Today all over the United States and in other parts of the world people are going the extra mile to show their family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues how much they cherish them. You may not be sending flowers, candy, or cards to each of your residents for Valentine’s Day, but here are four ways you can show them you care:

Connect with your residents. Taking time to engage and listen to residents’ feedback shows that you are interested, attentive, and relatable. Some ways to connect include town hall meetings and strategic planning efforts.

Acknowledge and address citizen concerns. Don’t just listen to complaints.  Respond to what you hear and focus on tackling the underlying issues.

Report on progress.  Inform residents through newsletters, websites, press coverage, social media, or customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Evaluate the results. Collect performance data and conduct surveys to assess effectiveness of services and citizen satisfaction. Demonstrate your interest in tracking and improving results.

We often think of performance measurement as a management-centered initiative – data all too often kept among top management, elected officials, and those who know how to navigate lengthy budget reports.  If you don’t measure, you have no way to tell whether (or how well) you’re succeeding.  But beyond that, if you don’t share that data with the public, they don’t know, either.  By sharing those results, over time you should notice a stronger community with more satisfied citizens. And they’ll be delighted that you took the time to CARE!