Elmhurst Park District Strategic Plan
Mid-year Progress Report
January 1 to June 30 of 2013
2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Executive Director’s Message
I am pleased to present the Elmhurst Park District’s first mid-year Strategic Plan Progress
Report. This report is the staffs’ way of demonstrating accountability with how we are taking
action and achieving results to effectively implement your Strategic Plan. The new report is a
significant change in the format and approach for how staff has tracked achievement of
previous Strategic Plans. Our goal is to improve the readability and understandability of the
report along with monitoring long-term strategy so it remains an effective and relevant tool for
future planning.
To facilitate the successful implementation of the Plan and engage
staff in the Board’s long-term vision of innovation and
collaboration, each full-time employee learned how he/she could
become a “piece” of the District’s Strategic Plan “puzzle.” First, at a
meeting in March, employees separated into different groups and
worked together to solve a puzzle that illustrated the District’s new
mission and vision and strategic direction. The staff did not know
what was on the puzzle which made it challenging to solve, but
each team successfully worked together to solve its own puzzle
along with helping other teams solve their puzzles (providing
suggestions, assistance, etc.). Each staff person received a copy
of the puzzle image (on the title page of this report), which is now
displayed in work areas throughout the District as an illustration of
how we all contribute to making the Plan a reality.
Taking it one step further, staff designed and created their own
piece of the puzzle by illustrating on a blank puzzle piece their
answer to the following question: In my job, I will ____ to help make the EPD a customercentered organization through innovation and sustainability over the next five years. Working
independently or in groups, staff used different media/materials such as paint, markers, glue,
stickers, drawings, computer/digital graphics and photos to craft their pieces. In June, the staff
shared their designs and answers to the question and put together their individual pieces to
form one puzzle. Then, they had to write down one action that they can do in 2013 to
implement their answer. This exercise illustrated to the staff how each person can play a role
and contribute to the District’s long-term success.
As District staff are now fully engaged with the Plan, this report illustrates how your vision has
begun to take shape this year. It will continue evolving based on your feedback and our
ongoing implementation of the Plan. On behalf of staff, we appreciate your continued support
and involvement in shaping the District’s future direction.
Thank you,
James W. Rogers
Executive Director
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Table of Contents
Introduction and Overview - 4

Why Do Strategic Planning? - 5

Understanding this Report - 5
District Strategy - 6

Strategic Planning Process and Balanced Scorecard Framework - 7

Mission and Vision and Strategy Map - 8

Performance Measure Overview - 9

Strategic Work Plan: Initiatives and Tactics Overview - 12
Strategic Work Plan Progress: How are we doing? - 13

