HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-01-11 CC Handouts( I City of Ukiah
Strategic Planning
)-.Oow Process
Reflection Process — January
2010
(April, May, August and September 2007)
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Steve Zwieback
Synectics: Creative Management
Strategies
(707) 463-2088
Outcomes
�. Create alignment among the council
members about the top strategic
priorities for the City of Ukiah
2. Develop a set of operational principles
that will guide the practices and
decisions of the council in focusing on
the strategic priorities
s. Identify specific mechanisms for tracking
these strategic priorities over time that
will allow the council and city staff to
make the necessary adjustments to
achieve the strategic priorities
Successful leaders focus on 12 core performance 'enablers'...
SETTING THE AGENDA
ision, Values Goal Setting
Strategy & Planning Communications
Development
PROCESSES &
Knowledge Organisational Performance Professional Recruiting
Transfer ) (:: Structures ) (:: Appraisal ) (:: Development ) (::
LEADERSHIP
Capital Risk Group
Allocation Management Measurement Compensation
Strategic Planning Journey
Developed criteria and
guidelines
Develop a shared goal
about community identity
that matches the carrying
capacity and sustainability
Defining principles and
processes
of effective and
sustainable operations
and decisions
1. Maintain downtown historic
Totems, Taboos and Repetitive
place as a regional center of
Interactions Process:
civic and economic activity
1. Team work and
2. Develop a prioritized plan for
collaboration
maintaining and improving
2. Fix what is broken and
infrastructure based on specific
don't fix what isn't
criteria
broken. The budget
3. Planning valley -wide takes
follows the plan
place based on sound planning
principles
4. Council and staff work together
to create a more responsive
and effective workplace
environment
Goals and objectives
Principles of operation
Strategy and plans
Strategic Planning Journey
Defining principles and
processes
of effective and
sustainable operations
and decisions
Council Operating Agreements
1. Director evaluations of city manager
2. Annual conversations between council and directors
3. Two workshops per year for open conversations — planning versus goal setting
4. Accept expressions of disagreement — encouragement to re-examine positions
5. Everyone has an explicit opportunity to share opinions before opening up to debate
6. Council members send emails to city manager and department heads in neutral tones —
heads up when they hear of citizen concerns
7. Support decisions once they are made and move on instead of re -fighting the battle
8. Subcommittee between council, staff and consultants to establish parameters and ongoing
mechanisms for monitoring and evaluation — to be adopted by whole council
9. AAR (After Action Reviews)
10. Stay focused on the issue
11. Inside any decision or topic the questions is asked, "How does this best meet or further our
strategic goals and plan?"
"
12. We look at opportunity costs in any decision. We ask, "If we do this what won't we do and
what would be the short and long term consequences?" Examining the impacts on this area
and other areas.
13. We look at the long-term costs as well as short term savings — "How do we pay for this now
and in 10 years?"
14. Develop critical priorities and prioritize resources accordingly — we stick to them and not get
sidetracked
15. Show up prepared having done our homework
16. When we choose to sidetrack we acknowledge openly and give our reasoning
Strategic Planning Journey
Develop a shared goal
about community identity
that matches the carrying
capacity and sustainability
Council and staff work together to create a more responsive and effective workplace environment
Potential Goals
1. Develop institutional knowledge so that the organization can be efficient and effective. People will know what to do and
how to do it.
2. Develop effective communication mechanisms to the public so that people know the high quality work that is being
conducted by the city staff.
3. Attract and retain skilled employees.
4. Develop a workplace that cultivates caring and results in "invested employees".
5. Develop an effective communication system between and among staff and the council.
6. Identify strategies that select for employees who are likely to stay with the city and in the community.
7. Identify a prioritized set of major tasks for city staff and provide the necessary resources to staff to do their jobs.
8. Develop mechanisms that promote staff from within.
9. We want to create a workplace where a job at the city is considered the golden standard of employment
Design Principles
1. Match the staffing to the workload.
2. Match services to the revenue.
3. Build in mechanisms that allow people to see their results against expectations. Demonstrate real appreciation for
quality work that is being done. Build transparency into how work is identified and progress is monitored.
4. Build in structured processes of employee involvement and participation into the design, implementation and
monitoring of work.
