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Transcript 

00:00
Well, today we're going to be talking about making your strategic plan work. Oftentimes, cities, counties, different types of governments will adopt a strategic plan, and then it sits on the shelf. You may have seen the image that we had with the advertisement that we were pushing out, and it was a strategic plan all covered in dust and cobwebs, and we recognize that sometimes you know municipalities will or counties will adopt a strategic plan, and that'll oftentimes sit on the shelf. You know we know that it can be challenging to continue to implement and to focus on driving results for whatever reason. Politics, new leaders come in, things change. COVID 19. There's a pandemic. There's an act of God. You know, a flood in a community that really makes you have to pivot. So there's a lot of different things that can disrupt the progress that you're making on your strategic plan. So today, what we wanted to do was talk with an expert and a leader in strategic planning and a leader in community plan development, Carlos Perez, and we have him here with us today. And then we'll take your questions and kind of talk through what does it mean to move your strategic plan forward. How do you do that? And then how LeaderGov can help you do that even quicker, and how we can work together to make that happen. So, with that, I'll introduce Carlos. Carlos Perez. He is our guest speaker today. He and I met when I was the commissioner of Parks and Recreation in Atlanta, Georgia. Had an amazing opportunity to work with him. He brings over 20 plus years of experience working in local government, helping communities envision plan, create vibrant and resilient places. He's also partnered with over 100 municipalities across the United States. Before we joined the call, or kind of in the in the green room, if you will, we were talking to just about how his work has just grown across the country, from California to Texas to Florida and every place in between. They have they do a phenomenal job helping cities with their strategic planning and their design work. He serves on many different boards and commissions, including the City Park Alliance and the Atlanta Beltline Partnership, and supporting organizations dedicated to equitable, healthy, and connected communities. He has a bachelor's of landscape architecture from the University of Florida, as well as Masters of City and Regional Planning from and Masters of Science in Architecture and a concentration in Urban Design from the Georgia Institute of Technology. So Carlos will be joining us, and we look really look forward to this conversation. So Carlos, do you want to anything anything I missed on your introduction that you want to highlight?

02:42
No, thank thank you, Justin, and good afternoon and good morning, everyone. Good to see everyone here, and I I do want to take a moment to brag a little bit on Justin too, and I appreciate the the bio of Justin. But as Justin mentioned, Justin and I worked together when he was a commissioner of parks for the city of Atlanta, and we were we're a local consulting practice in Atlanta that that helped the city quite a bit in a lot of parks plans. And the the commissioner position is a politically appointed position, right? So it's a tough tough position to be in, and and the city has had many parks commissioners, which is essentially the same thing as a parks director and other cities, and and all parks commissioners before Justin have done a really good job, right? They've they've positioned the city in their own way, responding to the needs of of residents, so they've contributed, right? Justin is the only one since I've been here where there was a thank you and and very sad farewell party for him, comprised of city staff, partners, stakeholders, mayor's office, everyone, and it was just a testament to the great job that that Justin did for the city. So he is sorely missed in Atlanta. In fact, I am in many meetings a week where we say, "Man, I wish Justin was still here. So, so excited to to be a part of this with with Justin. As now we're looking for opportunities to work together and and really bring Justin's experience in in parks and recreation, strategic planning, and others to other communities, which would be would be amazing. So, just wanted to share. Thank you

04:22
for your kind words, Carlos. Another appreciate it. And the great thing about the work that we do in local government is that it's about teamwork, right? That you that our success is predicated on the support of our team, great partners like our consultants and our staff and our friends and our neighbors all working together. And so, just really excited to be able to talk about strategic planning, which really helps bring everybody together and move move us forward, right? So we asked you all some questions as part of your registration process, and this is one of the questions that Hannah and everybody kind of asked: Which statement best describes your organization's. Currently, a current ability to your current sorry current ability to execute a strategic plan, and so as you see here on the chart, there are several different answers. We had our plan as recent as rarely referenced as it's approved. Progress is inconsistent, and accountability is unclear. Hey, Justin, we're

05:22
not. Yep,

05:24
you're you're a desktop. Oh no, showing. There you go. You're back. Oh, sorry. I

05:29
was wondering about that. Thank you for letting me know. So yes, because those that's where my notes are. I can get these secret