Customer Centered Theme - 15

Fiscal Agility Theme - 21

Improvement through Collaboration and Innovation Theme - 25

Continuous Improvement through an Empowered Team Theme - 29
Definition of Key Terms - 32
Attachment A: 2013 Strategic Work Plan - 35
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Introduction and Overview
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Why do Strategic Planning?
If our Mission and Vision Statements are to have any meaning, they must be accompanied by
deliberate planning efforts to move the organization and the community toward a desired
future. This requires clearly defined goals, proactive objectives, committed leadership and
effective management. Above all, it requires managing the forces of change. Those forces
include community demographics, fiscal constraints, government mandates, economic
conditions, emerging technologies and many other influences on our operations. High
performing organizations are those that learn to anticipate and adapt to change. The best tool
for accomplishing these objectives is strategic planning.
Along with utilizing community feedback, throughout the Strategic Planning process, multiple
levels of staff were engaged in developing strategy, including providing feedback, which has
and will create a greater awareness and ownership of the Strategic Plan. Staff will continue to
be involved in strategic planning to ensure Department priorities and budget proposals reflect
the necessary steps and resources for implementing the Board’s priorities. The Board and
staffs’ ongoing review of the Plan sustains its integrity and relevancy over time and ensures
that the District stays responsive to community’s needs as Elmhurst grows and changes.
Furthermore, for strategic planning to be effective and dynamic, the District must also
continually measure and assess its performance. To evaluate achievement of the Strategic
Plan priorities, staff has developed the first mid-year Strategic Plan Progress Report (SPPR) to
provide a snapshot of mid-year progress toward addressing and achieving the Board’s 2013
Strategic Work Plan (from January 1 to June 30). This mid-year report along with a year-end
SPPR (to be completed in the first quarter of 2014) will assist the Board and staff with a
continued evaluation of achievement of long-term strategy for decision-making, resource
allocation and work plan development. Our ultimate goal is always to ensure that we are
providing experiences for the lifetime enjoyment of people who live and play in our community.
Understanding the Strategic Plan Progress Report
This SPPR provides an evaluation of the District’s mid-year progress toward accomplishing the
2013 Strategic Work Plan (SWP), which is available at www.epd.org and in Attachment A of
this report. It begins with an overview of the process used in 2012 to develop the 2013-17
Strategic Plan along with an explanation of the Balanced Scorecard Framework, the tool
utilized to define the District’s strategy. The following sections provide the District’s mission
and vision statements and the overall five-year strategy approved by the Board and overviews
of the current and proposed performance measures for monitoring accomplishment of this
strategy and the SWP Initiatives and Tactics to implement this strategy.
The main body of
the report is organized by the Strategic Themes approved by the Board and includes a status
report on addressing SWP initiatives and performance measure outcomes. At the end of the
report is a list of key words and their definitions to provide clarity to the District’s Strategic Plan
terminology.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
District Strategy
What Do We Need to Accomplish?
This section provides an overview of the District’s 2013-17 Strategic Plan strategy the
performance measures for monitoring this strategy and the 2013 Strategic Work Plan for
implementing this strategy.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Strategic Plan Process and Balanced Scorecard Framework
In 2012, the Board and staff updated the District’s fifth Strategic Plan. Since 1992, the
Elmhurst Park District has committed to a Strategic Planning Process, and in August 2012 the
Board approved a five-year strategic plan that assists the District in anticipating future
community desires and needs along with clarifying organizational direction for strategic
decision making. Since the inception of the Strategic Planning process, the Board and staff
have selected and implemented projects, programs, and initiatives based upon the priorities
articulated in the Plan.
As part of the process, the District reviewed the 2011 Customer Attitude and Interest Survey,
District long-range planning documents, performance reports and employee feedback to gain
an understanding of the past and to assess the present. The Board and Management Team
reviewed and reworded the mission and vision statements for the District to more accurately
define our business purpose and vision for the future.
After revising the mission and vision statements, the Board and staff participated in a strategic
plan workshop identifying key organizational strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats
and brainstormed the key focus areas for the next three to five years. These key focus areas
were then built into a foundation for the development of strategic themes based on the
Balanced Scorecard, a strategic planning and management framework, used to align business
operations with vision and strategy, communicate strategy internally and externally and
monitor organizational performance against strategic objectives. It emphasizes the cause and
effect relationships among distinct yet interrelated perspectives: customer needs, financial
performance, internal support processes and organizational learning and growth.
To further define what the District must accomplish to execute its themes, the staff developed
and the Board approved strategic objectives. Based on this strategy, staff developed
initiatives (specific activities, projects, and actions to be taken) with one to five-year assigned
timelines and key performance measures to allow for ongoing measurement of progress.
Furthermore, each year, staff reviews and develops detailed action steps, or tactics, which
insures the completion of the strategic initiatives by driving decision making and the allocation
