Sorry, this is coming much later than I had anticipated, but a business project kept me busy and out-of-town.

Further to our discussions at the executive meeting I attended, here are my findings and recommendation for OPCUG:

Problem

It appears that there is no membership growth, possibly a decline. Operational costs are increasing. OPCUG needs to build added value into the membership. There are plenty of ideas submitted by the executive and members, but they need to be prioritized and implemented. As well, another batch of new ideas have to be generated - more closely matched to the membership wants and needs These development ideas must be aligned with the stakeholders: the members, the potential new members, and the OPCUG executive.

Solution

To implement the following business model. The model will make develop value as an element of development success. To add value you need 3 essential ingredients: context, tools and concrete examples. My 3 Modules of this business model will help you fill in the blanks for the 3 ingredients.

The Adding Value Business Model

3 Modules:

Module 1

The executive sets the objective of this exercise. What I see as an objective is something along the lines as:

"Objective: Develop knowledge, skills, and infrastructure to add significant benefit to the membership of OPCUG... and to add x% of new members per year to a comfortable ratio of....". It must be linked to the project report described in Module 3.

Module 2

Identification of the situation. We must answer the question: "Where are we now?"

Twofold:

1. The executive must provide an analysis of the situation. Identify the issues. What is the most compelling issue. What are the options.

2. The clients must identify the issues. What is the most compelling issue. The clients here are the members and non-members (potential new members). Both must populate the audience.

To complete Module 1, this requires 2 actions in an action plan. The first action is for the executive to write out a summary of their analysis of the current situation as described in "1." The second action requires the creation of a brainstorm group to boost the situation analysis fact finding and to generate new ideas matched to their needs and wants. The brainstorm session would last a couple of hours. The audience would be a mix of representatives (1 or 2) from the executive and a ratio of 4:1 members to non-members. I suggest that all participants received free membership for one year.

The brainstorm session would involve a number of techniques such as mind mapping, story boarding, and/or STP.

The result of this module exercise becomes our main working document. Big payback from sound fact-finding. An honest measurement of things such as needs and wants.

This leads to Module 3

Module 3

Strategy development

It answers the question: what are the options. The analysis of the Module 2 information into a single document. The issues, the most compelling issues, the options, alternatives and new ideas are clearly identified. The most compelling issue is understood. The three modules are linked - Situation - Strategy - Objective, as in a triangle. The options become the strategies. They are linked to the situation. The most compelling options are the ones best linked with the objectives.

The most compelling options are segregated and selected. The selected options are analyzed for their financial and non-financial consequences. The executives make a decision and a recommendation.

The recommendation is implemented.

Richard Bazinet