Page 15 - LRCC February 2025 Focus
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value and experience of membership, especially for What to Expect
the region’s small businesses and their employees.
That process will include developing more targeted Daman said the Chamber will likely revisit the
communications to better meet members’ strategic plan in three to five years to see if it’s due for
specific needs. another refresh. The Chamber intended to reevaluate
the 2018 plan sooner, but the Covid pandemic
“We have to figure out how we can necessitated a “heads down” approach to helping the
more effectively communicate local business community move forward, he said.
and visually demonstrate to our
businesses that there are so many The strategic plan drafted in 2018, along with the
ways for you to connect with the Chamber’s mission statement, helped the organization
Chamber, not only as an employer ease its operations through the worst of the pandemic,
and a business owner, but Daman said.
getting your employees to utilize
the chamber as a professional “I’m convinced that without having that base and
development vehicle,” Daman said. that mission that our team had fully bought into
Daman
“That’s where the strategic plan is and embraced, it would have been a much different
taking us, and I think experience for our organization. I firmly do believe
that’s exciting.” that,” he said.
In policy influence – which includes proactive With this refreshed strategic plan, LRCC hopes to
engagement with policymakers, advocacy efforts, and continue to deliver the services the membership
communication with members about what issues are cited as most valuable to their own businesses
more important to them – LRCC hopes to achieve 80 and the business community at large. Members
percent positive outcomes on its legislative agenda, surveyed noted they appreciate LRCC’s networking
a 10 percent increase in donors to the LRCC political opportunities, regional leadership, and pro-business
action committee, and to increase contributions to the public advocacy.
nonprofit Advance Greater Lansing by 10 percent.
If LRCC is delivering on its members’ directive, the
For the regional leadership piece, LRCC intends Chamber hopes to show year-over-year revenue
to maintain its leadership role of fostering connections growth of 2 percent, achieve member engagement
between business, government, education, and levels of 65 percent, and increase engagement on
community groups. To that end, the Chamber social media and the LRCC website by 20 percent.
plans to expand its communications efforts and
complete the State of the Region Benchmarking The Chamber also plans to develop a regional
Report in partnership with the Lansing Economic economic and policy dashboard based on the findings
Area Partnership. of the State of the Region Benchmarking Report.
The newly configured strategic plan again emphasizes “In my mind, the key to a successful strategic plan is
excellent operations within the Chamber. By leveraging that the members don’t necessarily notice there’s
technology, fostering innovation, and making data- a ‘plan,’” Resch said. “What they’re going to notice is
driven decisions, LRCC intends to maintain its U.S. that it’s a highly functional organization that meets
Chamber of Commerce accreditation, establish a well the needs of the Lansing business community. If
customer relationship management system, update its a member notices the Chamber’s doing that, then the
organizational board bylaws, and promote a positive strategic plan is working.”
work environment for its staff.
Per the study by strategy facilitators Bales and
Ultimately, LRCC is cognizant that retaining, attracting, Johnson, the Chamber can measure its growth in
and serving members means understanding what a number of ways, from more members to deeper
compels people to join a business-focused organization involvement. Growth can include total membership
amid ever-present shifts in the Lansing region’s numbers but also new or enhanced sponsorships,
economy, technology, and demographics. member engagement, event attendance, retention,
major projects, and partnerships.
“It’s always the goal of the Chamber to grow to be able
to add members and represent more members across Most 2024 survey respondents — 78.5 percent —
the Greater Lansing region,” Resch said. “So we’re indicated that they have recommended Chamber
looking at the services that we provide to make sure membership to others.
they continue to meet the needs of members. As the
environment changes, the Chamber needs to change LRCC’s new strategic plan isn’t the destination but a
as well.” roadmap for the future. There are always more ways
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