05:36
notes. Yes, yes. Because

05:37
unfortunately, when we when we put this slide together, it says our priorities are rarely right. Progress is inconsistent. Our plan is rarely reviewed, and execution happens occasionally. Right, varies with leadership. And then down here, you have strategic execution happens often. Right. So about 9% of you said that you're working really hard and that you're delivering on the things that you said you were going to do. 27% said that progress is inconsistent. You know, 10% of you said our plan is rarely reviewed. Right. So we have kind of a mixed bag here, but that's what we want to talk about. Right. Is y'all spend a lot of time and we spend a lot of money on these plans, but how are we using them and how can we get the best out of them. Then we asked another question, right? What is the single biggest obstacle preventing your organization from executing its strategic plan successfully, right? And again, we heard too many priorities, right? You're competing. There's too much going on. Leadership loses focus. People, yeah, you may have a new leader come in. Sometimes they are committed to the plan. Sometimes they aren't, and we'll talk a little bit about like level of ownership within the organization and how that can impact your success. Again, accountability and ownership. Right? People are not accountable and not owning it, or staff lack the time and resources. And I think that's a big one that I see. Is oftentimes these plans are very aspirational, and you have you have kind of a laundry list of activities, but you aren't thinking about how are you going to implement this work. And so, one of the things we'll talk about today is how do you begin with the end in mind, right? If you're going to be talking about in Atlanta, we had 72 priorities. Now everything can't be a priority, so how do you weed those out, or how do you start with less priority so you can ensure success? And then also progress isn't measured or reported on. Again, if you aren't managing or looking at your progress on a consistent basis, that can be challenging because then you don't know where you're at related to the work that you have going on. So those are some some thoughts, Bill. Any observations that you had from looking at these slides, Carlos? Yeah, I

07:45
definitely wanted to share one thought on the yellow, the yellow or gold color there at the bottom. Too many priorities competing. You know, hey, that's reality. You know, I get it for sure. I have a lot of priorities. We all do. But you said it, and as leaders, it's kind of our job to sift through these priorities and help the team really know what truly is the top priority, and then have the courage, right, to go back to my leadership and say, "Hey, you know, we can't get this all done instantly, and so just I mean it really takes a lot of pressure off the tim when I step up as a leader, and and say, look, you know, I realize we get a lot on our plate, but we just need to focus on these few things right now, so that we can spend a little bit of time on these strategic priorities, and and it's a leadership thing to to step up and have, I say, courage to to push back a little bit from this tyranny of the urgent that we sometimes get into.

08:49
Yeah. How about you, Carlos? What what did the slides? What did you kind of pick up on?

08:53
Definitely that 41, 44% of the too many priorities. And and and I'll put a different hat on for a moment, and Justin, I look forward to our conversation because this is a dynamic that that we face, right? As consultants, we want to help our clients, right? And and there is a lot of priorities, right? There are a lot of challenges, and and there's different ways to address it. So we will do as our clients request, right? Which is, hey, let's create a strategy to address all these different challenges, and that turns into too many priorities, right? So, so there, there's a balance there, right? There's the balance of well, we need to identify these challenges and identify how to approach them, but then we need to do so in a way that's that's that's realistic, right? That considers both time resources as well as capital resources. So, something that that Justin, I look forward to you and I just talking a little bit more about here in a moment.

09:44
Great. Any observations from attendees? Like, what did you see when you looked at this? Do you obviously you answer you each of you responded to these questions, but anything that's surprising to you? And feel free to come up and just share your observations. Yeah.

10:00
Yeah, you can also chat if you want over on the side. We'll unmute you if you want, but would love your love your thoughts as we think about obstacles like what what gets in the way or why don't we pull out this plan and review it every quarter. Very good. All right,

10:22
Timon. Hello, everyone. Yeah,

10:24
go ahead.

10:24
Thank you. Hi, Justin. Hi, Carlos. Hey, good day. Good

10:28
to see you.

10:29
All right, now you can see me. Hello, hi. Great to see you all. Very excited about this topic today. Obviously, very fitting for Atlanta as we're coming up on our strat plan update. I think one thing I wanted to highlight is the systems and tools in place that allow for the prioritization and tracking the implementation of the progress? Oftentimes, the alignment is the challenge because a lot of the divisions in different operating areas will have their own thinking around maybe more specific goals, maybe some more detailed nuances. So, having tools and systems in place that I don't want to say require an alignment to the strategic plan, but build that framework in that they can say, "Here are the specific nuanced areas in which we are working, and here is a clear strategy by which I can align it with the overarching strategic plan. Really shows a lot of success there.

