Poster at city participation meeting, Tenali, Andhra Pradesh with former Chief MinisterIntegrated planning needs leaders who are able to think across sectors. What Tony Blair used to call “joined up thinking.”
This simple “common sense” skill is often trained/ educated out of professionals. In the workplace this process is completed by the silo culture of sectoral organizations.
For me, an inspiration for how to think in an integrated way came when I was not expecting it, while running a workshop on strategic planning for local government in Uttar Pradesh in India some years ago. The group included both officials and elected representatives from local governments, including new female mayors (a quota system was in place).
We got to the point in the workshop where we discussed how to think through a city vision. Most teams followed the advice of imagining they were in their city in five years time and imagining what they would like to see different – would the streets be clean? Would the town hall be efficient?
“.. a good husband”
One lady mayor came up with her own vision. She said that for her, the city should be like a good husband. What did she mean?
Working
She explained that the husband should work and be able to support his family – so the city should also work. Citizens should be able to efficiently produce goods and services and be able to trade and bring an income to the city.
Healthy
Then the husband should be healthy, otherwise he could not work. So the city should be healthy so people can work well and be happy. There should be good safe water supply, effective waste management, health education and good health services.
Well presented
Finally, the husband did not need to be handsome like a Bollywood film star, but should be presentable. The city should be neat, tidy and clean and welcoming to visitors.
An integrated vision.
Sometimes as professionals we lose the integrated view that comes with common sense.
For example, it is seldom seen as the job of the roads department to think that their work may increase land values. But it does, so it is very important that both leaders and professionals, including city managers and planners, are able to see the big picture. They then need to be able to integrate or connect the decisions that can give real benefits. Strategic planning is a useful tool for this, but it does need an integrated vision in those using it, and it does need to produce results.
Do you have any examples to share of an integrated vision that really helped lead to real benefits?
Good analogy. It reminds me a little of Lovelock’s Gaia theory – the earth being like an organism.
I like thd analogy. A simple vision albeit exact sometimes works better than using big words like “symbiotic” “catalytic” 🙂