As the saying goes, two heads are better than one. We know it to be true and that’s why we’re getting ready to reach out to you—the members of CREB^®. We need your input to help chart our next four year strategic plan—the document that will serve as CREB^®’s road map to 2021.

We’re calling this step the pre-work phase. It’s where we reach out far and wide to get lots of different perspectives from multiple stakeholders about how we’re doing and where you think we should go next. This kind of robust engagement isn’t new for CREB^®, but it is the first time that we have directly involved all members in our strategic planning process.

In this way, CREB^®'s strat plan will truly be your strat plan. We facilitate its development with the board of directors and CF governors, but the context that goes into it and the outputs that we achieve from it are designed to create value for members.

Incoming CREB^® president David Brown mentioned this concept in his opening remarks at the Forecast Conference & Tradeshow earlier this month. I’m paraphrasing, but he said we reach out on every major initiative because we want to know that our ideas are aligned with yours, and make sure there isn’t anything we haven’t considered before making a final decision. That is how we create a plan that works for everyone. This is your board and we need to know what you think.

So, in the next week or so, you’ll be receiving an email with a survey link that allows you to weigh in on a number of different topics related to CREB^®’s strategic planning process. Our only request is that you take a few minutes to complete this questionnaire and be candid with your responses, in particular when it comes to the open-ended questions. All responses will be anonymous and confidential.

Our goal is to continue to be more inclusive and find new avenues to generate diversity of thought in our planning process. Strong member engagement is the hallmark of a high-performance organization and it is marvellous to see us getting there together.

Thank you all in advance for taking some time to complete the survey and for investing in the development of your next strategic plan.