“There’s a big expectation from the citizenry that local governments are accomplishing something and moving forward,” said planning and productivity expert Wendy King when we interviewed her at the Colorado City County Management Association (CCCMA) 2016 Winter Conference. King presented in multiple conference sessions, teaching Colorado City and County staff how to become more productive, develop strategies and initiate their plans successfully.
“The expectation is that plans don’t just sit on shelves. You have to be able to execute it and prove that you’ve gotten the results that you intended,” King expressed.
“For a plan to be successful, you have to have strategies and ways to execute that plan,” King explained. She outlined that organizations should consider the tools and data available to them in the planning process. “The first thing to do is look at how the data fit in with the key goals you want to accomplish.”
King shared an example from her experiences working with local governments to achieve their desired outcomes. “One of the cities that I worked with wanted to have a safer community. So they culled through the data, looked at what they wanted to do and then figured out a solution and a set of tactics to actually reduce the crime rate. They created neighborhood watches and [acted on their plan] within a certain time frame.”
King continued, “Then they measured their results.” The city reduced its crime rates. She emphasized the importance of including performance measurement in the execution process, as this information can be used to direct the next round of planning.
“As a gender, women have assets we can use today to move our organizations forward. Focus on your own strengths rather than your weaknesses, because some of those weaknesses in fact are just perceptions. Consider how you can use your strengths to make your organization better,” King said.
“Wendy King was absolutely wonderful,” said Anna Mitchell, Assistant City Manager of Trinidad, who had attended King’s conference sessions. “The different things that she talked about for improvement on your own capabilities will not only help in increasing your own productivity, but your team’s productivity as well.”
Wendy King helps local governments, healthcare, research and higher-educational organizations improve their planning and productivity. You can visit www.planproduce.com to learn more about King and her services.
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