11:20
Yeah, that's great. Thank you, Sabina. Other thoughts? Okay, great. Well, let's jump back in. So, Carlos, I have a list of questions here that we came up with to help kind of guide our conversation. So, really excited to be able to ask you these questions, and I think the first question is really helpful, right? To kind of get a sense of when you are working with clients to help them be successful. You know, when an organization brings you in to develop a strategic plan, what do you want leaders thinking about before the planning process even begins? You know, how can we be prepared as a good client, right, to help our consultants, which is who we often engage to do these strategic plans. What do we need to be thinking about ahead of time, right? As we're beginning the engagement process, or as we begin to develop strategic plans.

12:11
Yeah, that's that's a great question, and also at times can be a challenging question, and even a resource-intensive question from a staffing time. But many times we may, our clients may think of the plan itself, but it's really more about what are the key decisions that we need to help address over the next three to five years that this plan is is all about, and there could be a variety of them that could that could be leading to this effort, and that could be really thinking internally and asking why. Why is it that we are doing this plan now? What is what are the the issues and challenges that we're we're trying to solve? Could be another one. What major decisions strategies are coming down the line that we foresee in the future, that that we we need to position ourselves to address, and then and then another one that relates to the findings from from the group, right, is how committed how positioned are we to be able to implement and respond to these these the strategic plan, and then I think the other is understanding, and this is absolutely challenges that any strategic plan, any master plan, will require time and resources, and the challenge is that you have the day to day elements that we all have to address, right? But but then we also need to spend the time for the strategic plan to then help us preposition for the future. So and and understanding that there there may be some some serious time commitments right required to to get ready, especially on the fore on the forefront, right? Getting everything ready for the consultant to to to help with the process. There's definitely a ramping up that happens early on that is can take can take some time, right? If if if we want to create a plan that is truly impactful and thoughtful. So just those are just a couple of things.

14:18
Yeah, and I think also making sure that you have the buy-in from the leadership too, right? I think sometimes like departments may decide that they need a strategic plan for whatever reason. But is your city manager on board, right? Is your county executive on board? Is the city council on board? Or is your mayor, you know, depending on the form of government you're in, are they on board and will they support, you know, kind of the findings, and do they understand the questions, as you said, that you're going to be asking. Are they are they okay with those questions? Right? Do they want to know the answers to those questions? So, you know, I was. I think I'm just reminded of you know you need to engage the people that you want to be championing and the information that you're going to be collecting, and you need to make sure that everybody is on board and aligned before. Even start the strategic planning process. I know some some cities and and some some departments have requirements to hit certain. They need to have a strategic plan, or they need to have a comprehensive plan in order to get money, or or in order to keep a certification, or or for whatever reason, right? But if you're just doing a strategic plan to keep a certification, you have to really ask yourself what are the questions that you're asking and answering, and why are you doing the engagement? I think that's that can be really helpful. So,

15:27
yeah, I think you know. So several times is that this has happened when we've done work is that the there has been some tension between our client and the elected officials, and and there is a a hope that this effort can address those those tensions,

15:45
yeah.

15:46
But many in many instances, unfortunately, it doesn't. Right? It actually just permeates into the process and makes it a little little difficult. So having that strong relationship with those who will eventually adopt a plan, right, and and accept it, is a is a key consideration to to be mindful of.

16:05
Yeah, and I think making sure that you're engaging council and the city manager and the mayor and the different electeds in what are the questions they may want to have answered. Right. So it's not necessarily kind of a one way conversation of hey, here's what we're going to go get answers to, but what are the questions that you're curious about? You know, what are the the strategic items that you feel that my department, my city, my group, my entity need to understand in order to, you know, deliver on that result? And so I think it's incumbent upon us as leaders to have that that pre conversation because we we need that answer more than our consultant maybe needs that answer, right? Like we need to know why are we doing this, and what what inform what outcome are we working towards. So, well, one problem you know I often see too is you know organizations creating great strategic plan but not thinking enough about implementation until the plan is finished. And how do you suggest you know cities and and counties and districts think about you know building implementation into the planning process itself. What what does that look like?

17:08
Yeah, that's that's another really important step. I I heard one of our clients when we were doing work for the District of Columbia opened up the meeting with the following saying that to this day I use and I give him credit for it because I I am a big believer in it. He said, "Bring me in early, and I am your partner. Bring me in late, and I'm your judge. And this was Jesus Aguirre, who was a director of the District of Columbia Parks and Recreation System. Now he's the director for Austin Parks. Really, really amazing leader, and and so I think that that is a critical part of this is bringing people early into the process, and and there's probably different levels of this. One of those levels is, as Justin you mentioned, those who will be accepting and adopting the plan, and making sure that they're brought in early, that they are that we meet with them early on, frequently throughout the process, and definitely throughout the process, just to make sure that we're addressing their concerns. And for our practice, we will do everything we can not to present in front of mayor and council until we've had one-on-ones with them, so they can see.

