Dr. Sherman Wyman and a graduate Management of Economic Development class in the School of Urban and Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Arlington to design and facilitate a strategic planning retreat for Melissa government and business leaders. The retreat took place at Melissa Ridge Intermediate School on November 12, 2009 with twenty seven (27) community leaders in attendance. The retreat was preceded by an environmental scan with anticipated retreat participants including the mayor, city council members, and various Melissa business and community leaders.
The report includes an introduction, a review of the retreat process used in Melissa, postretreat observations of the facilitators, and a series of appendices that contain the data produced
by and for the retreat participants.
An important summary:
Commitment and Follow Through Strategic plans are not self-implementing. It is for that reason that strong emphasis was given at the retreat to the necessity of follow-through and progress monitoring. Success depends on an unqualified commitment from the city council, the chamber of commerce, Melissa Industrial and Economic Development Corporation (4A) and Melissa Community and Economic Development Corporation (4B) boards, the school board and other community institutions to follow-through on the strategic priorities and specific actions adopted at the retreat. This might be done by forming a Strategic Planning Action Committee or similar body chaired by a prominent member of the community. Members might be selected from the institutions represented at the retreat and others who must be involved for sustained progress. The committee could meet bi-monthly to review implementation progress with the strategic priorities and related actions approved at the retreat. A simple monitoring sheet can be used to track implementation progress and encourage a discussion of what is going well, not so well and what should be added, deleted or changed. Information on progress should be made public. The committee also might propose modifications to the strategic plan in response to emergent community needs not foreseen during the planning process.
No comments:
Post a Comment