Str ategic plan ning isn ’t r eally the norm amon g cities. At least, not th e way it is with most priva te-sector or ganiza tions. Bu t when a city implements a str ate gic pla n corr ectly , it has the po tential to cr ea te the openness and s ense of commu nity that many cities wa nt. If your city does have a str ategic plan, it’ s easy to think that be ca use you spend a good amount of time cr eating and imple- menting it, that it’ s going to work. But when things don ’t turn out the way you intend- ed, it mak es you wonder what you’ r e doing wr ong. The truth is, ther e ar e key compo- nents to a str ategic plan, and if any one of them is mis sing, you won ’t see the r esults you’ r e hoping f or. So if you’ r e wondering why it’ s so hard to e xecute your city’ s strate- gic plan, ask yourself, “What ’s missing?”

8 THINGS THA

T MA

Y

BE

MISSING

FROM Y

OUR

CITY’S STRA

TEGIC PLAN

1. DO Y

OU HA

VE A MISS

IO

N OR VISION?

F irst and for emost, for a str ategic plan to work, you nee d to have vision an d mission statem ents. Vision st atement s, or miss ion stat ements, ar e high-le vel, r ea ch able goals that a r e set fr om the very beginn in g of t he str ate gic pr ocess and work as th e foun da tion for you r plan. They ar e a declar ation of your city’ s long-term goals—basica lly , the y s tate wha t you a r e hoping to achie ve by going thr ough the str ategic plannin g pr oce ss. Ask yourself, “ Why is it important for us to cr eate this str ategic plan?” and “Why is it important to think about wher e we wa nt to be in the fut ur e ?” Answering these que stions will help you co me up with yo ur vision an d will let e veryon e involved in t he pr ocess be on t he sam e page.

These statements need to be fr ee of useless wor ds that might cr eate confusion or r emo ve clarity fr om your goal. It needs to be a br oa d, o ver all goal, sho wing your picture of the city’ s futur e . Involve cit y staff a nd citizens in the pr ocess of making the vision statem ent, a nd once you’ve got one in mind, commun ica te with them about why it’ s important. Without this clear vision, yo u ar e basica lly attempting to build a house without a foundation. (It’ s just not going to work.) If you didn ’t start your str ategic planning pr ocess with a clear en ough or s tr on g enough vision s tatemen t, you may nee d to go back to the be ginning an d r e think your plan.

1

See ho

w

Durham, North

Car

olina cr

eated a ne

w

str

ategic plan.

2. HA

VE Y

OU CREA

TED A “CHANGE A

GEND

A

”

?

A change agenda is basica lly wher e you a r e no w vs. wher e you wa nt to go. For e xample, yo ur schools m ay be at a point whe r e e very child can s ucceed in e very school, but you want to get to a point wher e you have schools specia liz ed for childr en ’ s spe cifi c skills or gif ts. This would mean a s hift in s tr a tegy , f r om all schoo ls having the s ame st andar ds to ha ving a S TEM school, a music school, or a girls’ schoo l. Another e xample could be that you’ r e cur- r ently f ocused on r educing major crimes a nd felonies in your cit y , but you wa nt to mak e a shift to focus on bas ic crime s.

Or, inste ad of being r e ve nue-driven, you may find that you need to be miss io n-drive n. Whate ver the cas e, it cou ld m ean a complete change in what you’ r e doing and h o w you’ve been t hinking about your city . A change agenda will drive ho w you th ink about your meas ur e s and you r str ategy m ap, so if you haven ’t come up wit h one, you need t o.

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3. DO Y

OU HA

VE STRA

TEGIC THEMES?

