It better, or we’re doing this wrong! 

In today’s world, strategic planning is critically important to the success of every organization – and our new strategic plan is no exception.

As our road map for the next three years, the plan articulates our future vision and provides the board of directors with a template that gives me, their employee, effective guidance and oversight. In turn, I work with our management team to establish an annual business plan so we can effectively lead our staff in delivering products and services to you.

For the first time ever, our advanced research for the creation of this strategic plan was developed by surveying our members. Those of you who responded provided great input on what to focus on over the next three years.

Effective strategic planning is typically conducted in multiple year cycles and becomes the road map to deliver our mission and vision. 

CREB^®’s new mission: Ensure CREB^® REALTORS^® have the tools and support they need to be successful; and

CREB^®’s new vision: CREB^® REALTORS^® are essential to real estate consumers.

The wheel symbolizes how our work is wrapped in our mission and vision and is centred on five priorities: members, stakeholders, financial, internal systems and people.

Within each strategic priority you’ll see the objectives we have set based on our understanding of your current and future needs.

For many years, the CREB^® board of directors has taken strategic planning very seriously. To ensure we develop the most strategic resource for our members, they methodically consider the current landscape, research issues and seek input from members, staff and stakeholders. From there, they use this analysis to consider decisions and review progress to develop our strategic plan. 

And we’ve been doing this for quite some time. 

I take you back to 1943 when Kennett Lyle and Clair Cote Sr. convened a meeting to form CREB^®. This came after a previous version of CREB^®, formed in 1929, that failed to get off the ground because it was more of a social entity. One could presume the purpose of that organizational attempt did not meet the needs of members or potential members.

Strategic planning did not become a standard management tool until the 1960s. The focus of the 1943 version of CREB^® was very clear: to be a strong, clear voice on the issues that surround the needs of land-seeking veterans returning from World War II. 

It was from there that we emphasized the need for strong strategy to move our business forward for the betterment of our membership and industry. Check out our previous plan updates to see how we have progressed. 

As we go into our 75th year, do our mission, vision and strategies resonate with you?