Business planning at Mill Cat Trust (part 2)

Rate this page

Rating statistics for this page

2.9 out of 5 from 71 votes

Breakdown

15 votes

10 votes

16 votes

15 votes

15 votes

At the end of the away day

 Jan, the Chair of Trustees asked Chris the Director if she wanted a lift. Chris thanked her and on the way home, chatted away excitedly: "I've got so many ideas buzzing away in my head!" she said, "it was really interesting to think about the future like that and not just focus on the day to day stuff". Jan was relieved – what a result!

They talked more about some of the exercises they had done. Jan thought the 'impact/predictability' one had been great and helped her think about what was really important. They agreed to meet again the next week to think about the next steps – the 'now what?' as the facilitator had called it! In the meantime, Jan planned to ask a colleague who was really clued up about strategic planning if she would meet Chris and take her through the process and show her the benefits of the systematic planning.

Maureen rang after the away day to tell Ron what had happened: "You know Ron, the afternoon was really interesting! We looked at what might happen in the future, which the facilitator called 'drivers'. You’d have had a laugh at that one!” she said.

They had also talked about the impact of the credit crunch on donations and how many animals were likely to be abandoned when people got short of money – or worse, lost their homes – and had to rent places where animals weren’t allowed. She hadn’t thought about it like this. What was really exciting too was that during the discussions, Jan had said that with a proper planning process, they might be able to build in some funding for international work so that it became part of the Trust’s core activities! 

The next day

Ron felt a bit foolish about leaving at lunch time and had rung Jan in the evening to ask to meet her for a coffee at the Mill Pot café. He knew from experience that if you walk out of something, the hard part is going back in – and you’re always in a worse position when you do!

He arrived at the café determined not to let Jan make him feel as if he had done something wrong. He couldn’t be more wrong. Jan was really nice to him and said that they had really missed him in the afternoon. She told him what had been discussed and asked him to come to the next planning meeting which was to be held at the office. They were going to decide on the future direction of the Trust taking on board what they had worked on yesterday and she'd really like him to be there.

The future

Jan told Ron that she wanted to ask him a favour. She knew that Chris was under extreme pressure, trying to manage the staff and the increasing numbers of volunteers. She said "Ron would you consider being the Volunteer Co-ordinator? It would mean organising volunteers so that Chris can get on and promote the organisation more. She's spending so much of her time making sure there are enough people to keep things going. This would be unpaid and completely separate from your role on the Board but it would really help".

Ron went away from the meeting feeling both elated and relieved. On the way there, he'd worried that he was going to get a 'right telling off'.  Instead he now had a real role to get his teeth into! It would fill up at least two or three days a week and he knew he could do a great job. Didn’t his last manager at work say, “you have a real way with people Ron!” He couldn't wait to tell his wife – she would be pleased that he would be out of her hair for a couple of days a week!”

Have your say

• What could Jan and Chris do to ensure that the insights and inspiration gained through the away day are built upon?
• Do you think Jan managed the situation with Ron well?
• Have you been in a similar situation? How did you handle it?

Have your say on the Millcaster Tales forum

More Millcaster

Missed the first part of this story? Read Business planning at Mill Cat Trust (part 1).

Catch up with past episodes.