We call it the “CEO Turnover Trap.” This trend we’ve observed over decades of working with Chambers of Commerce and Economic Development Organizations (EDOs) isn’t rooted in cynicism, but is a reflection of patterns that deserve attention and discussion. It goes something like this:

1. A new CEO/Executive Director is hired to bring fresh leadership 
2. The organization invests in costly strategic planning.
3. The plan is well-meaning but lacks community input and/or has no practical plan for funding or implementation.
4. Without follow-through and the steps therein, the plan fails.
5. The CEO is replaced after 3-4 years, and the cycle starts again

Despite this, you can’t criticize a new CEO for wanting fresh strategic planning. It has the right intentions and strategic planning is rightly prioritized for setting a future course and ensuring long-term success. And still, for many organizations, strategic planning alone falls short for the reasons listed above. 

The challenge isn't just in the creation of the plan but in ensuring it actually serves the needs of the community (relevance) and follows through with actionable steps. Too often, organizations are left with a beautifully bound document filled with data, lofty ideas, and grand visions that ultimately fail to move the needle in any meaningful way. Rinse and repeat.

The Problem with Most Strategic Plans

At first glance, strategic plans present themselves as the perfect recipe for success. You pack them with data, market analysis, and input from your leadership team. However, as some Chambers and EDOs have learned, there are four predictable (and preventable) shortcomings that will prevent your plan from having its intended outcomes:

1. It’s Not Relevant or Responsive to Your Community

One of the biggest pitfalls of traditional strategic planning is to minimize the unique characteristics of your community and/or organizational stakeholders in favor of what seems to have worked elsewhere. No cookie-cutter solution can adequately factor in your local dynamics, such as the socio-economic factors, political landscape, or cultural attributes, to name a few. 

What works in “that” community is unlikely to work in yours if followed point for point, and a prerequisite for success is to directly address the specific solutions your community seeks.

2. It’s All Data and Big Ideas without Solutions or Action Plans

While you certainly need extensive data and visionary goals for your community’s economic future, many strategic plans are noticeably top heavy with facts, figures, and promises without offering actionable solutions. We often witness this with plan documents that appear aware of community needs and impressive in their data-driven objectives, but fail to provide practical steps to solve them. 

Inevitably, any excitement generated in your brainstorming phase fades when it’s time to implement, leaving organizations without the necessary direction to bring their big ideas to life—and the cycle repeats.

3. Viewing Strategic Planning as the End, Not the Beginning

As part of this cycle, many organizations subconsciously perceive the completion of a strategic plan as the final goal. The process is exhausting every time as you attempt to juggle meetings, input, and approvals, which may lead you to feel that finishing the plan marks the end. 

However, the real work begins after strategic planning and to “not plan to achieve your plan” perpetuates the CEO Turnover Trap every couple of years. To avoid wasting time and resources, we suggest viewing planning as a two-step process: 

• Strategic Discovery: gather ideas, input, and insights
• Planning and Implementation: determine real, achievable steps for execution

4. Limiting Input to Internal Leadership 

One of the most glaring issues we see in strategic plans is their narrow range of input, often restricted to internal leadership—such as executive staff, the board, or a select cohort of stakeholders. Without involving the broader community, your strategic plan (and organization) will only be as relevant as you are lucky. 

We understand the temptation, even the admirability, of looking inward to address opportunities for self-improvement, yet Chambers and EDOs will always achieve far more by gathering and applying the perspectives of outside stakeholders, including local businesses, community organizations, public agencies, and residents.

The NCDS Roadmap: Moving Beyond Strategic Planning

Each stated problem above can be solved with the right guidance and insight if your organization has grown weary of the CEO Turnover Trap. It starts by realigning and optimizing three key areas: your organization, your community, and your stakeholders. This approach ensures that your strategic plan isn’t just a document to be shelved but a living action plan that drives measurable outcomes across its lifecycle. In fact, we have a new product called the Roadmap to Relevance and Revenue, and here’s how it does it:

1. Focus on Your Organization

Our Roadmap is deeply fundamental, beginning with a deep dive into your organization’s culture, capacity, and competencies—without putting your leadership in a defensive or vulnerable position. What are your strengths? What resources do you have at your disposal? What internal challenges might you face in executing your plan? Is there any low-hanging fruit we can rapidly adjust to get quick wins and more alignment with our stakeholders? 

By understanding your current standing, NCDS can help you create a Roadmap that is not only ambitious and achievable, but positions your organization at the front of your community’s economic future.

2. Understanding Your Community

Every community is different, and the dynamics, needs, and opportunities that exist in your area are unique. We heavily emphasize identifying your community’s gaps and unmet needs by assessing what other organizations and public agencies are doing, where there might be overlap, and how your organization can best fill the gaps. 

Our goal is not to undermine but promote you to a top-of-mind leadership by ensuring your strategic plan is not only relevant to your organization, but responsive to the needs of the community.

3. Engaging Stakeholders Inside and Outside Your Organization

True relevance and revenue come from aligning your organization with the needs and interests of your stakeholders, both inside and outside the organization. This includes understanding the influence of partners, competitors, and other overlapping entities, as well as tapping into the perspectives of influencers and decision-makers in your community. 

When these stakeholders are engaged early and often in the process, the result is a community-wide mandate that empowers your organization to act.

Get A Clear Path Forward

Unlike many traditional strategic plans, the NCDS Roadmap emphasizes a clear, actionable plan with tangible milestones, timeframes, and steps. It’s not just about setting long-term, visionary goals, but also about creating short-term wins that keep the organization and its stakeholders motivated.

Without the sticker shock of expensive strategic planning and fundraising consultants, our approach helps you develop a way forward that is grounded in reality and relevance while still being ambitious enough to inspire change. This involves:

• Programs and Initiatives that address both near-term and long-term goals.
• Operational Plans that account for staffing, funding, and volunteer engagement.
• Scorekeeping to measure progress and ensure accountability at every step of the process.
• Check-ins to add value, wisdom, and insight at any stage presenting unique barriers

With our Roadmap, you can move beyond the limitations of traditional strategic planning and take meaningful steps toward true relevance and sustained revenue. We’re always here for a free consultation if this speaks to your organization’s needs.