FIVE-YEAR ORGANIZATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN INSIGHT REPORT
IMPLEMENTATION ROADMAP
League of Oregon Cities
OVERVIEW
As the League of Oregon Cities (LOC) celebrated its centennial, the organization started to thinking about its next 100 years: what services, programs, and priorities are essential to be an effective advocate for municipal issues in the state? They partnered with Coraggio to answer this question and create a Five-Year Organizational Strategic Plan. The plan’s purpose was not to codify political positions or take a stance on specific policy issues. Rather, the purpose of the plan was to center equity and inclusion, improve internal operations, and identify core services to meet the evolving needs of its diverse membership.
LOC members—mayors, city councilors, administrators and managers—are representative of the state’s diverse communities: urban and rural, east and west of the Cascades, all points on the political spectrum. To meet the needs of the LOC and its members, we designed a process with significant stakeholder engagement to bring as many of voices and perspectives as possible to our assessment of the organization. Having established where the work of the LOC was particularly valuable to cities and where there were gaps to address, we worked alongside the LOC staff and board members to develop their new strategic plan. The process brought together a cross-section of city leaders, many of whom often find themselves on opposite sides of the political spectrum, finding consensus with the plan’s core areas of focus, success measures, and initiatives. In addition, we facilitated implementation workshops with LOC staff to help the organization operationalize the plan and build its capacity for action.
When the LOC envisions the next 100 years, they know they will be ready for the first five, supporting Oregon cities in thoughtful and effective ways that positively impact the people who call those cities home.
OUTCOMES
A clear position on where LOC can have the most significant impact on Oregon cities.
A strategic plan that is focused and targeted, along with a roadmap for implementation.
An equity-centered process that ensured a diversity of voices and perspectives were at the table to guide LOC internally as an organization and in how they support cities across the state.
APPROACH
With membership as diverse as that of the League of Oregon Cities, getting a good view of service delivery and organizational effectiveness is challenging. So, we designed our outreach to include not only a stakeholder surveys, interviews, and focus groups, but also an intentional effort to interface with the organization’s two affinity groups—its People of Color Caucus and its Women’s Caucus—to ensure we captured the experiences of city leaders too often overlooked or not supported. These inputs helped us develop a comprehensive Insight Report, outlining perceptions of LOC’s strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities. With this essential information in hand, we worked in collaboration with a staff and board Core Planning Team to develop a Five-Year Organizational Strategic Plan, including important strategic clarity elements such as vision, mission, and values, but also the components of the plan that will define their work over the next five years: strategic imperatives, objectives and success measures, and strategies and initiatives.
“Supporting and advancing the work of Oregon’s 241 cities requires a meaningful vision, a targeted mission, and a thoughtful and equitable strategic plan. With the professional expertise and assistance of Coraggio, the League of Oregon Cities was able to revitalize both its mission and vision statement, while simultaneously adopting an ambitious five-year strategic plan. Through Coraggio’s leadership, the League is well positioned to empower Oregon’s cities in their efforts to build equitable, healthy, safe, and thriving communities.”