O nce you’ve agr eed on the vis io n of your city and your chan ge age nda , you ca n cr eate str ategic the mes. Basically , str ategic th emes a r e the 3 -5 h ig h- le vel goals your city is trying to a ccomplis h. The y ar e br o ad in scope, and apply to e very part of the or ganiza tion. Th e y define wha t major s tr a tegic goals your city will pursue to achie ve its vision, meaning the y a r e the basis for your city’ s change. Without ex celling in your themes, it’ s going to be r eally har d to carry out your vision. When you come up with str ateg ic themes, you have to consider other str a tegic ele-

ment s, lik e th e support or challen ges you face. Them es also r e pr ese nt deliber ate, str ategic, dir ectional decisions made by lead- ership. An e xample would be to have thr ee themes, su ch as “ s afest, most f amily-friendly , and m ost busines s-friendly city in the sta te.” When put togethe r, you sh ould be able to look at the pr oposed se t of t hemes and ask, “If we e x cel in t hese a r e as, will we a chie ve our vision ?” If you can ’t a nswer that question, or e ven ask it, then you most lik ely need work on yo ur str ategic th emes.

1

See

Fort Lauder

dale,

Florida

’

s str

ategy

management journe

y

.

4. HA

VE Y

OU CREA

TED STRA

TEGIC OBJECTIVES?

O bjectives ar e the ne xt step in th e str ategic pr ocess, and the y essen- tially br eak do wn the vision e ven further. In or der to cr ea te objectives, you have to identify the most critical goals i n each theme. Objectives ar e short, concis e state- ments that de fine wha t an o r gan iz ation ha s to do on a r egula r basis to achie ve its vision. For cities, objectives can be state d as action phr ases or complete se ntences. The y can be written as informa tive sta tements, such as “W e must le ver age technology to connect citizens. ” Or, the y can be written in the voice of the citizen, “My family lives in a safe ne igh- borhood.” Objectives mus t be mea sur able, mea ning ther e has to be at lea st one standar d tha t mea sur es the pr ogr es s of t he objective. The y should also be specific, in or der to pr o vide a clear message into what needs to be

accomplished. Objectives should be r ele va nt and r ealistic, as well. This means that it needs to be consistent with the vision and some- thing that is actually a chie vable within th e city’ s capabilities and resour ces. Lastly , ther e needs to be a set time fr ame for completing the objective. Whether it’ s five months fr om no w or fi ve years fr om no w , s tating a time fr ame will help mak e the goal mor e r each- able and will hold people mor e accoun table for ge tting it done . So, if you don ’t h ave specific, measur able, r ealistic objectives, it’ s time you start making some . Without them, your str ategic plan isn ’t going to get yo u very fa r.

1

See ho

w V

aug

han, Ontario

used objectives

to

get buy-in

for their str

ategic plan.

5. DO Y

OU HA

VE

MEASURES &

T

ARGETS?

I n or der to kno w if you ’ r e a ch ie ving your goals, you need to be a ble to mea sur e your pr ogr ess. Measu r e s ar e wha t will be tr ack ed and change o ver time, a nd tar gets ar e what dir ect io n or speed th e meas ur e will tak e. A tar get is the le ve l of performa nce or r ate of impr o vement r equir ed fo r a particular measur e. T ar gets should be obse rve d o ve r time to figur e out what’ s changing (or not changing) and wha t should ha ppen ne xt. A measur e should inclu de a sta tement of the unit you’ r e measuring (dolla rs , hea dcoun t, per centage, r ating), a fr equency f or the measur e (month ly , quarterly , a nnually), a nd a gr aph form at to s ho w the r es ults (bar chart, pie chart, or a mor e sophisticated cha rt ). Being able to visu alize the pr ogr ess your city is making will help to be tter achie ve the

openness cities wan t. Citizens appr ecia te being able to see the pr ogr ess being made, and if you can compar e yourself to simila r cities or other standar ds, it will inform citi- zens e ven m or e . By ha ving mea sur es, people will be able to see that thing s ar e ha ppen in g, and will be m or e lik ely to st ay on boa r d with the plan. If you ha ve e verything we ’ve stated so far for a str ategic plan , but don ’t ha ve anything to measur e or sho w for your efforts, you won ’t be able to kn o w if you’ r e str ate gic plan is actually working. So ma k e sur e you have a way to k eep tr ack of your pr ogr ess so yo u can s ee the r esults of your plan and better determine what a ction shou ld tak e place ne xt.