of resources over the five-year span of the plan.
Mission, Vision, and Values
Strategic Themes
Strategic Objectives
Measurements
Strategic
Initiatives
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Mission, Vision and District Strategy
As described on the previous page, all the District’s Strategic Themes and Objectives are
aligned with the District’s Mission and Vision and the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives as
represented on the Strategy Map below. The Map lists the four perspectives on the left side
and their supporting Themes and Objectives adjacent to the list of perspectives. Refer to
pages 13-31 for the interpretation of each Theme and Objective.
Mission Statement
We provide experiences for the lifetime enjoyment of people who live and
play in our community.
Vision Statement
We aspire to be a customer centered organization through innovation and sustainability.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Performance Measures
Performance measurement provides data to complement decision making, improve
performance, communicate progress and provide accountability. Using the Strategy Map, the
Management Team reviewed current and developed potential new measures of performance
for tracking the impact of implementing the Strategic Work Plan (SWP). Based on this review,
staff compiled a chart on the next two pages that illustrates the measures that will be tracked
and reported semi-annually and/or annually in the SPPR or potentially tracked in future years
of the Plan.
Since the 2013-17 Strategic Plan is in the early stages of being implemented and many of the
SWP tactics that will be addressed in 2013 involve setting standards and/or creating measures
to monitor strategy (e.g. customer service, partnerships, programming, etc.), some of the
proposed measures are a work in progress and will be further refined as staff determine if and
when it is feasible to begin tracking each measure, how often each should be tracked (semiannually or annually) and the availability of historical data for assessing long-term trends.
Some of the proposed measures may also change or new measures will be added after the
completion of their related initiatives. Additionally, to effectively monitor achievement of
strategy, staff will benchmark performance at the beginning, during and completion of
conducting an assessment or implementing a new initiative (e.g. new payroll system-reduction
of paper, customer service changes-customer satisfaction levels).
Performance Reporting
For measures that are tracked on a semi-annual basis (as indicated in the last column of the
chart on the next page), staff provide mid-year actual performance in the performance
measure outcome tables throughout the status report on the SWP (on pages 13-31). Staff
developed the symbols below for the outcome tables to convey how actual performance
compares to the annual target. The parenthesis after each target category defines the
percentage below or above the performance target for that category.
Over Target
(>5%)
On Target
(0 or 5%)
Below Target
(-5% to -15%)
Significantly Below Target
(-15%)
Staff will continue developing performance targets for measures to provide a snapshot of how
actual performance compares to the annual goal along with enhancing and adding graphs and
charts that communicate changes in performance levels over time. By tracking achievement of
performance targets, staff can assess the effectiveness of the current SWP toward achieving
the District’s strategy and make adjustments to work plans and resource allocations, where
necessary, to ensure the future success of the Plan.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Performance Measures by Theme and Objective
Customer Centered Theme
Objective
Performance Measure
Performance
Target
Timing of
Reporting
Nurture Community Connections
% of Partnerships Criteria Met
To be
Determined
Future Year
Nurture Community Connections
# of and/or % of partnerships reviewed
annually
To be
Determined
Future Year
Improve Customer Service
Customer Satisfaction Standards
To be
Determined
Future Year
Optimize Program and Facility Mix
Program Success Rates
80%
2013 – Semiannually
Optimize Program and Facility Mix
New program offering registrations vs.
total program registrations
To be
Determined
2013 – Annually
Optimize Program and Facility Mix
% of registrants left on a waitlist
5%
2013 – Semiannually
Performance
Target
Timing of
Reporting
60%
2013 – Annually
To be
Determined
2013 - Annually
and Future Year
Align Resources with Community Need
Average cost per visit/person (e.g. cost per
visit to outdoor swimming pools)
Average $ generated per
visit/person/member (e.g. average dollar of
round per golfer)
To be
Determined
2013 - Annually
and Future Year
Take Care of What We Have
Cash and Investment Targets - 1st Tier
Board Policy
2013 – Annually
Take Care of What We Have
Cost recovery and profit margin goals
2013 – Annually
Take Care of What We Have
Profit margin goals
Take Care of What We Have
Courts Plus profit per square foot
Invest in the Future
Cash and Investment Targets - 2nd Tier
Invest in the Future
Targeted Revenue Growth
Board Policy
To be
Determined
To be
Determined
To be
Determined
To be
Determined
Fiscal Agility Theme
Objective
Align Resources with Community Need
Align Resources with Community Need
Performance Measure
% of non-tax revenue
Future Year
Future Year
2013 - Annually
Future Year
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Improvement through Collaboration and Innovation Theme
Objective
Performance Measure
Performance
Target
Timing of
Reporting
Create a Borderless Organization
% of full-time staff involved in crossfunctional teams
To be
Determined
2013 – Semiannually
Create a Borderless Organization
Satisfaction with internal communications
survey
To be
Determined
Future Year
Create a Borderless Organization
Borderless Satisfaction Survey
To be
Determined
2014
Excellence in Innovative Operations
Management
Reductions in carbon footprint and related
measures
To be
Determined
2014
Excellence in Innovative Operations
Management
Process Audits (measure standards of
improvement)
To be
Determined
2013 - Annually
and Future Year
Continuous Improvement through an Empowered Team Theme
Objective
Develop an Empowered Staff
Performance Measure
% of full-time employees utilizing
continuing education
Develop an Empowered Staff
Create a Culture of Continuous
