Action Plans and the Film Commission Office

Regardless of the process, you go through to set mission, vision, values and goals, having this information on hand and using it to make decisions allows for a film commission office to be prepared. While many people believe that making plans is useless because the circumstances are just going to change and you will be unable to fulfill the original goals, in reality, the planning process can actually help when circumstances do change.

For instance, let’s say that you have developed some key strategies and goals using some form of the process described in the previous section and have begun making progress in many of the strategies. Halfway through the year, your funding is cut and you will need to cut back. Because you took the time to think through your strategies and goals and were able to put some thought into priorities, you have the information you need to really know where cuts will be the least disruptive to your mission and priorities.

In addition, strategic planning processes generally generate far more ideas than is possible to fulfill with current time and resources. By having thought through these potential “other ideas” you are prepared to expand the goals should additional resources become available.

Even if not in a formal manner, take the time on a regular basis (at least yearly) to think through and articulate your organization’s mission, vision, values, and goals. Use this thinking to guide your operations and decision making in the future.