Sunsetting Programs

As chamber staff, it is important to have a systematic way to review our program of work so we can remain relevant to our members.

I wrote a blog post in the past on Scared Cows and how you might "Kick Them to The Curb."  That post can be found HERE.

I recently read Strategic Integration by Gabriel Eckert & Bob Harris and they devoted an entire chapter to this subject, titled "Systematic Sunsetting."

They suggest and proved a great template to review your programs based on its relevance to the mission, member participation, revenue, etc.

They went on to talk about a systematic way to do this review.  The following is their suggested review timetable, directly from page 62 of the book, to evaluate your programs.

• Year 1: Education
• Year 2: Events
• Year 3: Advocacy
• Year 4: Other programs and services.
• Then repeat the process starting at year 1 again.

Whatever you decide, it's important to have some system set-up and stick with that process.  You'll need to decide what works best for your organization.

We only have so many resources (staff and budget) and sometimes some of our programs should be sunsetted.

Good luck!

Killing Sacred Cows - Just do it!

How many of you are still doing the same programs, year after year, and you don't know why or you've been told we've always done them?

Are they well attended?

Are you making money?

If not, let's kick those programs to the curb. For a blog post talking about program based budgeting go HERE.

Are you loading all costs towards your program? In other words are you counting the:

• Staff costs;
• Marketing costs (printing, postage); and
• Food and beverage costs or meeting space fees in your final calculation?

...or are you just comparing the receipts at the door (registration fees) vs. food and beverage and room rental at the venue?

Do the full arithmetic and if it's not making money -- kick it to the curb!

Remember, we can't be running chambers that lose money.

We need to run our chambers like a business and run it in the black. Identify your core programs and make them better.

For a blog post on the Hedgehog Theory go HERE.

The theory suggests you should focus on:

• What you have passion for;
• What you do best or can be the best in; and
• Where you make money.

Where those three meet are the programs you should be doing.

Now that's a recipe for success!

Have You Kicked That Sacred Cow to the Curb Yet?

It's been a couple of years since I last talked about kicking sacred cows to the curb.

Have you had any success in dropping your sacred cows?

The past four years, with the economy and our chamber budgets, has given us the perfect opportunity to review our program of work and drop those programs that don't make sense anymore.

And the reasons could be:

• No value to members;
• Nobody attends; or
• It loses money.

Let's get back to focusing on what our boards want us to do and get rid of those losers that just drain the resources of our chamber.

I strongly suggest that you look at all your programs at your next annual retreat and prioritize your program of work and kick those sacred cows to the curb.

Stop trying to be all things to all people, nobody benefits from that strategy!

For a previous blog post on sacred cows go HERE.

Transparency

In today’s world being transparent is expected.

Don’t hide behind closed door sessions, private meetings, and this goes for staff and volunteers too.

If everybody can see the big picture, everybody should be able to support the organization and its mission.

This is especially true when something goes wrong (i.e., a program or event loses money) or certain members aren’t paying what they should.

Can we all say scorecards?  See previous post on scorecards HERE.

Transparency is about filling out a plan on what the chambers challenges and opportunities are and setting a proper course of action to deliver value to your members.

Remember, your members are business people and make business decisions every day.

If a program is not working, being a transparent organization is a great way of shining a light on that loser, or sacred cow, and kick-it to the curb.

Past post on sacred cows can be found HERE.

Be transparent, your chamber will be better off for it!

Kicking Sacred Cows To The Curb

Sacred Cows. We all have them in our organizations.

What do we call programs that lose money? A member benefit! Do not get caught in that cycle.

I speak with chamber execs all the time that share their frustration of that new project initiated by the new chairman. We’ve all been there.

When we add new programs, do we delete a program? No. Use these economic times to shed those losers.

I wrote about scorecards in a previous post. Creating a scorecard can be very effective in sun-setting those programs, products or services that: don’t make money; members don’t value anymore, or have become a sacred cow of the organization.

A scorecard to measure the value of your programs, products or services should track at least the following items as a starting point:

• Revenue
• Costs - direct and indirect (i.e., staffing costs)
• Stated goal of program, product or service
• Evaluation of program, product or service by members
• Measure the results

As a sidebar, we should be reminded of the “Hedgehog Theory” stated by Jim Collins in his book titled, Good to Great, and include the theories’ three criteria in the final analysis:

1. Do we have passion for this program, product, or service?
2. Are we, or can we be the best in delivering this program, product or service?
3. Do we make money on this program, product or service?

After you’ve implemented this assessment tool in your yearly review process, it should provide a strong argument on whether to continue a program, product, or service in the coming years – or kick that sacred cow to the curb!

For a previous blog post on program based budgeting go HERE.