August 2008 -- As chair of the USPTA Long-Range Planning Committee and while in the process of preparing for the July committee meeting, I took the opportunity to go online and research the broad topic of long-range planning for businesses. I found a Web site that lists, by category, what most businesses do in developing effective long-range plans.
In the overview, the Web site makes some statements that I must wholeheartedly agree with: "People drive business success. Human imagination creates the ideas that move business forward. Human conversations and human effort shape those ideas into products and services for the market."; ".organizations which put people at the center of processes and information are better positioned to meet the challenges of a fast-changing, globally integrated and interconnected world because they have invested in the most agile, resilient and creative asset available to them."
This overview relates to
our business of providing member services. To adequately provide these services, the USPTA members themselves need to be involved in the process to determine exactly what services they want and need. Meanwhile, there is no question that our industry is fast changing and becoming more globally integrated!
This particular Web site addresses four distinct business goals. 1. Strengthen customer relationships; 2. Improve operations; 3. Drive innovations; 4. Build partner and supplier connections. As I compare these generic business goals to our association, I see areas that we are strong in and areas that need improvement.
First, let's discuss strengthening customer relationships. Who are the customers of our Association? I see two distinct groups as customers: 1. Each USPTA member is a customer of our nonprofit organization and 2. The tennis-playing public is our constituency - in fact, the primary source of our earning potential.
We need to make our members the focus of good customer relationships. I believe we do that by consistently adding to the value of each membership through unmatched educational opportunities and the databases of information that are growing exponentially and offered online to our customer, the member. Meanwhile, we are informing the tennis-playing public what the USPTA is all about with our "Who We Are" tag lines and our
Tennis - for the health of it!?
SM initiative.
As for the goal of improving operations, I see the USPTA performing with very high marks! Our work at the World Headquarters continues to become more and more streamlined each day as we utilize the iMIS server to automate our operations. Many vital components of our extensive database, including our learning management systems and Web delivery systems, often allow us to touch a piece of paper only once or a member to input information online only once and immediately update the entire system. To the USPTA member, this means a faster, more efficient and cost-effective service. The introduction of the regional testing centers is another segment that reflects improved operations as we make sure that certification tests are never canceled at these sites.
The third stated business goal is well suited to the tennis industry. What has USPTA done to "drive innovations"? I believe we have been a pioneer in this area. Web sites such as the High School Tennis Resource Center are truly tools that will change the tennis industry. The number of video clips and drills that we have in this database is staggering. All of our members have this information available to them just a click away. Improved teaching techniques are another example. We have been on the cutting edge of developing a high performance level of play and have been a key resource in the dissemination of information on different playing styles.
And finally, how about the goal of building "partner and supplier connections"? I would rate this area as one with room for improvement. Although we must always be careful to protect our USPTA membership in many different areas, we must still strive for continued and improved relationships with other tennis industry entities. With the tennis industry growing so fast and in so many directions, the USPTA must be progressive in its position within the industry. There is certainly room for collaboration and developing joint projects with industry partners, and we should look to grow in this area.
Long-range planning is a continuous process. It is important for our association to formulate some guiding values that define our organization and give us a clear picture of our purpose. This is why our July board meeting focused on a vision statement for the USPTA. In the words of Jack Welch, chairman of General Electric, "Good business leaders create a vision, articulate the vision, passionately own the vision, and relentlessly drive it to completion." Stay tuned to receive the results!
People Ready Business, Microsoft Business and Industry, (n.d.). Retrieved June 5, 2008 from http://www.microsoft.com/business/peopleready/overview/default.mspx?WT.svl=1.
