2030 Report
Town of Normal
Quotes:
It’s hard to make predictions, especially about the future.
—Yogi Berra
People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It's not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past. They are fighting for access to the laboratories where photographs are retouched and biographies and histories rewritten.
—Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting
To have a strategy is to put your own intelligence, foresight, and will in charge instead of outside forces and disordered concerns. The priorities are always there. The question is who selects them. When the pressures are in charge, the present gets attention not the future; fighting brush fires and improvisation take precedence, not planning; defense is the game, not offense; and political and psychological infighting rules, not meeting the outside needs, threats, and opportunities. Strategy means agreeing on some aims and having a plan to defeat one's enemies — or to arrive at a destination — through the effective use of resources.
—George Keller
Steps of Planning Process (with approximate dates):
- (December 17) Mayor gives charge the Steering Committee.
Steering Committee discusses its charge, role, function, and activities. Chuck and Jack present an orientation to the proposed planning process and a proposed schedule.
The Steering Committee subdivides itself into six teams of two. One half of the teams concentrate on identifying salient Town of Normal strengths. The remaining teams concentrate on determining emerging opportunities in the Town of Normal’s environment. Each team convenes a separate discussion group (could be the beginnings of sub-committees) to obtain the widest possible input.
- (January—March) While the Steering Committee members are
organizing their individual discussion groups, the Steering
Committee meets as a whole to hear a number of presentations:
Mark Peterson, City Manager, Town of Normal Progress on 2025 Report Jan. 13
Paul Russell, Executive Director, McLean County Regional Planning Commission Comprehensive Regional Plan Jan. 27.
John Norquist, ex-Mayor of Milwaukee Regional perspective on opportunities and strengths Feb. 04
Mark Peterson, City Manager, Town of Normal Current state of Town of Normal Feb. 05
Al Bowman, President, Illinois State University and Dan Steska, Superintendent, Unit 5 Schools Plans of major employers, Part 1 Feb. 10
Roger Hunt, President and CEO, BroMenn HealthCare and Dan Irvin, Manager or Plant Communications, Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America, Inc. Plans of major employers, Part 2 Feb. 19.
Others speakers deemed necessary by Steering Committee March 1 thru 30. - (March 30) Identify Town of Normal’s strengths and opportunities.
(Jack and Chuck act as facilitators)
- The teams consolidate input from the discussion groups
and presenters and make a presentation to the whole committee.
- The teams consolidate input from the discussion groups
and presenters and make a presentation to the whole committee.
- (April 13) Creation of initial vision statement (relates
internal strengths to external opportunities.)
- Each team writes a first draft vision statement along
with bullet initiative statements that indicate how the
vision would be realized.
- The whole Steering Committee discusses each of the team
vision statements.
- Each member reconvenes his/her discussion group to seek
additional input.
- Each team writes a first draft vision statement along
with bullet initiative statements that indicate how the
vision would be realized.
- (April 20) Each team member prepares a vision statement.
- (April 22) Creation of final vision statement.
- Steering Committee members post their vision statements
on the wall.
- Members cast votes for best overall statement and identify
initiatives in other vision statements that should be retained.
(Two checks and an unlimited number of stars.)
- Steering Committee members post their vision statements
on the wall.
- (May 4) Chuck and Jack combine best elements from the various
vision statements into one statement.
- (May 11) Steering Committee discusses final vision statement
and creates relevant sub-committees.
- (August 15 to October 15) Sub-committees replicate vision
setting process in their area and devise a set of recommendations
and “quick starts.” Sub-committee chairs meet with steering
committee for monthly updates.
- (October 15) Sub-committees present reports to the Steering
Committee.
- (November 1) Steering Committee revisits vision statement
in light of sub-committee reports.
- (December ?) Final report presented to Mayor and Town Council.
Attributes of Proposed Planning Process:
It is simple.
It speaks of vision setting.
It focuses on key questions:
- What are Normal’s strengths?
- What are Normal’s leading opportunities?
- How can Normal’s strengths and opportunities be linked?
I.e., in what directions of change should Town of Normal go?
- Who are Normal’s potential competitors and/or collaborators?
It is low tech—simple environmental scanning—based on belief that most of the information needed to make strategic choices is already in the minds of the participants.
It is driven by ideas, not by data or paper.
It uses words that seem to have a commonly understood meaning—direction of travel, vision, dangerous opportunities—as opposed to words like goal and objective, which have different meanings in the public and private sectors.
It avoids negatives; it uses a SO analysis as opposed to SWOT analysis, no W (weaknesses) or T (threats), and therefore helps focusing on the future and not the past. Analyzing weaknesses and threats degenerates into name-calling. In any case, weaknesses can be addressed as part of implementation, e.g., “we can do such-and-so, but only if we remove the constraint of this weakness.”
It creates competition among teams.
It uses voting to reach consensus.