The New Strategic Planning (Paul Jurbala)

Recently I’ve been working with a Provincial Sport Organization, and shortly I will begin working with a National Sport Organization, on LTAD-based strategic planning. I’m sure you know all about strategic planning: a strategic plan usually has a 3 to 5 year horizon; it usually takes about a third of that time to pull one together; and it usually takes the first 3 months for the consultant you hired to learn enough about your business to do anything. The only thing worse is doing it in-house because, to paraphrase the old saw, a Board that hires itself as a planner has a fool for a client.

Enough cynicism. There is a better way.

I take these truths to be self-evident:

1. The main function of sport organizations is to support the transformation of participant/athletes from lower to higher performance. (Note: “higher”… that could be a podium, it could be running your first 5 k, and it could be a 7-year-old learning to pass a soccer ball.)
2. "Support" means providing program opportunities such as coaching, competitions, organized training, and facility access.
3. The transformation is accomplished through the application of coaching and organizational knowledge to the participant/athlete via the development programs.
4. The most effective organization is therefore the one which accesses and utilizes the best available knowledge and delivers it through strong programs.

That “best available knowledge” is CS4L-LTAD. It’s the new Canadian sport paradigm. Virtually every Canadian sport organization now has a LTAD model and in most cases, an implementation plan. If the central mission of a sport organization is athlete development, and the framework and plan for that is already written, you have the basis for your strategic plan.

What’s missing? Just the business and administration stuff. And, the mission being what it is, the business elements are also in the service of athlete development. The question is, “What human resources, finance, marketing, communications, et cetera do we need to support the programs that support the athlete development?”  Again, the LTAD plan can be used to drive the business plan.

I don't want to make it sound too simple. There are lots of tough decisions to make when developing a strategic plan. There is also an art in getting everyone around the table on the same page. But clarity of focus goes a long way at the beginning, and CS4L-LTAD has given us much of that. Happy planning!

Paul Jurbala

Paul Jurbala is a member of the Canadian Sport for Life Leadership Team. He has worked in sport for 30 years, and now runs his own consulting and management business, communityactive consulting. He has developed strategic plans, LTAD plans, Competition Reviews and High-Performance Program Reviews for National and Provincial Sport and Multi-Sport Organizations. Paul holds a M.Sc. degree in Exercise Physiology and is currently studying in the PhD program in Sport Management at Brock University, where his focus is change and decision-making in sport organizations.