Setting the Direction through Planning
Focusing Organizational Actions
for Achieving Results
Creating Quality of Place through
Visioning and Strategic Thinking
Progressing Through Implementation
Resolving Issues to Avoid or
Overcome Barriers
"Whys, Ways, and Means"
- Planning For Community-Based and Other Civic Non-Profit Organizations
Engaging Community or Group Participation
Setting Priorities Amid Differing or Competing Agendas
Focusing Organizational Actions for Achieving Results
As
a magnifying lens can focus and concentrate the energy of sunlight, your
economic development organization needs to focus and concentrate the energy
of your volunteers and the actions of your organization. Our field-experienced
staff will guide you and your team with valuable technical assistance, resulting
in a strengths-based, short-term business or action plan for the next 12-36
months. The plan normally includes priorities with completion dates, responsibilities
and realistic approaches. Benefits:
- Getting a written plan that is consensus-based, useable and will not "sit on the shelf"
- Experience-based "how-to" guidance for "EXCELLerated" economic development
Creating Quality of Place through Visioning and Strategic Thinking
Does
your community desire to unite its strengths and take charge of its future
in an organized, visionary way? Our Quality of Place strategic planning
will empower and guide your community's members with these outcomes in mind.
Our
focus on Quality of Place encompasses not only development, but also education,
cultural and recreational amenities, healthcare, the natural environment,
community pride and other far-reaching aspects of community life. Economic
development groups, city and county governments and many other community
organizations play vital roles in producing and implementing parts of
a Quality of Place strategic plan.
Benefits:
- Implementing a long range plan for your community that the community "owns"
- Enhancing opportunities for efficient use of existing resources
- Identifying and leveraging new resources
Progressing Through Implementation
We
further recommend that on an annual basis, community planning teams or monitoring
committees update the details of the plan, taking into account-completed
objectives, needs for changing completion dates or responsibilities, and
other similar specifics. Our staff will normally facilitate a half-day session
to complete this annual update. After about five years for a ten-year plan,
for example, we recommend a major revision to the plan, developed by a new
team or at least involving new team members. The major revision will involve
components from the full community-wide Quality of Place planning process
described above.Benefits:
- Timely trouble-shooting to help ensure progress
- Receiving an up-to-date, working document, that organizations can use to make the vision more alive each day
Resolving Issues to Avoid or Overcome Barriers
Benefits:
- Surfacing barrier-type questions; clarifying and prioritizing them
- Resolving key issues through consensus
- Identifying strategies to move forward and EXCELLerate
"Whys, Ways, and Means" - Planning For Community-Based and Other Civic Non-Profit Organizations
Our "Whys, Ways, and Means" planning provides an organizational strengths evaluation and, normally, one or two custom-designed and productive planning sessions with summary reports. A typical summary report includes recommendations, next steps and a consensus-based draft plan.
We also design and implement more involved and coordinated
planning that directly links to the community's Quality of Place vision
and strategy.
Benefits:
- Gaining a clear, shared direction
- Effectively and efficiently applying the valuable time and ideas of your volunteers
- Establishing potential, direct tie-ins to your community's Quality of Place vision and strategy (if one exists)
Engaging Community or Group Participation
Your
organization or community might not need a full planning process, but you
could likely benefit from the professional service of an outside facilitator.
We design and implement public input sessions, town hall meetings or community
meetings that enable an economic development organization, other organizations
or a community to gather input or reach consensus. Benefits:
- Non-biased facilitation to achieve the purpose of the meeting
Setting Priorities amid Differing or Competing Agendas
Organizations and communities frequently face the thorny challenge of blending competing interests. IDM offers an efficient service to produce shared, consensus-based priorities. Through fair, focused group decision making, practical session design and IDM's unbiased facilitation, our approach combines what individuals personally know and care about in order to produce a set of priorities the group is able to care strongly about and support.
Benefit:
- Establishing new common ground and commitment
