Define Goals
Set Short, Intermediate, and Long-Term Goals
Once the foundation is established, department leaders and other high-level actors must establish goals and define measurements of success for everyone involved.
Useful goals have the following elements:
Well Defined: A city must address the strategies the department lead will employ to use resources most effectively and articulate how the department will improve services.
Measurable: A city must be able to measure results to show it has achieved its goals. A measurable goal includes targets, metrics, and timelines, which improves accountability internally and externally.
Citywide: Goals that are citywide rather than focused on individual departments help a city avoid siloing and achieve results that improve the lives of residents. The principal and department leads should develop short, intermediate, and long term goals that the performance management effort can achieve. These will be informed by the strategic priorities, as discussed above.
Setting a "bold goal" can help to quickly articulate the city's desired result with more specificity than the overarching priority, without going into details of underlying metrics and strategies. A city's goals may cascade--a long-term goal may be supported by intermediate and short-term goals or outcomes--but the goal at the top is considered the bold goal. For example, if your long term goal is to reduce infant mortality by 10% within five years and your short term goal is to increase the number of parents who receive safe sleep training in hospitals by 15% within the next year, the long-term goal would also be the bold goal, the one to use in talking points and speeches.
| Short Term Goals: The short term set of goals should be achievable within one to two years. |
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| Increase the number of parents who receive safe sleep training in hospitals by 15% within the next year |
| Increase the number of inmates who return to the community with an ID card by 30% within two years |
| Reduce pending placement population in juvenile detention by 30% within two years |
| Increase the number of farms using cover crops by 30% in the next 12 months |
| Increase the number of children visited by social workers by 15% in the next year |
| Intermediate Goals: These goals usually fit into a political term, achievable in two to four years. The intermediate goals are broader and contemplate more collaboration across city departments. |
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| Reduce unemployment by 25% by the next election |
| Reduce domestic violence crimes by 20% in the next three years |
| Increase the number of citizens who have health insurance by 10% within four years |
| Long Term Goals: These goals are more ambitious and would take four to 20 years to achieve. These goals are most effective if they create a forcing mechanism for cross-department or multi-department collaboration. Setting goals that span Mayoral administrations demonstrates an unselfish commitment. |
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| Reduce infant mortality by 10% within five years. |
| Reduce violent crime by 20% within the next 10 years. |
| Decrease the infant mortality rate by 10% within the next 12 years. |
| Improve eighth grade reading and math test scores by 20% in the next 15 years. |
| Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2030. |
Questions for Discussion: Getting the Right Goals
Has the city established overarching priorities through a strategic planning process, business plan, long-term goal statement, or some other way? List the priorities and any supporting documentation. Think about planning processes, legislation, initiatives, and speeches.
Has the city established long term, short term, or interim goals that are associated with your priorities?
If so, are there metrics and a timelines associated with the goals? Can any of these be considered a bold goal? Have you identified a Key Performance Indicator (KPI)?
If not, brainstorm about what a bold goal might look like for each priority, including timeline, metrics, and KPI.
Which departments are responsible for the strategies to meet these goals? Do these departments have their own work plans to achieve the goals?
If there are not yet citywide goals, have any departments established their own missions or goals? Could these be linked to the Citywide priorities?
Is the data associated with your priorities and goals easily available for the city to tap into? Is there county, state, or federal data that would be applicable to the goals you want to achieve? If you need to gather datasets, which departments would you prioritize? Who would do this work?
Are there any upcoming opportunities to communicate the data and goals? Can the data you collect be linked to public demand? How closely does your data align to the strategic goals the city wants to achieve?