Improvement
Employee satisfaction survey/focus groups
Foster a Culture of Innovation
Innovation assessment
Quantified improvements made
Performance
Target
80%
To be
Determined
To be
Determined
To be
Determined
Timing of
Reporting
2013 – Semiannually
Future Year
Future Year
Future Year
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Strategic Work Plan Initiatives and Tactics
Developed by staff and approved by the Board annually, the 2013 Strategic Work Plan (SWP)
in Attachment A outlines the specific broad goals (initiatives) and tasks (tactics) to implement
District strategy. To allow for focused direction and concise tracking of this strategy, the SWP
includes all initiatives for its five-year duration. Since long-range strategy takes time to
address, the implementation of each of the initiatives is over a two- to three-year period unless
it will occur all five years of the Plan. Therefore, the timing of initiatives is defined as follows:
short-term (2013-15); mid-term (2014-16); long-term (2015-17) and continuous (2013-17).
Tactics to address the initiatives are short-term (one to two years), and therefore were only
developed for short-term or continuous initiatives to remain relevant and timely. To foster
additional accountability, the SWP also includes the lead position and team responsible along
with the targeted deadline for completing each Tactic.
Moreover, the SWP includes Initiatives and Tactics that relate to planning, acting and
evaluating. Planning relates to the District’s ability to plan the future and involves gathering of
information and conducting an assessment before taking action and making changes (e.g.
program plan, staffing study). While these initiatives can be challenging to measure
quantitatively, they are important because they lay the foundation for the District’s future
success. Acting initiatives relate to the District’s ability to meet desired achievement and
service levels. They often involve implementing elements from the planning phase. These
activities are important because they have tremendous impact on whether tasks or projects will
have successful outcomes (e.g. process improvements, new fee structures). Evaluating
initiatives relate to the effectiveness of both our planning and actions. These initiatives are
important because they let us know whether our planning and actions are producing the
desired outcomes (e.g. evaluate cost/benefits of green initiatives).
Here is an example of the format for the SWP (for an initiative under the Customer Centered
Theme).
OBJECTIVE B: IMPROVE CUSTOMER SERVICE
Initiative One: Create a cross-department team to analyze and develop a customer service plan, including a training and measurement plan.
(Short-term)
Tactics
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Status
Lead/Team
a. Define a customer service vision and standards for all levels of the agency
M&C Dir./All
b. Develop and implement customer service training
M&C Dir./All
c. Develop and implement system-wide customer service measurement system
M&C Dir./All
In the following section of this report, staff provides the assessment and status of the
implementation of 2013 SWP Initiatives and Tactics.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Strategic Work Plan Progress
How Are We Doing?
This section provides the definition of each Strategic Theme and its related Objectives along
with a listing of the initiatives in the 2013 Strategic Work Plan (SWP). For short-term and
continuous initiatives, staff describes the status of work completed to date and future plans for
accomplishing those initiatives. Also, staff summarizes the performance measure data that is
relevant to report semi-annually.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Customer Centered Theme
Mid-year Status Report
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Customer Centered Theme
About this Theme: Customers are defined as resident and business taxpayers, resident and
non-resident users of services, and partners. Elements of the theme include engaging
customers for long term marketplace success through listening to the voice of the customer,
building relationships, and using customer knowledge to improve services. This customerfocused structure puts customers’ needs at the center of decision making.
Objective A: Nurture Community Connections
About this Objective: The District will continue its strong orientation toward community
connections and partnership development. This will also assist in augmenting service delivery.
Important to this objective will be identifying the goals, costs, and benefits of existing and
future partnerships and to evaluate their effectiveness.
 Initiative One: Create process for reviewing existing and potential partnerships (shortterm: 2013).
 Initiative Two: Develop, nurture and evaluate existing affiliate and partner programs
(continuous: 2013-17).
Mid-year Status Update: During the second half of 2013, staff will begin working on
Initiatives One and Two by identifying and defining all types of District partners (e.g. affiliate
groups, independent contractor, facility use, programming, etc.) and compiling a
comprehensive list of all District partnerships. To avoid disruptions in programs and
services, staff is continuing to review agreements that require updating before completing
these initiatives such as the Lakeview Nature Center programming agreement with the
Oakbrook Terrace Park District (executed in April of 2013).
 Initiative Three: Develop and identify new opportunities based on Strategic Plan, Program
Plan and facility needs (mid-term: 2014-16).
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Objective B: Improve Customer Experience
About this Objective: An important element in operational excellence includes the ability to
improve the customer experience. Building a systems approach to service delivery will be
achieved through a cross functional service team. This includes development of standards,
implementing District wide service training, knowledge of customers, and measuring customer
satisfaction.
 Initiative One: Create a cross-departmental team to analyze and develop a customer
service plan, including a training and measurement plan (short-term: 2013-14).
Mid-year Status Update: Staff formed a cross-departmental team of ten full-time employees
that met bimonthly for four months with the following outcomes:




