Each new year, many of us set both personal and professional goals for improvement.  Some of these "resolutions" are successful and others quickly fall by the wayside, right?

As you strive to keep your professional resolutions, you might want to think about the Center for Management Strategies top 10 list for moving your organization forward toward higher efficiency and effectiveness.  These may just help you keep those resolutions for your local government organization!

1.  Get Lean!  No, we aren't talking about your waistline, we are talking about improving processes and work systems in your organization so that they better serve your constituents and don't frustrate you or your employees;

2.  Make a commitment to engage your citizens and stakeholders in the work of your local government through a multi-faceted engagement strategy including both online and in-person engagement opportunities that cross multiple sectors  in your community;

3.  Utilize effective surveying techniques and effective data analysis and benchmarking to enhance the quality of your local decisions;

4.  Ensure that your budgetary expeditures support your community and organizational goals and that you can properly identify those expenditures that do not support those goals; strive for strong "fiscal health and wellness" moving forward;

5.   Be open to the opportunities for cost savings and service enhancement through collaborative service delivery;  

6.   Develop a strategic vision and plan for your organization and create "ownership" for deployment of the plan in everyone within your organization. Remembering that it is not just "what" you do but "how" you do it, you should also work on creating a great work culture;

7.   Download the FREE CMS Organizational Assessment Instruments on High Performance Strategies, Civic Engagement and Collaborative Service Delivery and utilize them in your organization to assess your capacity and readiness for this work;

8.  Join the conversation among your friends and colleagues on the CMS Group and subscribe to the CMS Blog on the ICMA Knowledge Network;

9.  Take advantage of the FREE research documents and articles available on CMS leading practices on the CMS Documents and Articles Resource Library  site; and,

10.   Attend a training program, webinar or read an article in an ICMA publication from the Center for Management Strategies and its practice leaders/service providers as well as those provided by the  Center for Sustainable Communities and the ICMA Analytics. 

Managers are expected to deliver a great deal in terms of the efficiency and effectiveness of their organizations these days and these leading practice ideas are a great way to enhance your service delivery and better connect with your community.  ICMA and the Center for Management Strategies can assist you in keeping your resolution for organizational efficiency and effectiveness  in 2015!