Civil Municipal - May 2024

OPENING L INES steps every year, which generally includes between 85 and 95 deliverables. Recognizing the city council’s role in identifying priorities and goals, and informed by community feedback, the staff’s role is to make the plan come to life. Creating a culture of accountability inside an organization isn’t easy, but it’s much easier when you have a champion on board, someone whose responsibilities include implementing the plan, educating others on how best to provide updates and managing the overall implementation of the city’s chosen software for managing the plan’s execution. Minnetonka has implemented a performance management software platform that brings the plan to life visually and simplifies the process of staff providing regular updates. By leveraging color- coded progress bars, regular automated reporting delivered directly to contributors’ inboxes, and the ability to copy in action items from previous years, staff members can readily see and understand the progress on both action items and larger strategic priorities. It’s easy to identify action items that have not been completed, which keeps staff accountable and motivates them to submit updates regularly. MEASURING WHAT MATTERS Forming key performance metrics that are monitored and measured regularly is another essential part of successful strategy execution. Metrics tell the city’s story of progress, transformation and even disruption. Minnetonka currently has approximately 40 performance metrics, which the city uses in addition to data from its annual community survey, as part of the process for evaluating its successes. In addition to using this data to track progress, the team also uses it to identify opportunities for growth. While it’s difficult to step back and take a deliberate look at the places where your team is falling short, it is vitally important in ensuring that goals are met, and priorities are correct. Measuring performance and reporting on the strategic plan also provides greater focus and clarity for Minnetonka’s city council. A public dashboard with visual representation provides a framework for council to remain focused on what is important, and to drive decisions and priorities. A MINDSET OF CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT A high-functioning strategic plan does not have a finish line, and continuous improvement is a true motivator for Minnetonka’s team. Prior to the strategic plan’s development in 2019, only a handful of people were involved in executing Minnetonka’s strategy. Implementing performance management software has helped redefine the organization’s relationship to strategy and now, strategy is something that everyone is responsible for. Part of Minnetonka’s goal for continuous improvement is to expand the reach of the strategic plan, and access to the software, so as many employees as possible are engaged in the process. Further integration of the strategic plan in all areas of the organization is a key priority for the team moving forward. While the excitement of a new strategic plan results in a high number of stakeholders and staff engaging with the plan and completing action steps, time can make a once exciting plan feel stale. In the spirit of continuous improvement, leaders at Minnetonka recognize the need to constantly discuss ways to implement new ideas and improvements and keep team members engaged in the process. One way to avoid stagnation has been to continually be thinking about and working towards the next phase of the plan. Each year, staff will once again collaborate to revisit and update the action steps (third level of the strategic plan). It’s an opportunity to incorporate some of the new ideas that have been percolating, while also building on the successes of the current year. Plans tend to “age out” after three to four years, given how much change can occur in just a few years. That, combined with newly elected council members, has led to a planned “refresh” of the top two levels of the plan in 2024. (The current plan was first implemented in 2020). 11 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 05