TOWN OF MOCKSVILLE
Strategic Plan
ADOPTED – 08/02/2022
UPDATED – 06/28/2023, 06/30/24
An organization imagines a future, creates a baseline of where it stands, charts a path forward, and monitors progress along the way.
Vision Statement
The Town of Mocksville will effectively balance its historic roots and values with the need to revitalize, renew and modernize the Town for the benefit of all its citizens. The Town will become a leading destination for safe and sustainable residential, commercial and industrial development with a vibrant downtown district.
Mission Statement
The Town of Mocksville provides essential services for the health, safety and well-being of the community which enhances our quality of life while encouraging commercial, residential and industrial growth.
Residents expect their local government to have a plan for the future. As with a private company, effective strategic planning guides an organization into the future, safeguards it from constantly evolving risks, and unifies its employees in a welcoming culture that attracts top talent.
In contrast to a Master Plan or Comprehensive Development Plan, strategic planning covers the entire organization, whether it be human resources, parks and recreation, fire protection, etc. A strategic plan is much more than just a plan. It incites action, influences the culture, provides valuable insights into organizational effectiveness, and so much more.
Composition of the Strategic Plan
At its core, a Strategic Plan is composed of several interconnected elements. The Vision establishes the intended future of the organization. The Mission articulates the basic purpose of the organization. Core values create boundaries and standards by which to accomplish the mission and vision. The SWOT analysis provides the organization with an accounting of the various factors influencing the potential success or failure of achieving the mission and vision. Strategic goals are the major milestones toward accomplishing the mission and vision. Objectives establish the outcomes or deliverables needed to complete strategic goals. Actions are the tasks to be performed to deliver on the outcomes or deliverables. And finally, the performance measures use data to track progress and effectiveness.
How the Strategic Plan was Created
Typically, the strategic planning process is coupled with the budgeting process. However, finance should only loosely connect to the strategic planning process since budgeting tends to dominate the conversation. Therefore, this Strategic planning process includes input from Town leadership with both elected officials and the staff leadership team, and incorporates public input and information collected during the 2019 Mocksville Comprehensive Plan process and other appropriate Stakeholders.
Throughout the process, information and feedback were gathered from the entire organization as each element was created. Thus, the Strategic Plan became a guide for all levels of the organization to unify staff and elected officials.
Plan Implementation and Maintenance
The implementation of the 2023-2027 Strategic Plan coincided with the beginning of the 2022-2023 Fiscal Year (July 1 – June 30). The strategic goals became performance goals for the staff leadership team. However, before FY 22-23 began, several key activities were already taking place:
- Department heads were working with staff to allocate resources and making plans to complete the actions documented in the Strategic Plan.
- Town leadership, including elected officials, committed to being examples of the core values, following up on objectives and strategic goals, and being committed to the Town’s Vision and Mission.
- Performance measures were prepared with the means to collect the necessary data.
- Communications were prepared to share the Strategic Plan with residents and to develop a public log of progress with the Strategic Plan.
Maintenance of the Strategic Plan is one part administrative and one part cultural. Performance measures, actions, and objectives inherently establish a means of monitoring progress. Each year of the plan will include another gathering to create new objectives and actions and potentially modify Strategic Goals as necessary.
Culturally, the Strategic Plan requires the entire organization to stay involved and to continually reach for the vision.
This means managers will discuss the core values, objectives, performance measures, and so forth when meeting one-on-one with employees they supervise.
The Town Manager will discuss the Strategic Plan regularly in staff meetings.
The Board of Commissioners will review the Strategic Plan in public meetings and so forth. This becomes easy to do when stakeholders are excited about the vision, understand their role in it, and begin to see progress towards completion.