Strategic planning often produces ambitious goals, thoughtful discussions and polished documents. The more difficult question comes afterward: What happens next? A useful strategic plan should provide more than a statement of aspirations. It should help an organization make decisions. That means establishing priorities, identifying responsibilities, allocating resources and determining how progress will be measured. Effective planning therefore begins with understanding the o

Organizations frequently begin communications planning by asking a familiar question: What should we say? There is an important question that should come first: What are we trying to accomplish? A press release, advertisement, social-media post, direct-mail piece or website is a communications tool—not a strategy by itself. Effective strategic communication starts by defining the objective and understanding the environment in which the message will be received. Who needs to h

Government produces an enormous amount of information—agendas, minutes, budgets, contracts, ordinances, correspondence, reports, permits, financial records and other public documents. Much of it is publicly available. Finding the information that actually matters, however, is another challenge entirely. Effective government research begins with the question a client is trying to answer. A business considering an expansion may need to understand past development decisions, zon