Pinta works with voluntary organisations providing strategic planning frameworks, facilitation and mediation services.
We specialise in governance training and structures for boards and management committees and helping organisations to develop their own monitoring and evaluation systems and processes.
The Client – The Chamber of Commerce is responsible for bringing together and supporting members from all parts of the county. The chamber actively contributes to the economic development of the county whilst reflecting the interests of its membership. The Chamber welcomes all businesses, big or small, as members. The Chamber has an impressive administration behind it, with a full-time office and a full-time director, servicing members’ needs and representing their interests at county and national level.
The Approach – The process for building the plan began in October 2011, with the Management Committee acknowledging there was a requirement for a Strategic Plan. In November 2011, a steering committee was established to oversee the planning process.
The team appointed Pinta, specialists in the area of strategic planning to assist them in building an outstanding strategic plan for the Chamber and for the county for the next three years. In defining the scope of the strategic plan, the Steering Group chose to focus on creating a framework to allow the county to become the location of choice for business and potential businesses.
The planning process began with a series of workshops with Chamber members and other business communities throughout the County. Through this process many of the ideas and aspirations were identified and the Chamber set about building a framework to complete a strategic plan that would be truly representative of all businesses in the County. The Chamber made the conscious decision to build a strategic plan that would attempt to eradicate some of the duplication of effort from other projects in the County.
Following consultation, it was agreed that the core areas upon which the plan needed to be built around were:
1. Marketing & Promotion
2. Business & IT
3. Lifestyle and Culture
4. Optimising Distinctive Capabilities
5. Services to Business
6. Education & Research
Following the initial workshop where 74 people attended from 65 different businesses, 77% of those attended volunteered to participate in the workgroups to further develop the plan. Six work group committees were established to further refine and distil the ideas from the workshop. Six workgroup leaders were identified to manage and facilitate the workgroup sessions.
Each committee working together over a four week period involving a number of meetings completed their component of the plan, which in turn were then forwarded to Pinta who consolidated all of the inputs and developed a draft for review. This draft was presented to the Steering Group, who reviewed each of the component parts and completed a capacity analysis to ensure each one of the areas could be completed within the suggested time period as outlined by the committee.
The Result – This process has seen many benefits such as:
• This process has provided a platform for the Chamber to attract 20 new members to the Chamber
• Create a relationship with the County Council to deliver an Online Portal project
• Improve our profile with the Media in the County
• Increase in the number of members attending networking events
• This plan provides us with a tool to attract potential sponsors
• An action plan to help us deliver on the goals and objectives established
• An increase in the number of volunteers participating on our committees to assist in the delivery of the plan