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6. DO Y

OU HA

VE INITIA

TIVES

OR MILEST

ONES?

I nitiatives ar e key action pr ogr ams m ade to help you achie ve your objectives or close t he gap betwee n your me asur es, performance, and tar gets . Bas ica lly , the y a r e things you do in or der to get an objective done. Initiatives ar e often kno wn as pr o je ct s, actions, or activities. The y differ fr om obje c- tives in that the y ar e mor e specific, ha ve stated boundaries (a beginning an d an en d), have a person or team assigned to accom - plish them, and have a budget. Se ver al initia- tives tak en to gether ma y support a s pecific objective or theme. It is important for a cit y to define the boundaries for in it ia tives, s uch as “ all str ate gic pr ojects o ver $2 00k in size ”.

It’ s also important for initiatives to be str ategic in natur e, and not just “ ope r a tio ns as usual” pr ojects, or pr ojects you wo uld be doing r egar dless of a str ategic plan. These actions must align with your obje ct ive s in or der to se e positive r esults in your s tr a tegic plan. If you don ’t have initia tives or ar e having tr ouble e x ecuting them, it’ s time to buckle do wn and fix this is sue.

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7. DO Y

OU HA

VE A CUL

TURE OF INVOL

VEMENT?

A nother key eleme nt to a successf ul str ategic pla n is cr eating a cultur e of chang e within your or gan ization. This means involving multiple people acr oss t he entir e or ganization, sometimes cr os s-func- tionally . Y ou ma y have a designa ted “ str ategic plan team,” but it ’s impossible to have a successful plan if only a select gr oup of people kno w about it or ar e working to wa r d it. Even if city emplo yees alr eady have other jobs t hat don ’t include the str ategic plan , involving th em is a gr eat way to spr ead you r r e ach acr oss all city departments .

By cr eatin g this cultu r e of openn ess, involvement, and ch ange, you’ll find it m uch easier to r each the goals of you r pla n. So if you haven’t done it yet, it’ s time to start.

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See what Charlottesville,

Vir

ginia learned about

getting people involved

in

their str

ategic plan.

8. DO Y

OU HA

VE

STRONG LEADERSHIP

AND ACCOUNT

ABILITY?

I t doesn ’t tak e an e xpert to kn o w that without good leadership, you’ll have a har d time seeing posit ive impr o ve ment in any organization, including cities. It’ s important to have str ong lea dersh ip, as well as accountability within that leade rs hip, in or der to enco ur a ge chan ge in th e r est of the gr oup or tea m. If you ha ve people who a r e e x cited about your plan and wh o ar e willing to do what it ta k es to s ee it s ucce ed, you’ll see much bette r r e sults. Y ou also n eed to kno w that the y ca n be he ld accountable f or their actions in those leadership pos it io ns. But accountability doesn ’t ju st stop at the leadership. Everyone who is involved in

implementing the s tr a tegic plan will ne ed to be accoun table, becaus e you n eed to kno w that the y a r e all on boa r d. This includes people at both the department and e x e cu- tive le vel. It’ s a good idea to appoint one or two str ong people to be “ champions”, pe ople who fully understand your plan and ar e com- mitted to helping other pe ople understand it, too. The y can drive bu y-in in t he early s tages of de velopment to m ak e su r e you ha ve the support you need. Once you kno w tha t e veryone ’ s all-in, you can mo ve forwar d with confide nce and h ope for a positive fu tur e city .

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SO

, WHA

T’

S MISS

ING

FROM Y

OUR PLAN?

In or der to see your city flouris h, you can ’t let a nything fall by t he wayside. No w t hat you kno w what should go into yo ur str ategic plan, be pr oactive about it. If that r equir es you to mak e some ch anges, do n ’t be afr aid to do it. Because, in the futur e, you’ll be happ y you did.

So ask yourself, what’ s missing fr om my str ategic plan?

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