David L. Darling and Ensley J. Sisk
Cooperative Extension Service
Kansas State University

Citizen involvement is an essential part of community development. All citizens need to learn simple planning processes. For community leaders, extension agents, and other agency staff who have community-development responsibilities, the following set of33ne or more of these five questions.

1. What is the consensus vision of our collective future? (A community vision statement).
2. What are all the possible ideas for actions we can take to improve the quality of life in the area, given our vision statement?
3. How do we get things done? How do we organize, plan, and implement plans?
4. Who will do the work? Who will lead, and who will follow?
5. Where do we find all the resources to implement our initiatives?

This publication discusses three planning procedures that help address question three: "How do we get things done?".
They are:
(1) the Social Action Process,
(2) the Planning Process, and
(3) The Strategic Planning Process.

The Social Action Process

The Social Action Process has been used successfully for many years. An Extension publication lists the following steps.

1. Recognize social systems.
2. Consider prior social situations.
3. Identify the problem or opportunity.
4. Initiate the idea.
5. Gain support from key leaders by legitimizing the idea.
6. Publicize the idea.
7. Establish the need in the minds of the people
8. Get commitments to action
9. Set goals
10. Determine means to achieve goals.
11. Develop a plan of action.
12. Organize human and other resources.
13. Launch the program.
14. Take action.
15. Evaluate results by comparing outcomes with the original goals.

The first step is initiated by citizens who have an idea about solving a problem or exploiting an opportunity. They then develop this idea as a public issue. Before the concerned citizens can begin selling their idea, they must research past events that may influence the success of their intended efforts. Often, an idea has been tried with a negative outcome.

The next important step in the Social Action Process is to legitimize the idea. This is done by co-opting the power structure into either backing an idea or remaining neutral on the issue.

Once the potential road blocks are cleared by legitimizing the idea, the next step is to publicize it. This can be done through work-of-mouth, an editorial in the newspaper, a news story, a radio interview, or a town meeting.

The remaining steps are self-explanatory. However, many good ideas and plans falter along the way because people fail to think through and implement each of these next seven steps. Usually no formal evaluation step is taken. This is unfortunate because much can be learned from successful efforts and unsuccessful ones.

The Planning Process

The Planning Process (Figure 1) has fewer steps than the Social Action Process. The attractiveness of this process is its clean, linear, logical form.

1. Where have we been in the past as a community on this issue?
2. Where are we now?
3. Where are we going as a community if the current trends continue?
4. Where do we want to end up?

Often planners stop with a written document in which goals are set and strategies are developed. However, in community development the process is not finished until action is taken and the results of the actions are evaluated.

The Planning Process assumes an organization exists to plan. If one does not exist, time needs to be spent to build it. It does not take into account the social system, historic events, local culture, and bias that can hamper a community-development effort. It also assumes community leaders exist and that they can bring the process to a successful conclusion. This is often not the case.

The Strategic Planning Process

A popular community-development technique is the process known as Strategic Planning.

The Strategic Planning Process (figure 2) differs from the process used to create a city's comprehensive plan. Many communities have a comprehensive plan that includes land use, community facilities, and capital improvements. Also attached to this are building codes, zoning ordinances, and other local control regulations. These are in the hands of paid staff and hired consultants with only a few elected and appointed community members involved.

The Strategic Planning Process is inclusive rather than exclusive. All interested citizens are welcome to participate. At each step of the process, specific abilities are needed, such as describing, analyzing, creating, integrating, and implementing skills.

Strategic planning does not strive to bring about the best of all possible outcomes. It develops a better outcome than the current environment would bring about. This is a relative improvement rather than an ideal outcome. It also deals with a feasible list of results rather than a wish list of outcomes.

The Strategic Planning Process is not finished when the plan is published. The process is ongoing, and the outcomes are strategies leading to actions targeted to meet preset goals.

The process has the following steps: (see figure 2)

1. Start by identifying current goals and strategies being pursued by city and county government, other existing community groups, businesses and individuals.
2. Conduct surveys of the community situation such as the business climate and the attitudes in the community towards change.
3. Assess local strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT).
4. Identify outside influences affecting the community.
5. Identify key issues and create a community vision.
6. Specify desired outcomes that can be defined as your goals. Compare these with ones identified in Step 1.
7. Formulate strategies to reach the new goals after considering alternative strategies.
8. Finalize the plan, then sell it to the community.
9. Implement the plan and evaluate its impacts.

Conclusion

The question "How do we get things done?" is a crucial one. The Social Action Process, the Planning Process and the Strategic Planning Process all have similarities. A good leader will use all three at different times. The simple Planning Process is a useful one to offer to a new, inexperienced community group who is focusing on their annual plan of work. The Strategic Planning Process is useful to guide an experienced, ongoing community group focusing on more difficult efforts such as revitalizing a community's economy. Finally, the Social Action Process is the one that leaders should always refer to for guidance when initiating a new idea or program.

Figure 1:The Planning Process (.doc file)

Figure 2: Strategy Planning Process (.doc file)

Source: Adapted from Graham S. Toft

David L. Darling is an Extension Specialist in Community Economic Development, Kansas State University, Cooperative Extension Service

Ensley J. Sisk is an Extension Specialist in Community Economic Development, Kansas State University, Cooperative Extension Service