Identified key characteristics of people and companies that provide great service;
Developed a customer service vision statement – a credo to our customers;
Developed broad-based standards of service for all employees; and
Defined next steps to improve customer service.
These outcomes will be shared with the Management Team in the third quarter of 2013. The
Customer Service and Management Teams’ ideas and feedback will be used to develop an
initial communication plan to employees in the fourth quarter of 2013.
 Initiative Two: Enhance and develop technological solutions to communicate with
customers to provide greater access and communication (continuous: 2013-17).
Mid-year Status Update: Staff identified all of the technological communication devices and
web-based social sites that the District uses or could potentially use to communicate
information. These include: Website, Constant Contact email, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
text messaging, Linked-In, Volgistics email, posting to outside sites and external media. Based
on this review, staff enhanced communication to customers as follows:







Added a gymnastics Facebook page (District now has five distinct facebook pages);
Developed and provided staff training on new social media guidelines;
Developed strategy for Twitter to be connected to Facebook postings;
Tested text messaging for Courts Plus and athletic field conditions updates;
Began using Instagram;
Implemented an Event Posting plan to post events/programs in conjunction with brochure
printing; and
Continued epd.org website redesign (targeted completion date fourth quarter of 2013).
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Objective C: Optimize Program and Facility Mix
About this Objective: The District wants to ensure the delivery of the “right” array of services
and programs. The “right” array is determined by matching customer needs, demand,
marketplace trends and District capabilities. This also includes reviewing service and facility
offerings to optimize facility space.
 Initiative One: Develop a District Program Plan (short-term: 2013-14).
Mid-year Status Update: To effectively conduct a comprehensive assessment of the District’s
program portfolio, staff has accomplished the following in the first six months of 2013:





