Page 148 - CityofSouthlakeFY26AdoptedBudget

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 to where
it is today.

Since 2005, the City Council has worked closely with staff to adopt a Strategic Management System
(SMS) based on the Balanced Scorecard framework. The SMS was developed to help the City direct
its own destiny rather than allow future events to do so. Through sound business principles embodied
Strategic Direction
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. 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 helps ensure that
the Vision of the City remains true in the years to come.

148 FY 2026 City of Southlake | Budget Book FY 2026 City of Southlake | Budget Book 149