Civic Strategies
Civic Strategies is a research and consulting firm specializing in
civic leadership and state and local government management issues.
The Civic Strategies web
site maintains a good collection of materials
of educational value for state and local government managers. The
firm also publishes a free
e-mail newsletter (twice a month) designed to help their
clients and others stay current on issues in state and local government.
Through an agreement with Civic Strategies, we have placed
some of their materials on the CPM web site (see below), however we
encourage you to visit their web site for more original documents
and to subscribe to their newsletter (see Civic
Strategies, the company,
for overview of the firm and its services). In
particular, you will find more materials such as those below on the
Civic Strategies web site, and its resource sections:
- Civic Strategies Online Library
- Civic Strategies Resources for Leaders and Executives
- Civic Strategies Newsletter
A Good, Simple Theory for Change (PDF file): In this brief article, Civic Strategies President Otis White explains the elements of successful community change, and how the elements interact with one another. White says: "There is a saying that 'nothing is as practical as a good theory.' I’d add to that 'a good, simple theory.' So let me share with you a good, simple theory that has helped me endless times in my work with organizations and communities: Change = D x M x P."
The Art of Strategic Planning (PDF file): This article discuss what is involved in the essential elements of strategic planning, and how it can benefit companies, organizations and communities. Strategic planning can be a painstaking process. But done right, it can unite an organization, company or community, and provide a powerful motivation for moving ahead. While strategic planning can be a complex exercise, there is an underlying simplicity to it: deciding what you want and, given hard work, what you can reasonably expect to achieve. The process is also simple: It is about bringing the right people, with the right information, and the right processes together to plan, and then testing the plan with others, adjusting it if necessary.
Why Leadership is Changing in Cities - And Where it is Headed (PDF file): This article, from a University of Georgia leadership publication, analyzes how civic leadership has changed in recent years, particularly in business communities, and what those changes means for cities today. In the past, small groups of individuals and institutions, called "Urban Growth Machines" by one sociologist, had a dominating influence on local politics based on their common interest in promoting local growth. Today, however, there are no small power groups left in most cities. Why? What caused the decline of the Urban Growth Machines in city after city? And what is replacing the old power coalitions? And, most importantly, to whom must public managers reach out to in order to lead and manage effectively to serve the public's interest?
Introducing the Left Hand to the Right Hand - The Benefits of Annual Leadership Summits (PDF file): Do you need to stimulate more and better planning and collaboration in your organization (whether a city, agency, division, or work-team)? One way: Begin an annual leadership summit meeting and invite all your region's leaders. Cities of all sizes have begun hosting summits, often with striking results. Equally importantly, the concepts behind the successful "summit meeting" can be applied to improve the producivity of much smaller work teams.
In accordance with our copyright policies, the copyrights to all Civic Strategies materials displayed on this web site are held by Civic Strategies. We are grateful to Civic Strategies for granting permission for the Society to make the materials above available here, but anyone wishing to make further use of the materials on this web site must obtain permission from Civic Strategies, the copyright holder.