Winston Churchill once said, “However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” This quote elegantly summarizes the essence of CFA Society Toronto’s long-term strategy for 2016–2018.

As an organization run by members for members, the Society will see some concrete changes and enhancements being implemented in the coming months as the board and management act on feedback from the latest member satisfaction survey. Members identified two key priorities: (1) increased focus on professional and career development and (2) promotion of the charter and its value to external stakeholders.

CFA Society Toronto’s membership base has grown tremendously over the years, making it the second-largest in the world, with 8,500 members and growing. It’s no surprise that this growth has not come without challenges. The leadership of the Society not only understands these challenges but is also proactively engaged in capitalizing on the opportunities that accompany them. To get insight into what to expect over the next two years, The Analyst spoke with CFA Society Toronto’s CEO, Sue Lemon, CFA, chief architect of the strategy.

Lemon explained the challenges of serving such a diverse member base by segmenting the membership. Given the different requirements of members, depending on where they are in their careers, resource constraints certainly limit the ability to deliver high-quality events and curricula that can satisfy everyone equally. How can this be fixed? She pointed to strengthening the foundation that supports the Society’s activities: its volunteers. The Society needs to attract and retain high-calibre individuals who will support the delivery of high-impact programs and services.

But that’s not the only challenge. In light of the growing number of professional designations and their member organizations, CFA Society Toronto also has to compete for “share of mind,” said Lemon. This is always a continuous effort, she said, and will require clearly communicating the Society’s value proposition and the benefits of membership.

But with challenges also come opportunities. Lemon stressed that better communicating the Society’s value proposition to key external stakeholders would help transform how the Society is perceived and promote its key mission and objectives. There’s also an opportunity to revamp programs and services by striking the right balance between quality and quantity. The Society will cut down the number of programs and instead focus on delivering fewer but higher-quality ones.

The entire strategic overhaul is summed up in the following four key objectives.

Define and focus member services

Programs and services will be more targeted and cater to the needs of the Society’s varied membership. By supporting the different membership segments, programs and services will be aimed at meeting members’ expectations and increasing volunteer involvement.

Increase brand value

The existence of so many professional organizations increases the importance of the Society having its own distinct voice—a clear value proposition for current and prospective members. Developing integrated marketing and communications to raise awareness of the brand will be key. This will be coupled with a sponsor and partner strategy, as well as increased collaboration with external stakeholders such as employers and regulators.

Develop and improve talent management

Key staff and volunteers will be instrumental in creating a high-performing, member-centric organization. New initiatives will further link staff and volunteer performance with the Society’s objectives while improving the talent management framework. These efforts will be coupled with operational improvements.

Develop operational efficiency and financial flexibility

To implement, track, and improve on all the strategic objectives, it’s important that the Society’s internal processes are enhanced further to deliver, support, and report performance relative to those objectives. Achieving this objective will result in further well-defined metrics and processes to monitor against them for ongoing efficiency and financial improvements.

Achieving these objectives should ultimately improve, and be reflected in, the results of the next membership survey. A transformation inspired by membership feedback is undoubtedly the right approach as these new strategic objectives aim to position the Society for future growth. More importantly, they will solidify the Society’s prominence in the local financial landscape as it helps to carry out the global mandates of CFA Institute. As the Future of Finance initiative gathers momentum globally, it’s comforting to know that our own future looks quite bright.