Water Industry Council
Strategic Planning Workshop Overview & Open Issues

Workshop Overview

As part of its strategic planning process, the Water Industry Council (Council) asked Scully Capital Services, Inc. (Scully Capital) to facilitate a two-day planning workshop. The purpose of the workshop was to provide a forum for the member companies to define a strategic plan for the Council’s future.

The workshop was organized to step the participants through a strategic development process with the objective of defining a role for the Council and determining how it would be most effective in helping the member companies be successful in the marketplace. This process resulted in the development of the necessary ingredients for a strategic plan for the Council, which Scully Capital documented in its workshop report dated December 17, 1997.

The workshop also resulted in a consensus among the participants that the Council can play an important role in expanding the industry, and the need for an industry council was well recognized. However, existing members are not prepared to expand their level of funding for the Council at this time and favor expanding membership to fund activities. Therefore, a priority will be placed on finalizing products and documents currently under development and creating an organization "identity package."

Open Issues

Given the short time frame of the strategic planning workshop, a number of open issues remain and, perhaps, should be considered on the agenda for the Council’s January meeting. These issues include the following:

Mission & Strategy: Scully Capital’s report provided the Council with an initial draft of a strategic plan and mission statement. Additional input and member consensus will be required to make these results the basis for the Council’s activities and identity package.

New Member and Associate Member Roles: The workshop highlighted the need for new levels of membership. The Council will need to define criteria for board participation, the level of input to Council direction, and the types of activities, services and/or privileges, which would be offered to associate members.(e.g. voting rights, newsletter subscription, reduced or no cost for certain Council events, etc.)

Council Budget & Timing of Expenditures and Collections: The workshop participants generally agreed that expenditures on activities aimed at attracting new members (e.g., identity package) should be accelerated. However, the specific types of expenditures and the acceleration of the collection of membership dues requires additional discussion.

Committee Progress: As discussed in the December 17 report, several committees were established to develop Council work products. Although the members of each committee were identified, it may be helpful to review the specific activities contemplated for the next six months, the associated required resources.