Strategic planning means the Board of Governors Chairman helps set direction with officers before problems come up — not just responding after something goes wrong.

This guide walks you through the planning cycle and points you to the Strategic Planning Tool, a fillable worksheet that covers goal-setting, budgeting, conference planning, and calendar-building in one place.

For: Board of Governors Chairmen.

When: Start of every term, with check-ins at mid-year and year-end.

In this article

Officers run their own areas well day to day, but someone needs to help guide the whole picture: are recruitment, finance, and membership development goals actually specific enough to measure, and does the calendar and budget support them? That's the Chairman's role. It means proactive, consistent check-ins with officers — not only stepping in once something has already gone wrong.

✅ Best practice — Ask officers to define what a successful semester looks like in writing, in their own words, before you refine it together. A goal an officer helped write is a goal they'll actually track.

Run these four steps with your officer team at the start of every term. Each one has a matching worksheet in the downloadable Strategic Planning Tool.

For each focus area — recruitment, finance, membership development, and any others your chapter tracks — write a goal that can be checked off without an argument. "Recruit 15 new members, with at least 10 attending both socials and a values-based event" beats "have a good recruitment semester."

Pull last term's actuals, confirm fixed costs, and add a line item for anything the new goals require. A budget that doesn't connect to the goals from step 1 is just a spreadsheet.

Decide who is attending which educational conferences before registration opens, tie any costs to the budget from step 2, and give each attendee something specific to bring back.

Add fixed deadlines and each goal's target date to the calendar before layering in social events. An owner should be assigned to every date — an event with no owner tends not to happen.

Set a recurring 1:1 cadence with each officer — every two weeks works well for recruitment, finance, and membership development in the early part of the term, while monthly later becomes enough over time. Use the same three questions each time:

💡 Tip — A short, predictable check-in beats a long meeting that only happens when something's wrong. Officers start bringing you problems earlier once they trust the rhythm.

Halfway through the term, sit down with each officer and mark every goal as on track, off track, or needs adjusting — and adjust it if needed. At the end of the term, close the loop: mark each goal hit or missed, and write down one lesson for next term. Hand that year-end review directly to your successor; it's the best starting point for their own goal-setting.

How many goals should each officer have?

Most officers can meaningfully track one or two goals per term. More than that and check-ins stop being useful — pick the goals that matter most and revisit others next term.

What if an officer's goal is off track at mid-year?

If a goal is off track at the mid-year check, decide together whether to adjust the target, add support, or change the approach — don't just wait and hope it improves by year-end.

Do I need to use the Word worksheet, or can I track this another way?

Use whatever format your board will actually keep up with. The worksheet is a starting point — a shared spreadsheet or project-management tool works just as well if your team already uses one.

Questions? Contact your Chapter Consultant or the National office.

Last reviewed: August 2026.