18:29
Good point.

18:29
They can see what's coming. If they have any concerns or questions, they can we can talk through it. We can address it. So then, when we present in public, it is smooth for them, and there's no controversy. Unfortunately, there's always some that will use it as a platform, right, for their for their wishes, and and that happens. But for the most part, we have learned that that is possibly one of the most important things in the process is just really integrating the elected officials in in that in that process, and that's more of a higher level. So that's just that's that's one thing that comes to mind.

19:02
Yeah, I think you also mentioned like community stakeholders too, right? Like, you know, one of the things I know with parks and recreation kind of strategic planning is we have a lot of partners. We have a lot of friends, neighbor groups, and you know, I know even if you're a large city, you have nonprofits that are a part of the that you need to engage. You have different kind of advocacy groups that may be coming at you, right? And so, I think also engaging stakeholders is really important too. Like those groups that you may be asking for money at a later date. You know, maybe there's a large foundation in your community, so understanding what what their their kind of hot button topics might be as you're thinking about your strategic plan, right? What strategic issues do they see? Are they aware of? You know, they and I know even in Atlanta, we were able to parlay one of those conversations into that entity providing us with some additional resources. So, you know, we were able to leverage kind of our strategic planning process to help answer certain questions. That this nonprofit had, and that allowed us to get money to actually do the strategic planning process. So that may be something that other communities want to replicate. Is you know, are there nonprofits or groups in your community that are advocating for certain change, and how can you invite them into that process to help fund the process? Not, and I think you need to be clear, right? We aren't asking you to fund a specific bent or if a specific angle, but what is important to you and how might that help us, you know, deliver better service? You know, I think I see. I think David, you're looks like you're in law enforcement. You know, many cities have police foundations, right? And police and fire foundations; those can be great resources to help with strategic planning efforts, David, I saw you came off mute. Is that anything you want to share specifically about that? Have you been able to leverage your foundation for planning purposes? No,

20:48
we've done. We went from foundation to into the FOP directly, Paternal Order Police, and went that route,

20:58
yeah,

20:58
LLC and everything else to try and figure out how we make more and do more for the departments and stuff.

21:06
Yeah, but I think these nonprofits that we often work with can be great partners and advocates, right? To help push forward change, help push forward strategy, and really, really support what we're working on.

21:18
Yeah. Hey, Justin. Yeah. Go ahead, Bill.

21:20
No, Carlos, go ahead. I'll no, please.

21:22
I'll go after you. Yeah.

21:24
Okay. Well, just one thought that we have started doing more and more is engaging and forming teams of people to have responsibility over certain priorities or certain major initiatives. You know, I think one of the things that sort of falls behind, falls to the wayside during the planning process, is well, who's going to do this work? And if it's a public works project, well, okay, public works is going to do it. Well, that's great, but you know, do do we need to collaborate and form a little sub team that really is on the point for this major initiative identified early, and then they start bringing in people. That way, when the plan's done, we kind of are ready to go. We have our team assembled, if you will, and and hopefully it's not just the people in public works. Hopefully, it's the people that are affected by the work as well. So that's one thing that we started doing with our plans, it's been very helpful in getting more engagement early on in the process.

22:27
That was

22:28
I was actually thinking similar to that. One thing that some of our plans have benefited from is the development of an advisory committee to help guide the plan through the process, and we've worked at it in different ways. Sometimes we're working on one project right now where the advisory committee is actually appointed by the mayor and council, and and that allows a certain notoriety or really level of participation and decision making for for the advisory. Others, it's been the director and staff pulling people in, but I think in in various instances, and this is Justin to your point before, we've worked in projects that, because the right people were in the room, it led to initiatives starting before the plan was even done, because we had those partners in the process. So, so, and and that's what you what we want in an advisory committee, right? Is that group of of leaders, partners to help you implement the projects, and and if possible, right, get it even started before before the plan is done. So that's been helpful in some of the plans that we've done.

23:42
Yeah. Well, great. Well, when I think about you know the planning process, you know how do you know when a strategic plan is focused enough to actually guide decisions as opposed to becoming a long wish list? You know, I see a lot of cities they have you know 7080, strategic planning items like that. Just in my opinion, feels too much. Like, how do you know when you've hit that sweet spot? And what what advice would you give to to cities, counties, and and districts? You know, when they're thinking about developing a strategic plan, like how how do you find that sweet spot?

