It’s that time again! You may not be aware of it, but your AIA Virginia embarks on a strategic planning process every 3 years. This year, the process will be shepherded by First Vice-President Bill Brown along with our consultant Sarah Milston with The Spark Mill. These folks will be aided by an 8-person workgroup who will really dig into the research and craft the details of plan.
The planning process kicked off with a two-day Board retreat last Friday and Saturday (Feb. 26–27), where the group undertook a series of conversations about the future of the organization. We began by revisiting the last plan, considering AIA National’s new plan, and envisioning what AIA Virginia could look like in 10 years. Then, we dove a bit deeper and talked about what we could accomplish over the next 3 years, identified priorities, and organized the work into broad categories.
But, those were just our first steps. Following the retreat, the workgroup gave a few more hours of their Saturday to schedule out the remaining work and to identify a handful of key stakeholders intended to represent core audiences. Over the next 2 months, Sarah will conduct in-depth interviews with these 11 stakeholders and present her findings to the Board and workgroup. These findings may affirm or challenge some of the assumptions made by the board, and will be used to inform the work of the group.
Though the timeline is tight, the workgroup hopes to present the Strategic Plan to the Board in advance of their June meeting, so that it can be considered for approval on June 17. After approval, the staff will continue to work with Sarah to develop an implementation plan and, most importantly, a mechanism to keep the plan alive for the next 3 years.
If you have any questions about the strategic planning process, please contact Rhea George, rgeorge@aiava.org