developed the goals and scope of the process;
defined the role of a facilitator as conducting training, providing guidance on the data
collection process, and facilitating the classification of individual programs and
evaluation of the District’s program portfolio;
researched program analysis processes and facilitators with expertise in conducting
these types of processes;
determined the facilitator who would be the best fit for the project based on his/her
expertise and methodology for facilitating the process; and
began to determine what programs will be evaluated.
At the September 11, 2013 Board meeting, staff will be recommending that the Board approve
the expenditure for the work to be performed by the program planning facilitator. If the
expenditure is approved, staff will begin the planning process in the Fall of 2013 to target
completion by early Spring of 2014.
 Initiative Two: Create a process for review of the external market to determine duplication,
opportunities, needs, pricing, etc. (mid-term: 2014-16).
 Initiative Three: Optimize Current and Future Facility Space (mid-term: 2014-16).
 Initiative Four: Implement findings from Comprehensive Plan and Indoor Facility Study
(continuous: 2013-17).
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Mid-year Status Update: To optimize our program and facility mix based on community
feedback, industry and local trends and a comprehensive assessment of our facilities and
parks, the District must continue to address the recommendations in the District’s long-range
Comprehensive Plan, which provides a consistent long-range vision and specific direction
regarding park and facility development and the Indoor Facility Study that outlined a
comprehensive work plan for addressing future indoor facility needs.
Two current projects, the Wilder Park Conservatory and Horticulture Complex Renovation and
the Washington Park Playground Replacement, were recommended in or meet standards
outlined in the Comprehensive Plan. For the Conservatory project, construction began in early
June and demolition, excavation and 50% of the foundation work were completed as of June
30, 2013 (project completion targeted in early 2014). As of June 30, 2013, the Washington
Park project contractor installed the preschool structure, main structure as well as both tot and
school age swings (minus chains/seats) along with pouring the footings for the spring toys. The
project is scheduled for completion in August of 2013, including reconfiguring the parking lot
and installing the soft surface, accessible path to the ball fields, bike racks, the 360o circle
viewing benches, as well as a portable restroom enclosure.
 Initiative Five: Identify and implement sustainable practices (continuous: 2013-17).
Mid-year Status Update: Staff will develop a Long-range Environmental Plan after an
assessment of the Environmental Committee’s mission, purpose and structure and the
methods for identifying and implementing sustainable practices. See page 27 for an overview
of this assessment and the future development of the Environmental Plan.
Another priority is to continue utilizing green products and technologies in building and site
development projects. Examples for the first six months of 2013 at Courts Plus include
completing a Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC) Level Three Energy
Assessment and Feasibility Report and including its recommendations in 2013 project bids
along with installing flooring in the Group Exercise studio that is composed of 1¾” of recycled
rubber underlayment typically used for fall protection in playgrounds.
Objective C: Performance Measures
Program Success Rates
One indicator of the District’s success with matching the “right” array of programs and services
to meet customer interest and demand along with marketplace trends is the success rate of
programs (total number of courses offered versus the total number of courses that ran). As
illustrated in the chart on the next page, for the first six months of 2013 the recreation and
enterprise program success rates are above the industry standard of 80% (83.2% and 86.6%
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
respectively). Recreation program areas that experienced success rates below 80% include
general interest, trips and special events (66.3%) due to program cancellations in
environmental and adult special interest programs (offered a variety of new programs to attract
new registrants), early childhood programs (63.7%) due to lower participation in contractual
programs such as Kaleidoscope, and trips (59.1%) due to increasing transportation costs
resulting in fee increases (since the District no longer travels cooperatively with the Bensenville
Park District). For enterprise programs, success rates were below the target in fitness
programs (56.8%) due to local competition from smaller fitness studios and climbing wall
programs (70.0%) due to including open climb into the Fit4Life membership.
Category
Success Rate
(Mid-year)
Annual Performance
Target
Recreation
Programs
83.2%
80.0%
Enterprise
Programs
86.6%
80.0%
Mid-year
Performance Tend
On Target
(0 to 5%)
+3.2%
Over Target
(>5%)
+6.6%
Percent of Registrants Left on a Wait List
Another indicator of meeting customer needs and optimizing available facility capacity and
availability is the percent of registrants left on a waitlist (number of total registrants versus the
number of total registrants left on a waitlist). As illustrated in the chart below, for the first six
months of 2013, the recreation and enterprise program percent of registrants left on a waitlist
met the District’s performance standard of 5.0% (4.7% and 2.1% respectively). Recreation
programs that have more than 5% of registrants left on a waitlist include visual and performing
arts (5.7%) due to the loss of key teachers in these programs (piano and guitar), camps (5.5%)
due to the loss of the full-day Arts Camp placement option for Leaders in Training when the
administration of this camp moved to the Art Museum, pools (9.8%) due to the popularity of
Learn to Swim classes and trips (12.7%) due mainly to the limited number of spots available
for one cooperative trip. For enterprise programs, community special events had more than
5.0% of registrants left on a waitlist (16.3%) due to the maximum allowable number of
registrants based on the building capacity for this type of event (Ladies Night Out).
Category
Percent of
Registrations Left on
Waitlist (Mid-year)
Annual Performance
Target
Recreation
Programs
4.7%
5.0%
Enterprise
Programs
2.1%
5.0%
Mid-year
Performance Trend
On Target
(0 to 5%)
+0.3%
On Target
(0 to 5%)
+2.9%
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Fiscal Agility Theme
Mid-year Status Report
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Fiscal Agility Theme
About this Theme: This theme suggests the District’s ability to respond nimbly and quickly to
ever changing business demands, to re-prioritize agency resources to meet customer
demands for service, and the ability to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. This also
requires the District to have just-in-time financial information and results for good decision
making.
Objective A: Align Resources with Community Need
About this Objective: The District will rely on statistically valid survey information and
ongoing resident feedback in deciding capital priorities. Decisions will be based on providing
for the strategic greater good of the community rather than randomly selecting tactical
approaches in response to special interests. This objective also emphasizes the importance of
using sophisticated pricing approaches based on financial targets and market demands.
 Initiative One: Identify return on investment of future capital projects (short-term: 2013).
Mid-year Status Update: To improve the capital project justification, evaluation and
prioritization process, the District’s Capital Planning Team reviewed and provided feedback on
the District’s project review process and the following changes were implemented:





