Strategic Planning Task Force

The Strategic Planning Task Force is a small committee composed of elected individuals from the different departments of the town that get together and discuss the employee interests in the latest rejuvination project of Marana's Strategic Plan. It is headed by Josh Wright, Director of Strategic Initiatives.

 

The past couple of meetings that I attended dealt primarily with choosing from a list of bids to interview for updating the current town's strategic initiatives document. As a living document, it requires updates every few years in order to keep up with the town's progress. The task force discussed the needs of the current strategic plan,  the strong points in each bid, and the priorities of the Town's involvement. Points brought up include:

• It is important to engage Town employees both before and after the council retreat on the strategic plan.
• How to get the highest level of engagement? How to address those who are not exposed as frequently to the strategic plan?
• Should the bidding organization working on the strategic plan share responsibility for employee involvement?
• How should the document evolve over time? Since it is an update, is it a good idea to have the same people looking at it, or is it good to get a fresh pair of eyes for new perspectives?

It was decided that a survey was a good way to bring in employee involvement, and guage the overall Town's perceptions of the current Strategic Plan, their awareness, and what can be improved upon in terms of the strategic plan's evolution. This would be only the first step, however. After the council retreat on the strategic initiative, employees will be invited to review a draft of the new plan and provide feedback. In order to encourage the highest level of involvement, feedback opportunities will be done in small groups to create a trusting environment.

I think the survey will be an excellent way to guage current employee interaction with the strategic plan.

Partners for Strategic Action (PSA) will be working on this update of the strategic plan. In addition to having worked on the original strategic plan back in 2008, they've also worked on Marana's Economic Roadmap.

Interested in learning the importance of a strategic plan? Check out this article.