Park University Begins University-Wide Strategic Plan

February 23, 2012 By
Park  University has over 20,000 students on 43 campuses participating in a wide range of graduate and undergraduate programs. Since being founded in 1875 Park has been known for a diverse student body with over 100 countries currently represented on the main campus north of Kansas City and for services to our military members and families.
 
In the fall of 2011, President Dr. Michael Droge and the Park Board partnered with Weidner to develop a 5-year Strategic Plan and implement Managing for Results across the entire University.  The Strategic Plan will position Park to lead the nation in personalized education, military and veterans life-long learning and global education.
 
The Strategic Plan will be presented to the Board for approval in May.  The FY 2013 University Budget, which begins July 1, will be guided by the Strategic Plan and Operational Plans for all Academic and Non-Academic Departments.
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Balanced Scorecard Organization Chooses MFR Live

February 23, 2012 By
If you have attended a local government conference over the last few years, there is a good chance that you’ve heard the story of Olathe, KS.  In 2004, the city of Olathe began using an Organizational Balanced Scorecard approach to manage its performance information and deliver meaningful results to the community. 
 
This past October, Olathe began using Weidner’s MFR Live dashboard and reporting system to manage its performance measures and ensure alignment of its Community Focus Areas, City Council Priorities, Organizational Objectives and those operational results that are delivered to its customers on a day-to-day basis.
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Gunnison County Manager Awarded the “Colorado County Administrator of the Year Award”

February 23, 2012 By
It does not happen very often in today’s economic climate, but it is happening in Gunnison County, Colorado. For the first time in at least the last 30 years, the County is lowering taxes, providing a cost of living increase to its employees and maintaining the delivery of key services to the community. See Article in The Crested Butte News
 
In late 2011, the Association of Colorado County Administrators recognized the work of Gunnison County by giving Matthew Birnie the “Colorado County Administrator of the Year Award” at the winter gathering of the Colorado counties. Matthew became the County Manager in Gunnison County in early 2007. With a focus on transparency, accountability and making the connection between service delivery and the cost of those services, he began implementation of Managing for Results.
 
In addition to its outcome-based approach to strategic planning and budgeting, Gunnison County is currently in the process of implementing an employee performance management system that aligns individual contribution with organization success.
 
For more information on Gunnison County, click here to visit the County website.
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Montrose County, CO sets Priorities, Results with approved Strategic Plan

July 19, 2011 By

Congratulations to our friends in Montrose County, CO, for officially adopting their County Strategic Plan!

This is the culmination of a process that started more than a year ago with seven focus groups across the County sharing their input on the top Priorities for Montrose County for the coming 2-5 years.   They drafted their Priorities and Strategic Results in a process with broad input; we highlighted that process here.

“Having this citizen-influenced strategic plan in place will be an immense help for county leadership, giving them a clear direction to follow when making policy decisions that will determine Montrose County’s future,” said County Manager Jesse Smith.

“This plan defines a clear direction for the County for the next five years and beyond but that doesn’t mean we will put it on the shelf to collect dust. This is a living document that we will review annually to ensure we are on track and adjust as needed.”

In addition to the County Plan, the various departments and offices of the County government have all completed Strategic Business Plans that align to the County Plan and identify Strategic Results those organizations will provide their customers.  Montrose will also present its first performance budget, with dollars directly connected to performance and priorities, for 2012.

Congrats to Montrose as well for a terrific presentation of their Plan for the public.  They created two versions, both of which are available via the web.  You can see them here – the Plan itself is available by clicking here, and the “extended” version of the Plan with additional background is available by clicking here.

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Performance Contracting: Spotlight By Barrett & Greene

April 14, 2011 By

We’re very pleased that our friends Katherine Barrett & Richard Greene, authors of the excellent “B&G Report” in the Governing magazine e-mail Management Letter, featured some of our customers and “lessons learned” in a recent online column for the IBM Center for the Business of Government.

The column, “Performance Contracting: Turning Talk Into Action,” featured the experience of Franklin County, Ohio, which very effectively used performance contracts in 2001 to manage a 70% cut in welfare reform grants to community organizations.  Those performance-based decisions resulted in improved decision making, almost no political blowback, and, in a couple of cases, services being continued even without the funding.

The column also featured the best-in-class example of the Alcohol Drug and Mental Health Board (ADAMH) of Franklin County, which contracts out approximately 90% of its funding to community providers using performance contracts.Remarkably, their providers reported greater satisfaction with their relationship with ADAMH even as their accountability for performance increased.  We’re very proud to have featured ADAMH and their Vice President for Performance and Management, Susan Lewis Kaylor, in a fantastic webinar recently; if you missed it, it’s not too late!  You can download the webinar presentation by clicking here and listen to the audio of the webinar by clicking here.

Performance Contracting – or, as we like to call it, “Partnering For Results” – offers a powerful tool to improve results, align performance, and drive efficiency.  The Barrett & Greene column is a great overview on getting started.  Take a look and let us know what you think!

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Gunnison County, CO presents first Results-Based Budget

November 23, 2010 By

With the leadership of County Manager Matthew Birnie, Gunnison County, CO, has presented their first Results-Based Budget, which was created using Weidner, Inc.’s Budgeting For Results tools and methods. [Read more...]

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Weidner outlines Affordable Housing recommendations for State of Vermont

November 20, 2010 By

The State of Vermont Department of Economic, Housing, & Community Development engaged Weidner, Inc. to assess its approach to delivering affordable housing services for the people of Vermont. The effort was driven by an Executive Order from Gov. James Douglas, seeking recommendations to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of how affordable housing is provided in Vermont.

Weidner’s recommendations would yield significant cost savings and provide the tools and methods to assess and improve the quality of the results provided to customers.

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Montrose County, CO begins Managing For Results

June 1, 2010 By

Montrose County, CO, has begun a government-wide implementation of Managing For Results. Weidner worked with a large group of the County’s elected officials and department heads in Spring 2010 to create the County’s Strategic Plan. The County has begun creating departmental Strategic Business Plans as well. County Manager Jesse Smith said in a “Manager’s Letter” on the County website:

“It’s essential that the County’s Strategic Plan include each and every department and employee, and that everyone buys into the plan.”

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