Show Notes
Six exhibitions, classes four nights a week, a brand new website and a grant application for a kiln. The arts centre committee in this week’s cold open has had a huge year. But when the president sits down to write her annual report, she can list everything they did and not one thing it achieved. All hands on deck, and nobody steering the ship.
So begins Planning With Purpose — and the Kates admit they’re six months into a weekly podcast before getting around to their favourite subject (clearly they didn’t plan that very well). They look at why planning ends up in the too-hard basket, with a detour via the Red Queen and a few headless chooks, and why your strategic plan and your operational plans are yin and yang rather than the same document written twice.
Then it’s time to work out which of four situations your committee is in, and what that means for where you start. There’s a ghost making a return appearance from last week, a quick test most committees will fail, and a challenge that will tell you, in black and white, whether your committee is governing or managing.
In This Episode
- Busy isn’t the same as purposeful — why a full calendar and a packed agenda don’t necessarily add up to getting anywhere.
- Why planning gets skipped — three things that get in the way — and why googling “how to develop a strategic plan” is a little terrifying.
- The what and the how — strategic plans and operational plans, and why neither one works without the other.
- Which plan does it belong in? — an easy test, and what happens when the exhibition nibbles end up in the strategic plan.
- Four situations — no plans, half a plan, a plan past its use-by date, or plans that are alive and well. Which one is yours?
- The ghost plan — a close cousin of last week’s ghost policies.
- A quick test — could everyone on your committee tell you your vision from memory, right now?
- This week’s challenge — what the minutes from your last three meetings say about your committee.
Join Our WhatsApp Community
The Committee Room has a WhatsApp Community. It’s another way to get in touch with the Kates — send a voice note with your governance question (you might just hear it on the show), tell us about your experience on a not-for-profit committee, or simply keep up with new episodes.
WhatsApp: 0421 451 655
Want to Go Further?
Kate McPhee’s Just a Tick covers why setting the strategic direction is the committee’s first job, and why strategic and operational plans are yin and yang. Kate Hartwig’s Committee Companion has checklists, frameworks and exemplars to help get your planning off the ground. And if your committee is ready to get its plans out of the too-hard basket, both Kates run planning workshops — through their own businesses or together through Fresh Allsorts. Details at freshallsorts.com.au.
This Week’s Challenge
Pull out the minutes from your last three meetings. Count how many decisions mention your strategic plan. Then count how many were about hanging the next exhibition, fixing the kiln or chasing overdue class fees. That tells you whether your committee is governing or managing — and around the committee table, the job is governing.
Got a Question for the Kates?
Use the contact form at thecommitteeroom.com.au. Or send a voice note or message to our WhatsApp Community on 0421 451 655 — details above.
About Your Hosts
Kate Hartwig has spent forty years working in and around not-for-profit and membership organisations — as a CEO, director, and independent consultant. Her Committee Companion is a head start on good governance with checklists, frameworks and exemplars for committee members. katehartwig.com.au
Kate McPhee has three decades of hands-on experience helping small clubs and associations get more done with less stress. She is the author of Just a Tick, a plain-English governance guide for committees and boards. liquoriceallsorts.com.au
Together they offer governance health checks, the Constitution Composer, and other practical support through Fresh Allsorts.
This podcast provides general information on best practice governance for small to medium not-for-profit associations. It is not legal or financial advice.
Timestamps
00:03 — Plenty of activity, but what has been achieved?
01:19 — Introducing the Kates and this episode on why planning matters
01:56 — New series — Planning With Purpose
02:47 — Planning — the big picture
03:26 — Why don’t organisations plan?
03:48 — We don’t have the time…
04:11 — Activity does not equal productivity
04:54 — Presumed knowledge
05:19 — Why strategic plans have a bad reputation
05:44 — Your planning process should suit your organisation
06:17 — Bring in the people that care
07:01 — Don’t mix up your strategic and operational plans
07:16 — Strategic plans
08:14 — Operational plans
09:07 — Yin and yang — neither works without the other
09:34 — What belongs in each plan?
09:56 — Where a strategic plan goes wrong
10:33 — What plan do you need? Four common situations…
10:50 — 1. No plans at all
11:17 — 2. Strategic plan but no operational plans
11:44 — 3. You have your plans but nobody is looking at them
12:13 — 4. You have and use both plans, but it’s time for a refresh
12:57 — Circumstances change and so do your plans
13:14 — Quick test
13:43 — Recap
15:03 — Improvement challenge and next week’s episode on strategic planning
Next Episode
Episode 28 — Which Way From Here? — sleeves up. The Kates build a strategic plan: looking back, looking around and looking forward, then working out your vision, your goals and how to get there. Plus BHAGs — Big Hairy Audacious Goals. Every committee should have at least one.
Resources & Links
🎙️ The Committee Room thecommitteeroom.com.au — episode archive, show notes, downloads and contact form
💬 The Committee Room WhatsApp Community — 0421 451 655 — LINK
🍬 Fresh Allsorts freshallsorts.com.au — Governance Health Checks, the Constitution Composer and practical support from both Kates
Kate Hartwig Consulting katehartwig.com.au — including the Committee Companion, a head start on good governance with checklists, frameworks and exemplars
Liquorice Allsorts Consulting liquoriceallsorts.com.au — including Just a Tick, Kate McPhee’s plain-English governance guide
Episode 25 — Planning Your Numbers Listen here — where the Kates first asked “Plans? What plans?”
Episode 26 — Governance After Dark Listen here — meet the ghost plan’s cousins, the ghost policies
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You don’t need good luck if you’ve got good governance.
And some really good plans.
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