In part one of this three-part series, I shared Phelon Group insights into reference program charters and stakeholders-a key topic buzzing about during the recent AMA/Phelon Group CRP Fundamentals seminar. Please catch part 1 if you missed it. Today, I'll talk about the second hot topic: the reference program strategic plan.

Hot Topic 2: The CRP Strategic Plan

Where do you see your reference program in 12 months? More importantly, where do your program's key stakeholders see the program in 12 months? The answers to those questions become the foundation for your CRP's strategic plan, which is just a record of how you plan to get to where you want to go by some point in the future. If you can't answer those questions quickly, then spend a few minutes with me now thinking them through…it might make the next 12 months go much more smoothly!

While talking strategy with seminar attendees, we uncovered some truths you can apply to your reference program.

1. Establish a wish list of both near- and long-term goals. Don't worry about whether or not they're attainable; just list them in a brainstorming fashion.
2. Rank the items on your list by both goal priority and your ability to achieve each goal by asking Which are my program's top priorities? and How likely am I to achieve my priority goals? Coordinate the prioritized list with key stakeholders. Make sure your priorities match theirs. To figure out whether you can achieve a goal, look at the resources at your disposal. (Of course anything is possible given enough time and money; and we likely have little of both.)
3. Split your ranked, prioritized list into periods. For example, you will focus on goals one and two in the first quarter, goals three through five in the second quarter and so forth. Remember to leave some slack for all those little hiccups that pop up from time to time.
4. Attach resources to each to each prioritized, ranked, scheduled goal. Resources can be infrastructure or people, e.g., someone to build a database or Web site. How much will this activity cost? In a recent Phelon Group study, reference program spending, excluding the cost for human resources, ranged from $100k to $250k annually. This of course varied depending on the corporation's annual revenue with more CRP spending as corporate revenue increased.
5. Review the resulting strategic plan with your program's key stakeholders; get their feedback and, most importantly, their buy-in and commitment to seeing your program succeed.

Another hot topic at the AMA/Phelon Group CRP seminar was measurement metrics. How do reference programs measure success? What metrics get commonly reported? I'll discuss this topic in the third and final part of the CRP Buzz series. Until then!