5. Look for opportunities to work across department functions. Let the needs of the work define the work team rather
than by departments.
6. Utilize continuous improvement and other best practices.
7. Train employees in best practices in order to equip them to do their job.
8. In new project work, provide work guidelines and parameters along with the delegation of the work assignment in
order to provide as much clarity and flexibility to employees charged with the work.
Strategic Planning Journey
0
Develop a shared goal
about community identity
that matches the carrying
capacity and sustainability
Council and staff work together to create a more responsive and effective workplace environment
Potential Strategy Areas
•Staff Input
•Frequent Check -ins at Staff Level regarding work load
•Manage by Walking Around
•Establish & Focus on Priorities— Understand and work within our means
•Resource Management
Design Principles
• Develop a regular schedule of meetings with council members — perhaps one council member per department to
create ongoing communication.
• Conduct an employee survey to determine what employees want in terms of information and what they see as the
city priorities
• Look at the operating hours of the city to free up more quality time for employee planning conversations. This might
involve requiring appointments to see directors and key staff; prioritizing level of response (identified employee how
can handle routine responses; developing email response forms; move reception area
• Utilize existing employee meetings and change the focus to be more interactive and less informational.
• Create more informal opportunities for people to meet with each other — summer BBQs
Action Steps
Overall the planning team felt it essential to work with city staff and create an environment of participation and
ownership by addressing the urgent and immediate issues of city operations and staff. Decision an employee
survey using Survey Monkey. The intent would be that the survey would be designed by employees around
employee concerns, issues and solutions.
Strategic Planning Journey
eve op a prioritize pan or
maintaining and improving
infrastructure based on
specific criteria
Develop a prioritized plan for maintaining and improving infrastructure based on specific criteria
Potential Goals
1. Identify specific priorities and funding allocations for public infrastructure projects
2. Delineate all the choices and list the possible options
3. Identify those things that we will not fund in the future
4. Identify strategies to develop funding for essential and vital services for the long-term. In order to do this we will explore
the following issues and possibilities:
• Charter Cities
• Sale Tax
• Developer impact fees
• Broader tax base
• What can we do to displace general fund fees? Flexibility
• MCOG — street impacts
• Tax sharing agreement
• Annexation
• Develop institutional knowledge so that the organization can be efficient and effective. People will know what to do
and how to do it.
5. Our plan would reflect community input, priorities and what they are willing to pay for in the future
6. Identification of the most cost effective way of providing services — e.g. contracting
Design Principles
1. Whatever we do creates internal consistency across the system
2. Budget follows the plan rather than the budget driving the plan
3. We look for the most cost effective ways of achieving our priorities — better, faster, cheaper
4. We include and involve employees in infrastructure planning — implementing and monitoring
5. We will design a non-political, data -driven planning process that reflects the informed desire of our community. It will
be a two-way process of communication, education and planning
6. We will keep the planning process to the level of usefulness and application — it will be distilled to a manageable scale
7. The final decisions will be based on public safety, providing for vital services and cost effectiveness
Strategic Planning Journey
0
►evelop a prioritized plan for
maintaining and improving
infrastructure based on
specific criteria
Develop a prioritized plan for maintaining and improving infrastructure based on specific criteria
Tensions & Dilemmas
• Outside influences and decisions from the State and other agencies could restrict funding, impose mandates and change
the short term focus of staff activities
• General versus special tax requires 2/3 vote
• Retirement and personnel costs
• Use of eminent domain
• Energy, resource and construction costs may continue to climb which puts us further behind the curve from planning to
implementation
• A percentage of the city population will attack whatever we do
• Climate change impacts
• Current staffing levels are already low to do the work
Potential Strategies
1. Cost benefit analysis of Charter Cities — agendize for future Council Meeting
2. Compilation of current state information on all infrastructure analyses (Asset Management Program)
3. Develop a strategy for Community Engagement around infrastructure and funding (Subcommittee — Benj, Chris,
Mari and Steve).
• Look at education and website applications as tools
• Community survey process
• How to create a community dialog
• Well publicized informational meetings around specific topics
• Weekly articles in paper
4. Research successful efforts by other cities — don't reinvent the wheel
5.