Step 8: From commitment to action
“Mayors can rule the world because cities represent a level of governance sufficiently local to demand pragmatism and efficiency in problem solving but sufficiently networked to be able to fashion cooperative solutions to the interdependent challenges they face.”
- Benjamin R. Barber, If Mayors Ruled the World
Summary:
- Navigate the necessary internal processes to carry out the response.
Implement the response. - Prepare to monitor progress in order to stay on track and communicate with the public.
In the previous steps, your team has worked with residents to set community priorities and dialogue with the public about those priorities. At the start of this stage, your team should clearly understand the actions to be taken in response to public feedback. During this stage, your team will navigate the necessary internal processes to implement the response and monitor progress to stay on track and communicate with the public.
As a consequence of earlier stages, you will have created the expectation among residents that resolving this issue is a priority for your local authority – whether as a mayor, local councilor, staffer or other official. Thus, this stage is focused on what is necessary to move from commitment to action. Note: To be consistent, we will refer to the “solution as it stands” throughout this step as a “commitment” – through this term, we are referring to everything required to deliver on resolving the public priority.
In addition, you can take steps during this process to ensure that once implementation begins, you are well-positioned to monitor and inform the public on progress.