Strategic planning drives city’s economic development

Like many cities in Colorado, Evans faces challenges in long-range economic development.   Uncertainties regarding revenue, staffing and sustainability are struggles every municipality faces. Coupled with changing policies and legislation mandated at the state and federal levels, economic development can be daunting, confusing and headache inducing. Evans’ answer to those challenges is to develop a strategic operations plan that addresses core priorities with a lasting vision driven by the city council. Since more than 70 percent of strategic plans are never implemented, Evans has taken steps to ensure its plan doesn’t sit on the shelf but is a living document that reflects a clear return on the investment of time and money.

More than eight years ago, Evans began a consistent focus on its economic-development efforts.  First, it hired dedicated staff to manage programs. Then, the city council adopted a vision, a mission, and values to guide the day-to-day operations. The strategic plan builds on that foundation by creating goals, projects and strategies (the GPS) and measurable actions that create focus and accountability. It’s a unique, customized strategic planning system to address the growing needs of the city and plan for the future.

The Strategic Operations Plan is based on successful private-sector principles (a similar plan is used by OtterBox) and is used in every service area of the city.

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The approach is based on five basic steps: Where did we come from, where are we today, where are we going, how will we get there – and celebrating, evaluating and reporting.

The review process includes a monthly breakfast meeting with all staff, a “compass check” every 90 days with key staff to update information and create new deliverables for the next quarter, and a quarterly review by the city council to ensure staff is on track and meeting the vison and mission of the council.

Reviewing doesn’t accomplish much in the way of progress. Unless the culture of an organization can integrate strategic planning at the very core, a plan will only be partially successful.  Economic development crosses departmental and budgetary boundaries; all city staff have a responsibility to enhance the long-term sustainability of the city through economic development. Evans also has implemented various ways to embed the strategic plan within its own policies and documents.

Staff has written the strategic-planning language into their master plans, the annual budget (which also is reviewed quarterly by the council), staff reports, and many more documents. With the language, visual icons and consistent message of critical thinking about economic development, all staff is aware of the importance. Even though the strategy is staff driven through council direction, residents of Evans also are involved. Every action involves citizen participation and engagement through meetings and newsletters, as well as citizen outreach via social media and other channels.

Successes from the strategic plan have been ongoing and very measurable. Starting from a base of limited resources for economic development and no long-range plan for sustainability, Evans has been able to create a retail strategy, hire key consultants to accomplish the vision and mission, purchase land to hold for eventual retail development and drive a strategy along the U.S.  Highway 85 corridor that will create long-term revenue for other projects.

There are always lessons learned every time the city has a strategic planning session.  Three key lessons continue to rise to the top:

Strategic planning must have a champion. Without someone to energize the team, support the process and keep the focus moving forward, the team is likely to find other important work to do.

The right people must be at the table. That often means asking some hard questions, inviting people outside of the standard group and being open to criticism and confusion.

Accountability is key. The way to accountability is the deliverables with a team leader and team members assigned. If no one is responsible, then nothing will get done.

This economic-development strategic planning process has taken Evans from a position of “What do we do next?” to a long-range vision of prosperity and sustainability that can be measured and communicated with ease.

Sheryl Trent is economic development director for the city of Evans. Contact her at  strent@evanscolorado.gov or 970-475-1112.