Civil Air Patrol
The Wing’s Link to the
CAP Strategic Plan
Paul Gloyd
Chief of Plans and Programs
pgloyd@capnhq.gov
Civil Air Patrol National Headquarters
CITIZENS SERVING COMMUNITIES
This Presentation Supplements the
Region & Wing Commander Course’s Lesson on
“Making Strategic Planning a Part of
Your Wing’s Successful Operation”
Lesson Objective
By the end of this presentation, you should understand:
1. The purpose of a Strategic Plan
2. How CAP’s Strategic Plan supports other national level
plans
3. The relationship between CAP’s Strategic Plan and each
wings’ strategic plan
Before We Begin…
• It’s understood that some of you have not yet had the
privilege of attending the Wing Commander Course
• For those of you who haven’t, consider this a primer of
what to look forward to
• This lesson will not teach you how to create your wing’s
strategic plan…that’s a topic for a much longer discussion
• As a minimum, this lesson should get you thinking about
what questions to ask
• Strategy development is a challenge for any organization
• Keep the faith and don’t get discouraged
• It is assumed you have seen the draft 2016-2020 CAP
Strategic Plan
• If not, don’t worry…you’ll get to see it eventually
For Starters,
a Strategic Plan is NOT…
• Written in stone – no one can accurately predict the future
• An Operations Plan – strategy is not a mission…it’s a vision
• A document that is updated frequently
Strategic Planning is not a substitute for effective leadership.
Leadership is the ability to set direction (for oneself or others)
and the ability to influence others to follow that direction.
So what is a Strategic Plan?
A Strategic Plan is…
The document used to communicate with our members and
stakeholders CAP’s goals and the actions needed to
achieve those goals. It’s a vision of what we want
tomorrow’s CAP to look like, how we’re going to get
there and how we want to conduct our affairs.
A Strategic Plan is used to:
• Set organization-wide priorities
• Focus energy and resources
• Strengthen operations and processes
• Ensure that all members and stakeholders are working
toward common goals to produce desired results
Who are our stakeholders? They’re our mission partners…
and our members
How CAP’s Strategic Plan Supports
Other National Level Plans
Department of
Defense FY14-15
Strategic
Management
Plan
2014
Quadrennial
Defense Review
2015
National
Security
Strategy
America’s Air
Force: A Call to
the Future
Civil Air
Patrol
2016 - 2020
Strategic
Plan
Federal STEM
Education
5-Year Strategic
Plan
Sustaining U.S.
Global
Leadership:
Priorities for 21st
Century Defense
Department of
Education
Strategic Plan
2014-2018
2014
Quadrennial
Homeland
Security Review
CAP’s Strategic Plan complements our national partners’ plan
How CAP’s Strategic Plan Supports
Other National Level Plans
• Our national partners have strategic plans to guide their
organizations…and most state and local partners do to
• They may look differently, cover different time spans (from 4
to 30 years) and have different priorities, but they all have a
few things in common:
• They have vision for how to make their respective
organization better
• They communicate that vision so everyone in their
organization shares the understanding of where they
are going and what’s needed to get there
• They all anticipate a future operating environment and,
where possible, they shape that environment
• They all have mission areas for which CAP is perfectly
suited to help them attain their goals and objectives
How CAP’s Strategic Plan Supports
Other National Level Plans
• Each subordinate plan establishes priorities, goals and
objectives that serve two purposes:
• Contribute to higher level plans’ goals and objectives
• Make their organization better internally
• For CAP, some of our priorities, goals and objectives
complement DOD, AF, DHS, etc., while others serve strictly
to improve Civil Air Patrol. For example:
• Complement DHS
improve support to FEMA
• CAP Internal
enhance members’ CAP experience
Bottom line – where possible, we need to help our customers
succeed or else they might not be our customer for very
long. And we need to help CAP succeed or we’ll continue to
struggle as an organization.
How CAP’s Strategic Plan Supports
Other National Level Plans
Civil Air Patrol Strategic Plan Priorities
1. Be a vigorous part of the Total Force – enhance the relationship with our USAF
and contribute to their mission accomplishment as a cost effective force
multiplier.
2. Build Partnerships – increase our presence in national and local communities
to better serve America and expand our portfolio to incorporate new missions
for which we are ideally suited.
3. Inspire ingenuity – increase efficiencies in time and effort to enhance the
effectiveness of CAP members.
4. Be America’s STEM leader – promote CAP’s recognition as a leader in
Aerospace Education and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
education to meet America’s needs of tomorrow.
5. Make being a CAP member even more special – recognize the value and talent
of each CAP member; increase the fun and enhance fulfillment of the CAP
experience to make members want to stay and others to want to join.
6. Build the future – develop CAP’s organizational as well as functional leaders,
from cadet to CEO.
