Yellow Wood Associates Innovators in rural development since 1985. PHOTO: house and scenic countryside Helping clients discover their development choices. www.yellowwood.org Effective Strategic Planning Methods for Your Byway IMAGE: three measuring spoons labeled: pinch, dash, smidgen You Get What You Measure® National Scenic Byways Conference 2007 Why Measure? Measurement: • Fuels continuous learning through reflection • Creates new information and new patterns of information flow • Captures results of risk and experimentation • Supports constructive self-organizing behavior • Allows us to test our assumptions about the way the world works • Can lead to new and unprecedented conversations, particularly with information gatekeepers • Helps us tell our stories Everyday Measurement IMAGE: measurement worksheet Measurement Vocabulary Goal A goal is a condition that you wish to achieve. A goal is not an action. It is not about doing or making; it is about being. Achieving a goal requires a change in the way your organization or your community looks, feels, and acts. For example, creating jobs is an activity; being a community in which everyone who wants a job has one is a goal. Goals are usually broadly stated. A well chosen goal should reflect what you really want, not what you think someone else, like a funder, wants to hear. Measurement Vocabulary Indicator An indicator is something that must be changed, or a condition that must be achieved, in order to claim that progress is being made toward a goal. Since goals are generally quite broad, there are many possible indicators that could suggest progress toward the goal. A discussion of indicators is a discussion of values — it reveals how different people interpret the goal. Indicators are most powerful when created and agreed upon within the context of the community or organization where they have real meaning to participants. Measurement Vocabulary Measure A measure provides a way to actually count or value the status of an indicator. For example, things may be measured in terms of “number of,” “percent of,” “quality of,” “frequency of,” or “rating of.” To track a measure over time, you must have a unit which defines what you are counting inches, people, quarts, hours, etc., and a baseline which defines the value of the measure at some predetermined starting point in time. Measurement Vocabulary Assumption An assumption is a hypothesis about some aspect of the way the world works that we believe to be true. Assumptions can be difficult to recognize because they are often deeply imbedded in the way we think about the world. The tendency to treat our assumptions as unquestionably true allows them to shape our world and become barriers to innovation and creativity. For example, it was once assumed that an electrical signal could not travel more than 100 meters. If Marconi and others had not challenged that assumption, we wouldn’t have wireless communications, among many other things Measurement Vocabulary Action An action is something you DO in order to achieve your goal. The action should be defined broadly enough to involve people in a variety of different tasks and provide opportunities for participants who don’t normally work together to do so. Successful actions build energy and produce spin-offs. They broaden our perspective and suggest new relationships and possibilities. FIGURE: Process Overview circles with arrows pointing to: Identifying Goals What do we REALLY want? Creating Measures Making and Testing a Measurement Plan Designing Actions Measuring Changes Reflecting on Results Discovering Indicators Revealing Assumptions Analyzing Indicators in a Systems Context Western Heritage Historic Byway Values Habitat/vegetation Unique NCA eco-system Natural resources along byway National Conservation Area Birds Snake River and its canyon The habitat of the birds and their prey Geologic formation of the canyon that reflects its beauty Theme: Ecosystem Goal of Ecosystems Byway visitors are exposed to a one-of-a-kind biological and geological ecosystem. 14 Indicators identified FIGURE: Goal: Indicator Analysis boxes numbered 1 - 14 in a circle with lines drawn between them Key Leverage Indicators 1. Increase in diversity of species (visiting and new discoveries) 2. Increase in local media coverage that focuses on uniqueness of the area 3. Increase in number of visiting school groups 4. Increased number of visitors Goal: Byway visitors are exposed to a one-of-a-kind biological and geological ecosystem. Key Results Indicators 1. Increased number of questions asked by visitors at the visitor center 2. Growth of private tour operator businesses Goal: Byway visitors are exposed to a one-of-a-kind biological and geological ecosystem. Key Indicator #11 definitions Increase in local media coverage that focuses on uniqueness of the area “Local media” – within the Treasure Valley, newspaper, tv, radio, periodicals, tabloids, newsletters, web-based versions of the same “Coverage” – feature article/story where the main subject is the byway or a unique feature of the byway “Focuses” – byway corridor is the main subject “Area” – Lower Snake River Plain (South of I84 to Owyhee Mountains) “Uniqueness of the area” – Pioneer historic events, NCA, Kuna, Silver City, Murphy, Melba, Snake River Canyon, SwanFalls Cam, archaeological/cultural/ geological features, biological features, Silver Trail, railroad history, mining, irrigation/agriculture, open space, pioneer settlement, Initial Point Goal: Byway visitors are exposed to a one-of-a-kind biological and geological ecosystem. Key Indicator: Increase in local media coverage that focuses on uniqueness of the area Measure Percentage of total coverage that specifically mentions the byway This could be measured as: -Numerator Hits on the area with the byway mentioned -Denominator Hits without the byway mentioned Using the Results of Measurement Who would we tell? -Chamber of Commerce -City Council -Potential Western Heritage Foundation members and volunteers -Rural Economic Development Agency Possible Actions Follow-up with reporters doing features without mention of the byway Establish good relationships with reporters whocover this region and inform them about the byway and its goals Pitching new feature stories Add byway into emerging and planned stories Encourage regional groups that issue press releases to mention the byway Hold a contest for best story every year You Get What You Measure® In Four Convenient Formats A Taste of Measurement This 3-hour overview of You Get What You Measure® is for those who want exposure to an alternative interactive planning process that works. Introduction to You Get What You Measure ® A full-day immersion in the measurement process suitable for conferences and introductory in-house trainings. You Get What You Measure® In Use This two-day application allows community members, staff, and/or employees of organizations, businesses, and government to learn the measurement process while applying it to issues central to their missions 2-Day Agenda Day One 1. Introductions and Welcome 2. Overview of You Get What You Measure® 3. Personalizing the Process – Everyday Measurement 4. Measurement Vocabulary 5. Sharing Values 6. Discovering Themes 7. Identifying Goals 8. Creating and Understanding Indicators 2-Day Agenda Day Two 1. Recognizing Assumptions 2. Indicator Analysis 3. Creating Measures 4. Using the Results of Measurement 5. Creating a Measurement Plan and how toimplement 6. Next Steps/Action Plan 7. Evaluation Becoming a Measurement Guide Designed for professionals who already have basic facilitation skills and experience. Those who successfully complete this three-day course and practicum may be licensed to deliver You Get What You Measure® to their clients. Includes: Available to Take Home YGWYM Brochure Goals Exercise For More Information ww.yellowwood.org Yellow Wood Associates, inc. 228 N. Main Street St. Albans, VT 05478 802-524-6141