Plan of Action
ORGANIZATIONS IN MOFFAT COUNTY, COLORADO GATHER IN SAME PLACE FOR FIRST TIME TO CREATE SHORT TERM ACTION PLAN
Initiative
Sometimes it’s not about the noble cause of trying to create the defining “Plan” for a community. Sometimes what’s most helpful is to figure out what people will agree to work on together in the short term…to build capacity to do things as stepping stones toward a more strategic future.
Moffat County has typical challenges: complacency with large industry that provides stable employment, too many plans that make it difficult to both understand community development vision and take action, and getting various interest groups to row in the same direction. Concerned about reliance on its role as a coal/power generator for the State of Colorado in a renewable energy era that has emerged, Moffat County was worried about its future. While three core visioning/economic development plans for the County and/or region had been generated, there wasn’t awareness of, or agreement to, participate in ACTIONS among the various community groups. In the words of County Commissioner Frank Moe: “Our desire wasn’t just to out-talk, but to out-do.”
Gathering, for the first time, 80 people representing a broad cross-section of community groups, Rynic facilitated a workshop that generated agreement to take identified, specific actions that set a more ambitious tone for the community.
Deliverables
- One Year Action Plan Developed – all previous plans were reviewed and distilled into numbered initiatives. Additional initiatives were brainstormed by theme. Using online polling software to enhance workshop experience and accelerate results, the group prioritized four key catalyst actions (Colorado Northwestern Community College Infrastructure/Programs, Energy Sector Diversification, Downtown Mixed Use Development, Entrepreneur/Manufacturing Incubator), and collaborated to create one year action plans for each priority action. With the “What” established, the “How” – initiatives that get everybody on the same page and working together – is vital in communities that need to collaborate. The group brainstormed and prioritized three key ideas: Common Communication Platform; Hold a Leadership Conference; and Beautify Maybelle School Infrastructure and Clean Up Community Notice Corner with Map and Landscaping (under category – Complete a Small, Tangible Project).
- Leadership Capacity Building
o An evening “13 Ways To Kill Your Community” presentation by Doug Griffiths, CEO, 13 Ways , reframed challenges and opportunities to set the stage for potential to create the exceptional.
o In the workshop, online polling was used to test a number of attitudinal statements that the community can reference to help overcome obstacles/step into opportunities via a better understanding of community dynamic. An additional presentation was delivered: Aim High: Leap 5 Hurdles That Stand in the Way of Exceptional Places. - Vision Statement – A bolder, actionable vision statement was drafted to focus strategic action. The Vision Statement moves beyond typical “quality of life” and “sustainable” cliché with an emotional pitch to a footloose workforce, communication of energy-driven strategy, and identification of a culture required to pursue strategy in the word “innovation”. “We are the last best west – where people find refuge in connection to a land of big skies and a wild and free river that flows through us. We are energy – in our wise development of conventional and alternative sources, in what we grow from the land, in our quality-first community building, and in a boundless entrepreneurial attitude born of our pioneering, western pioneer spirit and true grit. We are innovation – inherent in who we are, and where we are going.”
Results
Relevant, energetic and compelling – everything we need to build community success in a two hour session!” Frank Moe , County Commissioner, Moffat County, Colorado