24:13
Yeah, you know, one one of them is is was noted by the responses to the to the when the group filled out the survey, right? Too many, too many priorities, right? Yeah. If if a if a plan has too many priorities, then then nothing is a priority, right? Because because because everything is is identified, and again, that goes back to the tension between the consultant and and and the client, right? You want to create a plan that's comprehensive and responsive, but but the importance of creating that prioritization, and then informed by that prioritization criteria and KPIs, right? Key performance indicators to help us keep track of that. One of the challenges in public sector is that every year there may be new priorities that come up. There's also new elected. Officials that may come up, and they have their own priorities as well. But if we can refer back to a a plan with clear criteria and key and those KPIs that then we can use to inform the new elected officials or remind folks of of the priorities, then that becomes very helpful in in ensuring that that the plan is focused and and and moving, and then related to that is the importance of identifying who are those responsible parties that that are going to help us implement those plans, and and what is the funding attached to that? What are the timelines that are attached to that? Regularly creating creating opportunities to check in and progress, so those are other elements too that that help that focus on a strategic plan.

25:48
Yeah, I know one other thing we we did in Atlanta is we had a kind of a quarterly meeting, or we had update meetings. You know, like we had a kickoff meeting when we talked about activate ATL, and then we had another meeting where we, you know, talked about the progress, and I really try to do like an annual progress report as a means of kind of creating accountability for our organization. So people, you know, they saw that that we did the planning effort, and then they saw the report. You know, they saw that here's the different, here's here's where we're at related to these different items. You know, we we were required to do a quarterly update to our city council committees, and so we use that as a platform to talk about different strategic plan elements. But even then, I felt like there was just too many, and it was overwhelming for staff. We even tried to create a dashboard, and it was overwhelming to create a dashboard because we had so many. You know, I kind of take the the rule of five, right? You got five goals or less, right? And then you have five objectives for each of those goals, and that's 25 objectives, right? And you know, you really have to be you have to be honest. And I think you have to think about like a strategic plan is really about strategy. And then there's all the other baloney that that's going to come up, right? You're going to have the crisis. You're going to have the flood. You're going to have the winter storm. You're going to have, unfortunately, you know, some violence, right? You're going to have these things that are going to come across your desk that you aren't planning for, and so how do you think as a leader, you know, if you are ardently like dug in on this strategic plan and you aren't thinking about the other, you know, 2030, 40% of the work that's going to come across your desk, and you aren't planning for that. You're just only going to burn your people out. And so, you know, my advice is just really think strategically about your strategic plan, and make sure that you're being realistic with what you can accomplish, and realize that your strategic plan is ultimately about your strategy and what you are kind of telling the community you're going to accomplish. But then there's all the other stuff that you have to get done on a day to day to keep the ship running, and I think kind of finding that balance is really our job as leaders is to find the right balance, but also to be realistic with what we can accomplish in that period of time. And and then I think if you don't, you get overwhelmed, and that's where you put it on the shelf is because you it's it's overwhelming to look at the document because all you see is a laundry list of things you aren't doing, and again, it's a reminder of what you aren't doing, and that feels overwhelming to people, just psychologically. So,

28:07
you know, it's we're we're actually working with the city now, and Sabina is part of part of the team on the city side to update the strategic plan. And Justin, that's one of the things that we've we discussed in our kickoff meeting. Is there's a lot here, right? When Justin left, he mentioned there's there's a lot here for a commissioner to do, so let's really pull back and and really understand what our priorities are, and then let's work accordingly to that. So we're really looking forward to to digging in with staff and and really applying that as part of this new update to the strategic plan, which is a different direction from the previous commissioner, right? Yeah. Previous commissioner wanted wanted a list, and you know we we did that. But now now it's an opportunity to really refine that and and and make it so it's implementable and doable for staff.

28:53
And I think our hope today is like everybody on this, you know, if we can all agree, let's let's keep it simple, right? Let's not overwhelm our staff. I think I think that's the big thing, right? That that's a good good takeaway. Well, let's talk about what happens six months after the adoption, right? I mean, everybody's really excited about the strategic plan. Maybe you have a little party and you celebrate. You know, we got our strategic plan done, and I think again we're using this term strategic plan broadly because we know that there's many different ways in which cities, counties, and districts and municipalities plan, right? So we're using this term strategic plan fairly broadly. So just keep that in mind. But you know, Carlos, six months from now, you know, you've adopted a plan. You know, what are the most common reasons you see strategic plans lose momentum, and what are the what what can we do to prevent That

29:41
yeah, the ones that come to mind is first and foremost no champion, right? No leader to to move it forward. That's one, and and and that can be really important because as new priorities come up and new directions. May emerge. You need that leader to say no. This is a priority. We need to really focus on that, right? So no, no champion is is one. The other one, not it would be no connection to a viable funding source or resources, may staffing, right? Which just makes it very difficult to implement the plan, and we talked a little bit about this before. But the no regular the the review process, right? There's no process in place to check on your progress and and what's happening, and then and also KPIs to help help measure that and and and measure your work towards it as well, and then as we mentioned before, the the two priorities. This this also reminds me of a thesis that my mentor, unfortunately, passed away a few years ago. His his thesis was about the factors that led to that lead to innovation.

