Most strategic planning processes include a neatly-written vision statement that resonates with those who crafted it. They put their values and hopes for their organization into that document and it feels inspiring right away.
But over time the excitement fades thanks to the daily grind of emails, crises, meetings, and everything else that bogs us down in the professional world. Countless local government strategic plans have been effectively shelved because they stayed too abstract. What they should do is maintain priorities that drive actionable steps for leaders to take.
The Gap Between Vision and Action
Goals are always easy to list. “I’m going to get in better shape.” The vision in my personal “strategic plan” is to be a healthier, better version of myself. It’s a great vision to have, but what choices am I making to turn this wish list into reality?
I can make many decisions on how I get in better shape. I could choose to institute a cardio routine or enter a weight training plan. I could eat more protein, or I could just cut out processed foods for a few weeks. But what if I took time to consider my available resources and decide on the best roadmap for me to reach my vision for myself?
Local government can function the same way. A city council may want to improve its relationship with constituents, which is an excellent goal to have. But that body has to take action to foster a better relationship with those constituents, because it sure won’t happen overnight.
If that’s the council’s goal, leadership ought to consider what’s driving that goal. Do they need their support for a large initiative on the horizon? Are they getting too many negative emails? Negative comments on social media? No one showing up to listening sessions? And why might those constituents not have faith in the council? Trust is a two-way street, after all. How has your council perhaps eroded trust in the past?
Leaders have to diagnose their situation and turn an abstract vision statement into an actionable strategy that everyone who needs to understand it will be able to.
We consider strategy a set of choices to realize an objective, and each choice will come with a tradeoff worth considering before decisions are made. So when local governments are engaged in strategic planning, it’s up to leaders to make those choices clear and the logic behind why those are the best choices to make.
The Symptoms of Strategic Drift
You can usually see the symptoms quickly:
- Departments interpret priorities differently
- Engagement conversations expand beyond their original scope
- Staff aren’t sure what decisions have actually been made
- Leadership revisits the same issues multiple times
It’s what’s called Strategic Drift, the slow erosion of focus when priorities and tradeoffs aren’t clearly defined.
How To Ground Strategic Planning in Action
Grounding strategy in action is all about making strategy usable.
That starts with three shifts:
1. Define priorities that force tradeoffs
Strategy requires narrowing focus. When everything is a priority, nothing is. If a leader is tasked with increasing public trust in the organization, sending out a generic survey to everyone asking for ideas is probably not the ideal first step. Let’s say a city is struggling with homelessness, a budget in the red, stalled housing projects, and low public approval of its council. There’s a lot to address that can’t be done in one go. When coming up with a strategy, a leader is considering what should be a top priority based on the resources available, and for every option, what does and does not happen as a result.
2. Connect decisions to those priorities
Every major initiative, engagement effort, or communication strategy should map back to a defined priority. In that struggling city example above, every possible decision under a chosen priority should answer the question, “How does that decision drive us toward our goal?” Let’s say the priority is improving low public approval numbers, and some city officials suggest a city website redesign. Will it simplify the user experience? Will it offer greater transparency on city initiatives? Or is it a cosmetic change with no actual utility?
3. Design engagement to support decisions
Engagement should not be an open-ended exercise. It should be structured around improving specific decisions so input sharpens direction rather than expanding it.
This is where strategy, engagement, and communication start to work as a system instead of separate efforts. Smart strategic planning is all about asking the right people the right questions at the right time.
Perhaps a city leader chooses to address homelessness as the top priority. Who should be in the room to help guide how the city goes about solving that problem? What do you need from those people you identify at every step of the way, and how do you make that clear to them? How can you communicate that strategic development process to the public as you go?
Not everyone will agree about the homelessness crisis as a priority, or even the framework of the initiative created to solve it, but everyone understands the reasoning behind that prioritization and where the initiative is heading. That clear direction creates alignment.
Strategic Planning That Leaders Can Actually Use
In local government, strategy only works when it shows up in real decisions.
If your staff or stakeholders can’t clearly explain your top priorities, or how recent decisions connect to them, your strategy may be stuck in the abstract.We can help make it active. Our Foundation framework can get your next initiative primed for success with an actionable strategy that your staff can understand and implement with clarity and focus.
