The document outlines essential components of a local government strategic plan, including a core mission, vision statement, strategic priorities, a rollout plan, and measures with owners. It emphasizes the importance of tracking data effectively and automating processes to avoid inefficiencies. Examples from cities like Germantown, Fort Collins, Fort Lauderdale, and Durham illustrate successful implementation of strategic planning and performance measurement.

1. PLANNING AND BUDGETING

2. LOCAL GOVERNMENT PLANNING: ESSENTIAL
ELEMENTS
5 Essential Components Of
A Government Strategic
Plan
• 1. Core Mission
• 2. Vision Statement
• 3. Strategic Priorities
• 4. A Rollout Plan
• 5. Measures/Measure Owners

3. 1. CORE MISSION
• Your city’s mission statement is the
foundation of the plan; it shows what you do
for the city, community, and citizens. This is a
step that some people don’t take seriously—
but this is the main building block that will
keep you focused from this point forward.

4. 2. VISION STATEMENT
• Your vision statement builds on the mission by
stating what you are hoping to achieve in the
future in order to reach your mission—so this is
where you can start getting a little more
specific.

5. 3. STRATEGIC PRIORITIES
• The following are often considered strategic priorities for
municipalities:
• Economy
• Neighborhood livability
• Health & safety
• Transportation
• Culture & entertainment
• Efficient and high performing government

6. 4. A ROLLOUT PLAN
• Everyone—from employees to citizens—needs
to understand how they fit into the city’s
strategic plan. If you’ve involved your staff and
citizens in steps 1-3, this fourth step is so much
easier.

7. 5. MEASURES/MEASURE OWNERS
• Having a local government strategic plan is one
thing—but tracking the data that goes into that
plan is another thing entirely. Tracking your
data effectively allows you to better report on
your strategic process. Unfortunately, many
organizations end up in the never-ending cycle
of manually adding data. This is not only
extremely inefficient and tedious, but manually
adding data is also prone to human error and
mistakes.

8. IN ORDER TO
CUT OUT
THESE ISSUES,
CONSIDER THE
FOLLOWING:
• Make sure every goal, measure, and project
has an owner. On top of that, it’s critical to create
a reporting calendar for all owners to follow. This
ensures everyone is held accountable and knows
when to have their information submitted. Using
software can help with this, as you can assign
responsibility to measure and project owners,
have a place where these owners can update and
document their reports, send out meeting
reminders, and more.
• Load data automatically whenever possible. It’s
inevitable that you’ll need to pull in data from a
number of different places—automating this
process is the most effective way to get most of
your data into one
place. Software like ClearPoint should be very
helpful here assuming your software has data
loading capabilities. This capability ensures your
owners and leadership don’t waste their time
adding data but instead can focus on analyzing
and managing the results of your strategy.

9. LINKING GOVERNMENT STRATEGIC
PLANS & WORK PLANS
• Ideally, city divisions and departments would have formal strategic plans in place, but
most operate off their work plans and the planning process around them. A good work
plan outlines each department’s responsibilities in relation to the strategic plan,
including:
• Department mission statement
• Goals and measures
• Mandatory initiatives (e.g. legal requirements)
• Projects and initiatives to improve performance
• Budget and resource allocations
• Core competencies and developments in human resources within the department

10. 4 GOVERNMENT STRATEGIC PLAN
EXAMPLES
• Germantown, TN
• Fort Collins, CO
• Fort Lauderdale, FL
• Durham, NC

11. GERMANTOWN, TN
• This Tennessee city views citizens as customers and
city services as “goods” provided to their customers,
which keeps the focus on citizen priorities. For
example, instead of saying, “We need a new park,”
the city takes the attitude of, “The citizens need a
place to connect, exercise, and enjoy the outdoors.”
Using outcomes as a starting point, Germantown creates its priorities and shapes its strategy.

12. FORT COLLINS, CO
• The City of Fort Collins, Colorado, provides a great
example of how to perfect the strategic planning
process for your government over time. The city
started with a large number of measures that were
reviewed by an equally large group of staff. It then
refined the planning process until only the most
important key metrics were reviewed by the right
stakeholders. From there, the focus shifted toward
examining the key outcomes, strategic objectives,
and initiatives that drove progress on the key metrics.
City leaders went through several iterations to get the
plan just right, realizing the process was an evolution.

13. FORT LAUDERDALE, FL
• To activate its ambitious, community-driven vision
plan, the City of Fort Lauderdale, Florida has
embarked on a sweeping new program of strategy
management. In the process, the city has embraced
performance measurement with equal parts
discipline, dedication, and passion.

14. DURHAM, NC
• The City of Durham, North Carolina, engaged in two
rounds of their performance management execution
program. The first focused on developing a strategic
plan that emphasized data-driven decision-making
and advanced the city’s goal of transparent, civic-
minded government. Durham’s fervent attention to
performance measurement and monitoring helped
the city align its spending and activities with strategic
priorities. This alignment helped them partner in
unprecedented ways with Durham County.

15. STRATEGIC PLANNING TIPS FOR
GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS
• 1. Involve your stakeholders in your local government strategic
plan.
• 2. Be bold, but realistic.
• 3. Don’t be afraid of your weaknesses.
• 4. Don’t neglect your strengths.
• 5. Don’t go in alone; seek out help when needed.
• 6. Keep your focus on the long term.
• 7. Avoid scope creep.
• 8. Don’t let your local government strategic plan sit on a shelf.