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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-4126CONTRACT #2023-4126 City of Columbia Heights 2023 Strategic Planning Process Dear Kelli - It is my pleasure to submit to you this proposal for facilitating the City of Columbia Heights 202X Strategic Planning process. The challenge of leadership in local government is significant and spending time as a leadership group is an important first step in any effective organization. Establishing a shared vision and strategies to guide the organization and City toward that vision is important. An established vision and long-term organizational strategies allows decision -makers and staff to perform short-term goals and day-to-day tasks with a shared understanding of the destination and purpose, along with achieving organizational clarity throughout the levels of leadership. The process can be beneficial in many respects to local government leadership, including budgeting, project prioritization, and day-to-day decision -making. The process and organizational time commitment to complete a strategic planning process is significant. It is also time and resources very well spent. In this proposal I will outline the parts of the process and outcomes, but it's also important to understand the value of spending time together as a leadership team talking about your City and organization. As governing bodies, so much time is spent on the urgent matters that come before the City and organization. Periodically taking time to step back and focus on all the matters - urgent and not urgent - that impact the future of the City and organization is very important. As a City Administrator myself, I have found it to be a very healthy practice for my City's leadership team to conduct a strategic planning and goal setting process every two years, with periodic check -ins a few times in between. Having worked with Columbia Heights in 2017 and 2020, 1 have a strong understanding of the past work on strategic planning. With the leadership changes since the last strategic plan, the objective in 2023 is to start from scratch as opposed to updating past work. I think this is a healthy and normal process to allow the Council and staff leadership freedom to have a fresh look at organizational and community conditions, then establish strategies and goals to guide the city in the coming years. My recommendation for this process would involve a pre -session inventory and two 3-hour workshops focused on differing elements of strategic planning and organizational leadership. The three main products of the process are as follows: Development and/or refinement of organizational vision. The Leadership Team will identify a series of long-term strategies that will define success of the organization. Thinking over a long period of time, this outcome will create Core Strategies that support an overall vision statement. The existing vision statement can be a starting point and often a refinement accomplishes the objective, however the process will allow the opportunity to also start fresh and define a new vision statement to guide the organization. This will serve as a basis for developing mid-term goals and short-term actions that are consistent with the long-term direction. 2. Defining the Core Strategies with Strategic_4pjectives. Long-term vision statements are often non -measurable and subjective priorities that are of the utmost importance to the City. An example of a Core Strategy would be "Ensuring a healthy and safe community," which may be something to which all participants agree. Providing definition to that statement, however, is important to leading the City towards that long-term objective. Standing alone, the Core Strategy can mean many different things to different people and be difficult for the organization to achieve. Therefore, the second outcome of the session will be to define the Core Strategies in several statements, called Strategic Objectives. These items are typically bullet points or statements that may be measured and will provide further direction in the long-term. Through the process, each Core Strategy will be defined by 3-5 Strategic Objectives. Identification of Short -Term Goals. The final step in the process results in the development of a 2-3 year goals program. The goals differ from the Core Strategies and Strategic Objectives in that they are specific, measurable and achievable over a defined period of time. It is possible that short-term goals overlap with a defined Strategic Objective, but most likely it's an action statement that is consistent with one or more Core Strategies or Strategic Objectives. The process will result in the brainstorming of many potential short-term goals, followed by a group prioritization process to identify the top goals for the coming years. I am recommending a pre -session inventory followed by a two -session process for the City Council and key staff leadership to complete this process. This proposal is designed in that fashion, with two three-hour sessions. Pre -Session Inventory - Each participant will be provided with a copy of the previous Strategic Plan, along with a short worksheet that will collect background information and ideas that will help shape the in -person sessions. Session 1— This session will be focused around discussing the current state of the community and organization and identifying the long-term priorities of the leadership team. The outcomes that can be expected would be an initial assessment of strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities and development of potential Core Strategy statements that will be used in the following session. Session 2 — This session will review outcomes from the first session and build consensus around the Vision and Core Strategies and finalizing the Strategic Objectives. Once complete, we will focus on the development of the Short -Term Goals. The fee for facilitation services to complete this process is $3,100. Facilitation services will include preparation of agenda and materials for the session. All materials will be provided to you electronically at least three working days prior to each session. Additionally, a final report containing the outcomes of the session will be provided electronically no later than seven days after the completion of the session. The City shall be responsible for providing the necessary copies of materials for participants and any requested by members of the public. Payment shall be remitted within 30 days of submission of the final report. Thank you for the opportunity to submit this proposal and it would be a pleasure to once again work with the City of Columbia Heights. Phil Kern Facilitator Reviewed and accepted by the City of Columbia Heights. Date: