Where is Patrick?
Futures Planning
Governments must operate in a legacy world, meaning that you must be able to keep doing the nuts-and-bolts work at the core of the mission. But you also must be ready to succeed in a fast-changing environment, one that is difficult to predict.
Click here to access the “Blueprint for Reimagining Your Community” as you reconsider your approach to building a stronger, more vibrant community.
The next chapter for your community is how it reimagines itself. The value of the Futures Planning approach is that it’s less of a focus on identifying projects or getting to the “right” scenario, and more about discussing purpose and helping leadership understand that the future can be dramatically different from the present, while fostering a deeper understanding of the forces driving potential changes and uncertainties. The approach gives leaders the ability to reperceive reality. The dividend is to sharpen their capability to toggle between present reality and future possibility.
The following is our approach to help you and your elected and appointed officials reimagine your community’s future:
The outcome of these Futures Planning discussions is to help you construct and evaluate an array of options that offer a broader view of the landscape and possibilities for success. Exploring your community through various lenses helps build your capacity to be agile — possessing the balance and capability that enable you to shift focus, priorities, and resources to meeting changing circumstances.
Selection of a facilitator is a key to continued effectiveness for your organization. Patrick Ibarra is extremely effective as a guide and catalyst partnering with groups by utilizing his in-depth understanding about government operations with a highly interactive, thought-provoking, and practical approach to group facilitation. Strong on the process of facilitation with a certification in facilitation from Development Dimensions International, one of the leaders in the marketplace, we refer to group meetings that we design and facilitate as an Advance as opposed to a Retreat, the commonly referred term applied to these types of meetings. We also provide substantive content to the discussions to help groups “breakthrough” challenges. Our approach enables a group to focus on future conditions and generate forward-looking strategies and innovative tactics to effectively anticipate and respond to those often-changing circumstances. This results in a proactive and dynamic approach to sustaining a high-quality, high-performance organization.
Our group has facilitated groups in cities of all size including Alhambra (CA), Bainbridge Island (WA), Bismarck (ND), Brookings (SD), Carrollton (TX), Dallas (TX), Florence (OR), Hilton Head Island (SC), Indio (CA), Kennewick (WA), Littleton (CO), McKinney (TX), Missouri City (TX), Norwalk (CA), Osage Beach (MO), Pittsburg (CA), Queen Creek (AZ), Roswell (NM), San Antonio (TX) and Yankton (SD).
Success Stories
City of Durango, Colorado
The Mejorando Group was retained to design and facilitate a Strategic Planning process. The result was a forward-looking Strategic Plan to enable a rapidly growing community to sharpen its focus and proactively plan for its future.
City of Norwalk, California
In 2021, designed and facilitated a strategic planning update process. Patrick was responsible for a majority of the design process for agendas, as well as facilitating the meetings. The outcome was an update to the City’s approach to building a stronger, more vibrant community with the adoption of the Strategic Plan,
City of Bartlesville, Oklahoma
In 2022, designed and facilitated the City’s inaugural Strategic Plan. Activities included gathering extensive public input, both online and in-person, and facilitating the Task Force resulting in a modern approach to building a stronger Bartlesville community.
As consultants to government organizations, the members of the Mejorando Group provide expertise in all aspects of performance improvement and organizational effectiveness services, including government succession planning, leadership and management development and training, strategic planning, performance coaching and group/development/team building.