30:59
So he

31:00
he studied different projects across the state where he lived, and he really got into why is it that some projects went forward and and some died, right?

31:11
Yeah,

31:11
there were great ideas, but they they just died. And it was interesting. His research research found three primary criteria that that led to strong innovation, and I think this is really interesting. One is a strong leader, which we just said-a champion that can carry this through, charismatic person that really pushes. That can be an elected official, a county commissioner, director, department director, etc. That was number one. Number two, there there was a collaborative relationship between the team, right? That that that openness, trust within the team to to keep things moving in the plant in the process. And then the other one was, and those were both internal. And then the third one, which I thought was really interesting, was was an external characteristic, and that he saw it as system openness and stakeholder involvement. So bringing others into the process and ensuring that they see themselves in the plan. And I thought that was interesting because if if you're not doing, if if you have that that third one of system openness and others see themselves in the plan, if the city's not doing it, or the clients, or the county's not doing, you're going to hear it from the constituents, right? Because they see themselves as part of the process, or they're going to create that pressure. That's that's really great. And then the same thing internally in staff, right? If it's not moving forward and people are really passionate about it, they're going to keep bringing it up in meetings and saying, "Look, what's going on with this? We need to move it forward. And then the same thing from from the strong leader, if if that person isn't in place, then then it dies. So I thought I think thought that was really interesting, and and three pieces of which of of of why some of these plans lose momentum in time if if they lack these.

32:57
No, that's great, and we do have a question here from from the chat. You know, can you have too many champions? You talked about having a champion. What are your thoughts on can you have too many?

33:08
You know, it's it's interesting. I I had a client who told me that the best way to get a project done is to share that project or initiative with others, so it becomes theirs as well, right? Because if you have multiple people really being that champion, then then chances are that that more potential for that project to to move forward. So I think I think it it could depend, but but my immediate reaction is to think the more the the better, right? Because you have more people driving it and and and pushing it forward.

33:50
Well, it might and it might be a difference between like single point accountability versus like those that are giving input, right? Because I think of like a racy model or a or some type of model of accountability where you think of you know this person is responsible right these people inform these pe this person's accountable right and these people you collaborate with right so you know when I think of a champion of let's say a specific goal you know you may have multiple people working on that goal because you have single objectives but each objective I would want there to be a single champion, right? So I know that I'm calling Justin if Justin is supposed to accomplish, you know, improve increasing the number of bathrooms in our system, right? Has Justin met that goal? Has him and his team that he is accountable and that he's responsible for? Have they increased those bathrooms? So, I think you can have multiple champions to achieve your plan. But I think within kind of that specific project or objective, I think its single point accountability is really critical because then I can I can better track performance. I think it's when you get multiple people that are responsible for. You know, delivering bathrooms. We'll keep going with that metaphor. That's when it gets challenging, right? But if you know that it's Justin's job to do that, Justin's the guy or gal you're calling to get to get that answer if you've met that target. So I think it's kind of both hands, right? You have like multiple champions that are delivering the plan, but when it gets down to that project level, you definitely want to be able to kind of talk to that person specifically. So, and we'll we'll have a we'll get to a couple more questions here. And I think you know the other thing that that I think about right is if staff can't explain the priorities, right? I think that's that's another thing that you need to be able to address. Do you want to talk a little bit more about about that and kind of what are ways you know? What are early warning signs, and and how do you kind of navigate through that?

35:46
Yeah, I think I think that's where ensuring that staff is not being overburdened, right? With with staff is is is really important, or with with strategies and and work. So being mindful of that, but that's also where that review and that check-in process comes in, and do do that in a in a in a periodic way, where you can check in, check on progress, and and and see what help and what assistance may be needed to move move the move those forward.