7. Set the example – sustain institutional excellence.
Civil Air Patrol
Wing-Level
Strategic Plans
The Relationship Between CAP’s Strategic Plan and Subordinate Units’
Strategic Plan
• Wing strategic plans serve the same two purposes:
• Contribute to CAP’s goals and objectives
• Make the wing better internally
• Similarly, a wing strategic plan is used to:
• Set wing-wide priorities (ideally, most wing priorities will
align with CAP’s priorities)
• Focus wing members’ energy and resources
• Strengthen operations and processes within the wing
• Ensure that all members and stakeholders are working
toward common goals to produce desired results
The Relationship Between CAP’s Strategic Plan and Subordinate Units’
Strategic Plan
Aligning wing strategic plans with CAP’s plan focuses our entire organization towards common
goals
After all, we are ONE CAP…not 52 separate CAPs!
Picture, if you will, a Fortune 500 company that owns smaller
subsidiary companies. The parent company has as one of
its priorities to increase their customer base. As such, they
are reliant upon their subsidiaries to increase their
respective number of customers. If the subsidiaries fail to
produce quality products or deliver first class services that
entice more customers, then overall the subsidiary and the
parent company will fail…that or the parent company will
sell off the subsidiaries that aren’t growing their customers.
Makes sense, right?
The Relationship Between CAP’s Strategic Plan and Subordinate Units’
Strategic Plan
If CAP were the company…and yes, we are a corporation… then the story looks like this:
Picture, if you will, a Civil Air Patrol that owns 52 smaller CAP
wings. The Civil Air Patrol has as one of its priorities to
increase our presence in national local communities to
better serve America and expand our portfolio to incorporate
new missions for which we are ideally suited. As such, they
are reliant upon their 52 CAP wings to increase their
respective number of mission customers. If the CAP wing(s)
fail to produce quality products or deliver first class services
that entice more mission customers, then overall the wing
and CAP will fail…that or CAP will sell off the CAP wings that
aren’t growing their customers.
Guess what? We can’t “sell off” our underperforming wings!
The end result – Civil Air Patrol, as a whole, fails.
The Relationship Between CAP’s Strategic Plan and Subordinate Units’
Strategic Plan
To emphasize the point even more, picture the customer as one of our Federal partners, say FEMA.
Think Priority #7: Set the Example – Sustain Institutional
Excellence
A disaster occurs in one of our regions and the responding
wing(s) have not done a good job at training or preparing
their members to respond. The photos are not properly
tagged…it takes too long to submit them to the decision
makers…poor communication with the EOC…take your pick.
Do you think FEMA is disappointed with the wing(s)?
No…they’re disappointed with CAP and all of our 57,000
members. The wing(s) created a bad reflection on us all!
The Relationship Between CAP’s Strategic Plan and Subordinate Units’
Strategic Plan
CAP’s Priorities for 2016-2020
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Be a vigorous part of the Total Force – enhance the relationship with our USAF and contribute to their
mission accomplishment as a cost effective force multiplier.
Build Partnerships – increase our presence in national and local communities to better serve America
and expand our portfolio to incorporate new missions for which we are ideally suited.
Inspire ingenuity – increase efficiencies in time and effort to enhance the effectiveness of CAP members.
Be America’s STEM leader – promote CAP’s recognition as a leader in Aerospace Education and
Science, Technology, Engineering and Math education to meet America’s needs of tomorrow.
Make being a CAP member even more special – recognize the value and talent of each CAP member;
increase the fun and enhance fulfillment of the CAP experience to make members want to stay and
others to want to join.
Build the future – develop CAP’s organizational as well as functional leaders, from cadet to CEO.
Set the example – sustain institutional excellence.
Questions to Ponder
With CAP’s seven Priorities in mind, now ask yourself:
• Where does my wing fit into CAP’s Strategic Plan?
• What can we do to contribute to CAP attaining its goals?
• Are there any objectives in CAP’s plan that I must add to
my wing’s plan?
• Do any of my wing’s objectives contradict what CAP is
trying to accomplish as an organization?
• What can we do internal to our wing to…
• Improve processes?
• Create a more fulfilling CAP experience for members?
• Recruit and retain talent and diversity?
• Strengthen our relationships with our communities?
Even More Questions to Ponder
• Who are our stakeholders and what can CAP do for them to
assist in attaining their goals?
• Who are our national, state and local customers today?
• Who are our potential customers? Do they know about
CAP? If not, have we approached them?
• For process improvements we’ve made, have we highlighted
them to CAP as best practices to help other wings succeed?
• Ultimately, will our goals and objectives make CAP better?
Bonus Material – What’s Next?
The next step is to sit down with wing leaders…all leaders, not just the commander…and develop
your plan.
• Identify one person to shepherd the process
• Develop priorities, goals and objectives to support CAP’s
Strategic Plan as well as your wing internally
• Include your wing’s members in developing the plan…some
members have great ideas, but have never been asked
• Your wing’s plan can be as simple as a list of priorities,
goals and objectives, or it could be a fully detailed narrative
like CAP’s Strategic Plan. Wing commanders should guide
development of the final product.
• Finally, effectively communicate the approved plan to all
wing members so everyone moves forward with a shared
understanding of the desired end state – a better CAP
Questions?
Feedback?
Email me at pgloyd@capnhq.gov
Civil Air Patrol
…Citizens Serving Communities!