Page 125 - Southlake FY20 Budget

Strategic Direction

It’s good to be in Southlake! And we are always working to make it better. The continued quality and success of this
community does not happen without the diligent effort of a committed team of residents, businesses, community
leaders, and staff. Years of consistent planning and strategic thinking has brought Southlake where it is today.

Since 2005, the City Council has worked closely with staff to adopt a Strategic Management System based on the
Balanced Scorecard framework. The Strategic Management System (SMS) was developed to help the City direct its
own destiny rather than allow future events to do so. Through sound business principles embodied in the SMS, the
City is able to more effectively provide services to the citizens of Southlake, increasing both efficiency and customer
satisfaction. Ultimately, it guides the way the City does business and helps us determine how we should invest our
time and resources. In the budget process, the SMS allows for increased transparency and accountability, providing
the City a framework for demonstrating results.

Balanced Scorecard and Southlake’s Strategic Management System
The Balanced Scorecard is a strategic planning and management system that is used extensively in business and
industry, government, and nonprofit organizations worldwide to align business activities to the vision and strategy
of the organization, improve internal and external communications, and monitor organization performance against
strategic goals. In short, it is a tool that organizations use to ensure that their work meets the goals of the organization
in a measurable way, i.e. “You said…
we did…” It connects organizational
strategy to the work people do on a
day-to-day basis.

The graphic at the right illustrates
the Balanced Scorecard approach
and the following pages of
this section demonstrate how
Southlake has aligned its SMS with
this framework.

Components of the Strategic
Management System include
the Vision, Mission, Values,
Perspectives, Focus Areas, Strategy
Map, Performance Measures
and Implementation Plans. Each
element of the SMS is critical to
the success of the organization and
helps us evaluate and communicate
our performance.

Vision
The City’s vision statement outlines what we strive to be. The vision statement, adopted by City Council in 2005, reads:

Southlake is a vibrant, attractive, safe, healthy and fiscally sound community
that epitomizes both economic and environmental sustainability. We offer quality
neighborhoods and a high standard of living, with abundant opportunities for
learning, shopping, working, recreation and enjoyment of open spaces.

Upholding such a statement is a task that requires effort on multiple levels. The SMS system will help ensure that the
Vision of the City remains true in the years to come.

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