Community Development Services

Community Development Services
Include Comprehensive Planning System

Lawrimore offers a powerful new 21^st-Century form of action planning and management to help communities cope with major market-driven changes and prepare for the future. Traditional strategic planning cannot handle rapid change. We developed our Comprehensive Planning and Action Strategy System (COMPASS™) explicitly to empower communities to meet the challenges of the 21^st Century.

For example, these are some key differences between COMPASS and traditional strategic planning:

TRADITIONAL STRATEGIC PLANNING	COMPASS
Focuses on creating a document to guide and constrain future actions	Focuses on creating structures and processes which can adapt and change as needed
Begins by gathering a lot of data about the present situation	Begins by finding out what people’s issues are and gathers data as needed for action
Top-level group creates plan for others to implement	People at all levels involved in action teams which plan and implement
Improvements are generally limited to what’s in the plan	Improvements are unlimited, continuous, and become a new way of thinking and working
Creates the illusion of control by planning lots of details, timelines, and tasks	Accepts that many variables can’t be controlled, and adaptation is key to success
Information is typically limited to the goals and tasks outlined in the plan	Continuous information flow among all teams and from the environment is a top priority
Emphasis on being slow and deliberate	Emphasis on being quick and creative

The COMPASS process can deliver the following key outcomes and benefits:

Provides a system for continuously improving the productivity, responsiveness and functionality of local government and its ability to cope with changing challenges
Generates a higher level of energy and enthusiasm for making improvements

Identifies most effective ways to achieve desired economic development as well as to improve overall quality of life and other community issues
Gives citizens a greater role in and understanding of their local government, strengthening democracy and the community’s capacity for dealing with challenges and opportunities
Relieves elected officials and staff of the burden of dealing with complex issues which by nature require citizen involvement, such as managing growth, strengthening neighborhoods, small business development, and educational or social concerns.

For more information on how this powerful system can strengthen your community, visit our special website at Strategic-Planning-Processes.com, call 704-332-4344 or use our online contact form.