36:24
That's great. When I just put in the chat, if you have questions, go ahead and start putting them in the chat. We have one last question here for for Carlos. You know, and I'll kind of ask a question that's on my list as well as in the chat. Right, if someone's listening today and already has a strategic plan sitting on the shelf, what are what are the first three things you would tell them to do this week, and or maybe next week on Monday when you get back to work, that that to bring that plan back to life? What what would you tell somebody that has a as a has a plan that's maybe collecting a little too much dust?

36:59
Yeah, I think first thing is to open it up again, and and considering especially if the if it went through a thoughtful engagement strategic process right with with leaders, and review the goals, right? Review what's been written, and almost see what what elements have been completed, what things may be in progress, what things have not started, and and what things may not no longer be relevant, right? So that's that's the first step is see what do we have, and what where where are we in that in that process? Then to your point before, Justin, of identifying the top priorities, whether it's three or five, right? Identify those top things that that that plan has has noted, and then create the accountability to to then move those forward. Who are going to be the champions of those of those goals, objectives, those actions? What are potential deadlines, and what does a schedule look like for implementation milestones to check along the way, and then also being clear on what those key performance indicators, those expectations, reporting expectations are for those that are that are implementing it or helping or move it forward. So those are Justin are three things that yeah

38:16
that's great. Maybe the first one too is dust it off, right? If there's you don't you don't get a it's kind of sneezy but yeah

38:24
vacuum cleaner

38:26
yeah Bill what do you got what do you what's well I was

38:29
yeah I had a couple quick things I just noticed a question from Razul which we want to come back to in just a moment but just just asked a question that I can answer quickly a little bit, and she asked about tracking tools and what sort of software tools are out there to help keep it simple, keep it visible. So thank you, Jess, for that question. In the past, we've used, or our clients have used InVisio, ClearGov, OpenGov, and AchieveIt, and. so all of those are very useful, very somewhat easy to use. You know, the the biggest challenge we see with those or any tool is: will we actually use it, or will we buy it, and will it sit on the on the shelf and collect dust. And actually, in our experience, about half of them, they spend 20, $30,000, and they don't use it. So if if they are going to make that investment, somebody has to be responsible for inputting data and updating it and and utilizing it. Otherwise, it just becomes you know collect collects dust. But yeah, we had a question from just to add to that. You know, I think

39:45
I would suggest Jess it be you would probably get more out of it if you spent 30 to $40,000 on a staff person or half a staff person, right, and have them use Excel to track progress than. And going out and getting a software that then you have to assign to somebody for $40,000, because it's you're creating capacity in order to help that organization or that entity move forward versus relying thinking the software is going to create the capacity that nobody has the time to already deliver because their plate's already full. You know, I think in local government, I recognize that everybody's working, you know, 40 plus hours a week. There's nobody's really sitting on their thumb waiting for something to do. You're doing a strategic plan process now. This has to be you have to be honest. Like this has to be somebody's work, and so I think hiring that staff person can be oftentimes a better investment than spending that 40 grand. Now I know the 40 grand may be a one-time investment, so that may be where the calculus of leaders comes in, right? But you have to think about how are you doing that, and I know in in an organization, you know, again, kind of using Atlanta as a good example. Like we had a monthly data meeting as well, where we would review the data, and I think building in a cadence is really important as well, and we just used Excel and PowerPoint to represent the data. But we had a person that was collecting that data and reporting that data, and that's what made it successful.

41:09
Yeah, the other question we have here has to do with the politics. How do you navigate your plan with political turnover, especially, especially new a new mayor or a couple of new city council members come in halfway through the plan's implementation. Yeah, it's a great question. Yeah,

41:31
yeah, and let's

41:32
go first, Carlos. Yeah, I think yeah,

41:36
I think so. Two two thoughts. One is during the development of it, and then the other one is during the implementation, because this actually happened to us on the development side, with a with a city we were working with. We went through two mayors, three city managers, and four rounds of new elected officials through the process. It wasn't even done, and this was happening. So each time there was a change, we did a timeout. We let the new elected official get comfortable in their their position, or the city manager, etc. And then we had a one-on-one with them to take them through the process, findings, where we are in the process, get their thoughts on it. Is there anything that you'd like us to include, et cetera, and then that that allow and then we we included that into the plan, so very much allowing them to see themselves in that plan. And thankfully, it worked. Right, it it did take longer, right? It it did take longer for the client for the the process to finish. But when it was adopted and it was adopted, it was very well received, and it continues to be implemented, which is great. So that that's the example on the development side. On the implementation implementation side, what we've seen our clients do is is very similar. It is a meeting early on with that new person, really listening to them first, not even bringing up the plan, just listening to their platform, what they're passionate about, and then the opportunity is to go back into the plan and see what goals, objectives, action strategies can help that platform and that initiative that they're passionate about. Because then they can become your champion for elements within the plan, and and we've seen that in a couple instances work. But Justin, I'd be curious to get your your thoughts.

