Growing a business is a lot like treating a patient: A proper diagnosis and a treatment plan can have a positive impact on the patient’s health and well-being. For veterinary practices, the strategic plan can help to diagnose the state of the practice and identify goals and objectives that will ensure future success.
To determine whether practices rely on strategic planning, the Veterinary Hospital Managers Association (VHMA) released a survey that was completed by 170 veterinary professionals.
The majority of respondents (67%), report that their practice relies on a strategic plan and 32% do not. Respondents whose practices have not adopted strategic plans speculate that it is because supervisors lack interest or follow through in planning activities (50%), owners do not support strategic planning (46%), time constraints make planning difficult (34%) and leadership lacks the skills and/or resources to spearhead the planning process (24%).
Of the practices in which a strategic plan is used, 73% of respondents describe the plan as informal, while 27% report that the plan is a formal document.
When creating a strategic plan, identifying strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) is an important exercise to develop the strategies that can help a practice improve and grow. The SWOT analysis helps to create the roadmap for success. It is not surprising that 60% of respondents with formal strategic plans have been involved in a SWOT analysis planning session. Sixty percent of respondents whose plans are characterized as informal have participated in a practice-led SWOT planning session.
All respondents with formal strategic plans say that the plan is documented or written compared to 30% of those with informal plans.
Based on the overall results, the practice owner and manager (45%) and leadership team (41%) are the staff members most often involved with developing the strategic plan. When the responses of respondents with formal plans are analyzed, the results reveal that all staff members (37%) participate in creating the plan. Among this subset, practice owner and manager (35%) and leadership team (30%) are also involved in the planning process.
Once the planning document is created, 60% of all respondents share it with the entire staff.
Forty-two percent of respondents report that the strategic plan is designed to cover a combination of time periods, including: short-term (2 years or less); mid-term (2-5 years); and long-term (5 plus years). Twenty-six percent indicate that their plan focuses on the mid-term, 25% say the plan emphasizes the short term and 6% have adopted long-term plans.
The issues that are addressed in the plans tend to be the same across the board and include facility growth (85%), staffing (78%), equipment and/or technology (75%), and product and service pricing (70%).
A critical step in any planning process is monitoring and evaluating progress toward goals. By neglecting this step, the document is relegated to a back shelf to gather dust. How frequently the plan is evaluated is often tied to the rate of change within the organization. Among respondents, 41% evaluate and monitor the plan annually and 39% schedule quarterly reviews. A much smaller percentage monitor monthly (17%) or weekly (4%).
Strategic planning, whether formal or informal, is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing process that must be evaluated and adjusted if an organization is committed to effectively confronting and adapting to future challenges.
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