Defined each capital project criterion to provide clarity and consistency when staff
determine which criteria apply to a project;
Revised the format of the capital project worksheet to include a listing of all the capital
project criteria so that staff can provide an explanation of why the applicable project
criteria were chosen and rank the applicable criteria for each project to determine a
relative priority ranking for all the projects;
Expanded the information required on the project worksheet to illustrate the project’s
impact on future operating budgets (projected future savings, revenue and expenses);
Began the capital process earlier to allow more time to compile and revise project
information allowing for a comprehensive, thorough review of projects; and
Scheduled a capital project tour to supplement the information provided on the
worksheets.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
 Initiative Two: Develop a consistent approach to the pricing of services (mid-term: 201416).
 Initiative Three: Evaluate the costs and benefits of green initiatives (mid-term: 2014-16).
 Initiative Four: Utilize technology for efficient customer service and reporting (continuous:
2013-17).
Mid-year Status Update: After researching several timekeeping systems during 2012 that
would automate employee labor hours by various jobs within the District, the Finance and
Human Resources Department began the implementation process of the Employee Based
Systems (EBS) time and attendance system in January of 2013. Staff created work rules in
concert with District policies and tested the system. In May of 2013, the system “went live” with
the following benefits:



Employees can track their work time through the system, eliminating the need for a paper
timesheet for the majority of part-time employees;
Supervisors can approve an employee’s time and the hours are imported into the District’s
existing payroll processing system (eliminating a step of data input); and
Employees can request paid time off for supervisor approval through the system if they are
eligible, which is also fully integrated into the payroll software.
In March of 2013, staff tested and began implementation of Employee Self Service (ESS), an
additional module to the District’s payroll system. ESS allows employees web access from
outside the District network to see selected data from the payroll system, such as their
addresses, exemptions, pay stub data and benefit information. Plans are to have this rolledout to staff in late summer of 2013.
To determine the District’s options and next steps for purchasing new registration software
since the support for the District’s current system is being eliminated within the next four years,
the District Registration Group viewed a demonstration of Spectrum NG (CSI) and RecTrac
(Vermont Systems) membership and program registration systems. Pricing was obtained from
Vermont Systems. Plans are to see a demonstration of Active.net later in the summer.
 Initiative Five: Ensure transparency by communicating ethics and values to community
and internally (continuous: 2013-17).
Mid-year Status Update: Developed in the first six months of 2013, the District’s 2012 Annual
Report and 2013-17 Strategic Plan brochure communicate the District’s ethics and values.
Staff will identify additional strategies for communicating the District’s ethics and values during
the third quarter of 2013 and create an accompanying plan for implementation in 2014.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Objective B: Take Care of What We Have
About this Objective: The Elmhurst community expects the District to adequately care for
current assets before investing in new parks and facilities. As growth and unmet user needs
are addressed, the District will also ensure continued maintenance and investment in the
existing infrastructure. This includes identifying the operating and maintenance costs for
proposed new facilities and developing plans for replacement of existing assets.
 Initiative One: Complete a work analysis/staffing review to determine the best allocation of
labor dollars (short-term: 2013-14).
Mid-year Status Update: The Management Team determined that the District should
complete the program plan described on page 17 prior to conducting a staffing study as the
recommendations in the plan may have an impact on staffing and therefore should be
considered as part of the staffing analysis.
 Initiative Two: Develop a process to best position core services and programs in the
marketplace (mid-term: 2014-16).
 Initiative Three: Create a comprehensive asset management plan that is linked to Capital
Plan (long-term: 2015-17).
Objective C: Invest In The Future
About this Objective: The District desires to be flexible and nimble in order to take advantage
of opportunities that arise. The goal is to position the agency in its ability to meet future
demand and customer preferences. At the same time, there will be continued effort in
identifying efficiencies throughout operations, such as utility consumption.
 Initiative One: Seek new opportunities that will positively impact the District's finances
(mid-term: 2014-16).
 Initiative Two: Continue to seek creative cost saving opportunities (mid-term: 2014-16).
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Improvement through Collaboration and
Innovation Theme
Mid-year Status Report
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Improvement through Collaboration and Innovation Theme
About this Theme: The District’s tenet of pursuing operational excellence will be achieved
through an inclusive and participative team-based environment. In addition, the District, rather
than make decisions based on the status quo, will rely on best practice approaches founded
on innovative techniques that result in sustainable organizational improvement.
Objective A: Create a Borderless Organization
About this Objective: Effective communication across the organization results in efficient
internal service, in support of providing excellent external service. Internal seamlessness and
ongoing communication is vitally important and requires identification of workplace barriers and
standard operating procedures to guide staff in working effectively with others.
 Initiative One: Create systems to measure internal business performance (mid-term: 201416).
 Initiative Two: Develop and utilize cross-functional planning teams (continuous: 2013-17).
Mid-year Status Update: One way to assess communication across Departments is to
evaluate the effectiveness of the District’s cross-departmental/functional teams that are
intended to foster an exchange of ideas and cooperative development and implementation of
work plans. Starting with the Program Plan Team this Fall, staff will create and conduct a preand post-assessment for evaluating the effectiveness of cross-functional teams (e.g.
expectations, support, training, improvements needed). Staff will also conduct an assessment
of cross-functional teams that have already met such as the Customer Service and
Registration Teams.
Objective A: Performance Measure
Percent of Full-time Staff Involved in Cross-functional Teams
As one indicator to assess the level of formal cross-departmental interaction, staff has begun
tracking the percentage of employees in cross-function committees and teams. As of June 30,
2013, 37% of full-time employees were on one of the three standing Employee Committees
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
and/or on a project, policy and/or planning team (29% excluding the three standing
committees). The next step is to determine the appropriate and effective level of engagement
and involvement of District employees on these teams to successfully foster a borderless
organization (e.g. how often each employee should be on a team, level of representation of
each Department on teams, etc.).
Category
Percent of Staff Involved
in Cross-functional Teams
(Mid-year)
Annual Performance
Target
Mid-year
Performance Trend
All Full-time Staff
37%
To be determined
Not Applicable
Initiative Three: Evaluate and enhance communication among District employees
(continuous).
Mid-year Status Update: The Employee Communications Project Team met on February 1,
2013 to begin exploring communication options for employees. The Team determined that the
current means of communication include: bulletin boards, individual mailboxes, phone calls,
texts and emails and that the future implementation of the employee self service (ESS) to the
payroll system will offer an excellent means for communication. After its implementation, the
Team will meet again to continue discussing employee communication methods to determine if
it is an effective means of communication and how it impacts the need for other forms of
communication. See page 22 for a description of ESS.
Also, in anticipation of the elimination of the paper Com Channel employee newsletter in July
of 2013, staff conducted a survey to gauge how employees would prefer receiving this type of
information. One-hundred and seventeen employees responded (69% are part-time) and most