43:22
No, Carlos, I think you did a phenomenal job. Like, I I don't really have anything to add. I think the pause, like that that pause, is really critical. And I think what you said about listening is really critical too. Like, it's more about listening because you don't want to assume you you know there's going to obviously be the political rhetoric that they come in with that you may have been watching the campaign and they've been saying certain things, but then when the when the rubber meets the road and they're actually in their seat, they may have a different perspective. So I wouldn't take what they were saying on the on the campaign trail as as gospel and and come in guns a blazing like you need to defend something if they were talking in opposition to your department or or your city and and kind of your plan. But I think you're you're spot on. Like listening is really critical, right? Just hearing, asking questions. What are your priorities? What strategic items are important to you? Because you don't want to. The first thing you don't want to do is be talking past each other, right? And I think listening is really critical. So I love the I love that suggestion. Yeah. Well, great. Well, any more questions from the chat? Anybody like to raise their hand too? We can take hand raises or just come off mute. We're a fun. See, I don't see any at the moment. Okay. Well, I got You know, one of the things local government leaders constantly face, right, is urgent issues. And we talked a little bit about this as well early in our conversation. But how do leaders protect strategic priorities when today's emergencies keep pushing long-term work aside? Like, what what have you seen work well?

44:58
Yeah, think four things. That I would I would note, and number one, the the importance of scheduling those reviews and those strategic reviews, and and doing so in a in a scheduled fashion, right? So so we're constantly ensuring that we're addressing the the priorities identified in the strategic plan. So those checkings are really important. Then a very powerful another strategy is is connecting that the the budget right, connecting resources and yearly budget to the strategic goals because then you're forced. You're not you're not you don't you don't really have a an option there, and then the importance of tracking, ensuring that you have those key performance indicators, tracking those performance reviews and measures is is really important, and and probably the most challenging, but so important is is ensuring that we're allocating the time for those strategic elements, right? Even even a I think of of our business. There's just certain things that we have to do in order to to keep moving in the industry, and and it's protecting that time to ensure that we're we're able to respond to it. And so that's a something that we also see our our clients doing as well.

46:21
No, that's great. Well, Carlos, thank you for your time. Bill, any other questions in the chat? Otherwise, I want to be respectful of everybody's time on a Friday. And

46:30
no, I don't. I don't. But great conversation. Thank you. Very engaging. A lot of lot of input from from the audience as well. It's been good. Thank you. Thank you for that. Well,

46:40
thank you, Carlos, for your time. Really appreciate your leadership in Parks and Recreation, what you're doing for Greater and Greener and City Park Alliance, and just helping to move the conversation forward and helping create great communities across America. So, thank you for your time today, Carlos.

46:54
Yeah, thank you, Justin and Bill, and thank you all for taking the time to join, and and thank you for the opportunity.

47:00
Yeah, well, how we how can we help you, right, Bill? Yeah, I was just going to say

47:07
if you all are if you if you have needs in any of these areas, let us know. You can put your name in the chat or email us. We do have a a kind of a unique approach to strategic plan follow up, whereby we not only help with the where are we conversations and shepherd those, but we mix in leadership development and collaboration training and team building training as part of those discussions, so that when we come together quarterly or whatever the cadence is, we're not only just we're not just hammering you about progress, but it's also a learning opportunity. We're going to get better at collaboration. We're going to get better at understanding each other's personalities and work pace and rhythms. And so, if any of that sort of thing would be of value to you as you implement your plan down the road, we would love to come alongside you and help. We do these workshops about every six weeks. The next one coming up is when is it in November, october

48:10
16,

48:11
october 16. Yeah, about six weeks from now, and it's on coaching and driving results through coaching. So, would love to have you participate as leaders. We want to coach people towards success, and you know help them learn and grow as people. So that's what we're going to be talking about. And Gail Johnson from our organization will be our guest on October 16, yeah. And lastly, if you do if you do want to stay on, I know we got 40 or 50 people here, something like that. If you want to stay on and chat for a couple of minutes and say hello, we'll just we'll hang out for a minute and be happy to chat. So thank you all for participating. Hope you have a great weekend wherever you are, and take good care.

49:04
Thank you.

49:05
Yeah, well, thank you everybody for your time. All the best, and thank you. Let us know how we can help you be successful.

49:10
You got it.