You’ve just put a ton of organizational energy into refreshing your mission and vision statements, identifying strategic priorities, and adopting measurable success outcomes… so what comes next?
Organizations that we admire for their unyielding focus on outcomes and results are the ones that go beyond checking the box when implementing their plan. They integrate performance-based decision-making that aligns with their strategic plan in all they do.
A great example of this practice is the Broward MPO, the metropolitan planning organization that serves the greater Fort Lauderdale region in South Florida. Read on for how they bring their Strategic Plan to life through project selection and evaluation criteria.
Broward MPO’s Leadership Team and Board aligned around the mission “to collaboratively plan, prioritize and fund the delivery of diverse transportation options.” This process raised the questions:
• What problem is being solved and what is the best way to tackle it?
• What is the likely outcome once the project is delivered?
• Did the delivered project achieve its intended results?
By engaging with the Board and stakeholders, Broward MPO was armed with data on regional priorities and used that to design performance-based criteria for selecting and evaluating projects that would shape the region’s mobility landscape. One such application is their Complete Streets and other Localized Initiatives Program (CSLIP), which provides competitive funding for small local transportation projects that will improve the safety and mobility for all transportation users in Broward.
The evaluation criteria are transparent to applicants and the broader community, with a scoring system that allocates points across the dimensions of connectivity, mobility, safety, and economic development using objective, data-driven measures.
Figure 1: browardmpo.org
Through this program, the MPO has been able to fund over $100 million of critical infrastructure improvements that help the region to achieve their desired outcomes.
