Life Time Fitness: Strategic Plan - Research Paper Example

Life Time Fitness: Strategic Plan Implementation Plan Introduction The essence of Life Time Fitness developing a strategic plan is geared towards developing a systematic strategy that has the capacity to be implemented with speed hence increasing the organizational productivity. A practical plan for immediate implementation should be laid in place. Ultimately, the plan is supposed to affect the operations at the core units of the organization, that is, in enhancing fitness and health. The key drivers that can indicate a change in the organization entails the improvement of service delivery, customer satisfaction, as well as improved organizational management. In order for the Life Time Fitness strategic plan to be efficiently, implemented, regular monitoring is essential. The action plan should be developed to feature the tasks that have been completed as well as laying a ground for understanding areas that should be given more emphasis. Ultimately, the financial monitoring of the organization ought to be done to verify the efficiency of the changes brought about by the strategic plan. Functional Tactics Life Time Fitness endeavors to implement three main changes in its operations. According to the grand strategy, the company looks forward to establish a customer service center, provision of mobile fitness centers and developing health and fitness centers for low-income earners. In order to achieve these strategies an implementation plan is very vital. The development of a customer service center is grounded on the need to retain customers or attract potential customers. Every branch of the company in both Canada and United States shall recruit and employ two employees; one who is information and technology technocrat who will deal the data and customer feedback services as it relates to the services offered by the organization. The head of human resources has the full mandate of rolling the advertisements for the vacancies. They shall liaise with the chief executive officer on the choice of the interview panelists. The customer service officer in every branch shall co-work with the information technology personnel to ensure that every branch develops differentiated strategies to link up with the customers, understand them and use them in networking. The company beginning June 1, 2014 shall do this. Provision of mobile fitness centers shall be done first as a pilot project in twenty of its centers spread equally across Canada and United States. The head of operations at Life Time Fitness Centre shall spearhead the establishment of the centers. The company shall acquire five trucks, which shall be modified to have fully loaded fitness facilities on one side of the partition, and the other section shall have a health center. The other fifteen trucks shall be hired for a period of not more than two years. The mobile center is meant to bring services close to people and helps promote convenience. The project shall be rolled on in phases; every phase shall include five vehicles. The first phase shall begin on 4th January 2015, the rest shall come after a four months period. Life Time Fitness Centre shall plough back its profits in this project. Developing health and fitness facilities for low-income earners is a top priority for the organization. The organization will establish ten low-income centers, three in Canada, and seven in the United States. The target shall be for the areas with low-income populations. The essence of this is to ensure that the company captures the entire market through its specialty. The chief executive officer shall appoint a committee comprising of three senior managers, three junior managers, and three low cadre employees to spearhead the implementation of the project. The project will commence on the 1st of June 2015. Objectives The objectives of this strategic plan are to ensure; That he organization expands in its operations That Life Time Fitness has the capacity to keep track of its customers will attracting more potential customers. That Life Time Fitness will continue to expand in its profitability. That the company has a way of focusing on its future That the company is capable of developing a differentiation strategy that will ensure that it remains ahead of competition. Action Items A number of activities are to be done before, during and after the implementation of the plan. Resistance to organizational change is prevalent among many organizations, Life Time Fitness is not any exceptional. The induction of the employees to the upcoming changes is the first action that should be taken. This can be done through the departmental heads who will educate and get responses from the employees from various departments. During the implementation of the plan, any employee can be called upon to assist in one area or another. This will ensure that there is a smooth transition through the change. After the project has been rolled, evaluations of the progress will be done at least once in every two months. Milestones and Deadlines Since Life Time Fitness Centre does not have a manager in charge of strategy, the operations manager and the chief executive officer shall see into the implementation of every phase of the plan. They will come up with an evaluation team that shall report to them at least once after two months. The team shall be trained and will be required to provide a comprehensive report after the duration. The three aspects captured in the plan are to be implemented in phases. The development of a customer care center shall begin on the 1st of June 2014 and will be expected to be complete by 15th December 2014. The mobile health and fitness centers shall be initiated on the 4th of January, 2015 and will take one year and eight months before the whole project concludes. the entire plan should be fully implemented by the 4th of September 2016. Resource Allocation and Forecasted Financials All the three projects requires resources that will help the Life Time Fitness capable of meeting its objectives. The company will rely on its profitability to facilitate the accomplishment of this plan. The customer service centers will require an initial allocation of $ 15,000 per center. This amount will take care of all the logistical expenses as well as the amount required to set up the infrastructural facilities for the center. The setting up of the low-income fitness centers will receive an initial allocation of $ 75,000 per center. On the other hand, every mobile fitness center shall receive an allocation of up to $ 100,000. Risk Management The plans developed by Life Time Fitness have potential risks that need to be mitigated. The first approach considered is regular monitoring. This ensures that the organization is at all times confined to the set plans; a deviation will facilitate enactment of measures to prevent them. This is the reason why the operations manager in consultations with the chief executive officer shall establish a monitoring team that shall report the progress of the projects once every two months. The other aspect is that the employees will be empowered to own the plan. This shall entail a rewards and promises of rewards for the employees that will facilitate the accomplishment of the plan. The team that shall work on monitoring and evaluating the plan will receive an allowance for this. In addition, the plans are developed in a sequential manner in order to ensure that they do not overlap. However, for the case of the mobile health and fitness centers and the low-income centers, the overlap is calculative since there is a duration that is given before the other project is rolled on. References Life Time Fitness, (2014). Life Time Fitness Website. Retrieved from https://www.lifetimefitness.com/en.html Wang, J. (n.d). Chapter 9: Implementing strategy through short-term objectives, functional tactics, reward systems, and employee empowerment. Retrieved from http://www2.uhv.edu/wang/MGT6331/Notes/chapter9.htm Read More