indicated that a personal email is the preferred communication method for receiving
information.
Objective B: Excellence in Innovative Operational Management
About this Objective: The District will efficiently and effectively leverage labor resources in
operations. Furthermore, the District will identify and continuously improve key processes and
work toward adopting industry best practices.
 Initiative One: Develop a methodology to identify key processes and develop a systematic
approach to improvement (long-term: 2015-17).
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
 Initiative Two: Develop a dashboard of key performance indicators to assess and improve
organizational performance (long-term: 2015-17).
 Initiative Three: Research and implement best practices (mid-term: 2014-16).
 Initiative Four: Institutionalize sustainable internal operations (continuous: 2013-17).
Mid-year Status Update: Prior to updating the District’s Long-term Environmental Plan and to
ensure the continued success of environmental initiatives, the Environmental Committee will
review its mission, purpose and structure and the methods for identifying and implementing
sustainable practices. To begin this review, staff surveyed park and forest preserve districts in
mid-Spring of 2013 to gather feedback on their environmental committees and practices. The
Committee has begun reviewing the results of this survey and will follow up with Districts who
may have additional feedback that would assist the Committee with its future planning. The
Committee will also be conducting a survey of District employees in late Fall of 2013 to gather
feedback on the District’s current and potential future environmental initiatives and practices.
After collecting employee feedback and the future role and structure of the Environmental
Committee is determined, the Committee will develop a Long-range Plan that reflects, but is
not limited to, the District’s Strategic Plan, Environmental Policy, Illinois Park and Recreation
Association Environmental Report Card, industry trends and employee feedback. The
Committee will also evaluate ways to integrate the District’s environmental philosophy and
vision into the organizational culture (e.g. training, job descriptions, recognition program, etc.).
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Continuous Improvement through an
Empowered Team Theme
Mid-year Status Report
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Continuous Improvement through an Empowered Team Theme
About this Theme: Continuous improvement is an ongoing effort to improve products,
services, and processes. These improvements will be accomplished through both Board
members and staff by providing the tools and opportunities necessary to work together as a
team and make decisions in the best interest of the District.
Objective A: Develop an Empowered Staff
About this Objective: Leadership competencies will include a participative leadership style
and team based approaches.
In addition, leaders will define empowerment and provide
guidelines and boundaries for employee decision making.
 Initiative One: Strengthen District internal communication practices (short-term to start in
2014).
 Initiative Two: Develop leaders (mid-term: 2014-17).
 Initiative Three: Reinforce team based approaches throughout the District (mid-term:
2014-17).
Objective A: Performance Measure
Percent of Full-time Employees Utilizing Continuing Education
To provide staff with the tools and knowledge to perform their job successfully and expose
them to innovative ideas and industry trends, the District encourages full-time staff at every
level in the organization to participate in external training (the target is at least 80% of the staff
annually). As illustrated on the chart on the following page, 39% (29 employees out of 74) took
advantage of continuing education opportunities by attending at least one seminar/training
provided by an outside organization/individual during the first six months of 2013. This number
is on track toward reaching the 80% target and the 2012 percentage of 84% (64 out of 76 fulltime employees utilized this benefit over the twelve month period). Supervisors will continue to
encourage and provide opportunities for staff to attend training.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Category
Percent of Staff
Utilizing Continuing
Education (Mid-year)
Annual Performance
Target
Mid-year
Performance Trend
All Full-time Staff
39%
80%
Not Applicable
Objective B: Create a Culture of Continuous Improvement
About this Objective: A continuous improvement environment requires all staff and Board
members of the District to play a role in improvement efforts. It also requires knowledge of
process improvements, or having knowledge about waste and errors in work methods and how
to streamline them. This culture suggests the need to question status quo thinking.
 Initiative One: Consider a Board assessment process to continuously improve Board
governance (mid-term: 2014-16).
 Initiative Two: Provide education to all staff in support of continuous improvement (longterm: 205-17).
 Initiative Three: Formalize a process for management of organizational knowledge (longterm: 2015-17).
Objective C: Foster a Culture of Innovation
About this Objective: Innovation requires a work culture that embraces change and is
supported by encouraging staff to try new processes and services. Alignment exists between
agency systems such as recruitment, hiring, reward and recognition, and performance
feedback in support of adopting innovation. Changes in programs and services result from
knowledge of industry trends and future customer requirements.
 Initiative One: Research industry trends and identify ways of integrating new ideas into
programs, facilities and services (mid-term: 2016-16).
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
 Initiative Two: Establish organizational systems to promote innovation (long-term: 201617)
 Initiative Three: Implement techniques to support innovative practices (mid-term: 2014-16)
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Definition of Key Terms
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Definition of Key Terms
The following list of key words describes the definition of the terminology used for the Strategic
Plan.
Vision—desired future of the organization. The vision should be a “stretch” for the
organization, but possible to achieve in approximately five years. It should state a measurable
achievement.
Mission—describes the business of the organization. The mission also defines the core
purpose of the organization and why it exists.
Values—describe the way the District operates. Values are meaningful expressions of
describing what is important in the way we treat our employees and our guests and relates to
the internal culture of the organization.
Balanced Scorecard Perspectives—the four perspectives include Customer, Financial,
Internal Business Process, and Learning and Growth. They demonstrate cause and effect
relationships in the completion of strategy. All of the Strategic Initiatives are aligned with these
four perspectives.
Major Focus Areas—as part of the planning workshop, staff members were asked to
brainstorm ideas about areas of major focus the Department should concentrate on during the
next five years. While the focus areas are not part of the strategy map, they do become an
important part of strategy formulation. Within the list of objectives and initiatives, references
are made throughout the Plan to ensure focus on the five most critical areas.
Performance Measures—a standard used to evaluate and communicate performance against
expected results. Measures are normally quantitative indicators and capture numbers, dollars,
percentages, etc. Measures assist the staff with the ability to determine organizational
performance.
Performance Target–what the District is trying to achieve to measure accomplishment of the
Strategic Objective
Strategic Themes—broad brushed, macro-oriented organizational sense of direction that
relates to the four Balanced Scorecard perspectives of customer, financial, internal business,
and growth and development.
Strategic Objectives—concise statements describing the specific elements an organization
must do well in order to execute its strategy.
Strategic Initiatives—the specific programs, activities, projects, or actions an organization will
undertake in an effort to meet performance targets. The strategic initiatives are specifically
detailed with specific tactics, which are not included within the body of the Strategic Plan, but
will exist in separate documentation.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Tactics—are subordinate to the initiatives and detail the steps necessary to complete an
initiative. Staff members will identify the tactics for the initiatives before the start of each fiscal
year.
Variance—difference between the expected result and the actual result.
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2013 Strategic Plan Progress Mid-year Report
Attachment A
2103 Strategic Work Plan
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