving communications with the membership, the Board will be conducting membership feedback surveys during the year and at each of the two annual conferences. Based upon the feedback from those surveys, the Board will respond to the membership with programs to meet the requests that are supported by the majority of the membership. As we progress through the year, we will provide updates on the progress we are making and the feedback that we are getting from our members.

This will be an exciting year for NEHES. If you would like to be involved in the development of these new programs let your state representative know or contact: 1) President-Elect Dave Dagenais, SASHE, CHFM, CHSP (dave.dagenais@wdhospital.com), 2) Steve Jalowiec, P.E., CHFM (sjalowiec@wtbyhosp.org), or 3) any of the Board members (full list is at www.nehes.org — Join Us/About Us) and we'll connect you with the right people.