From our empirical research across municipalities in India, we have stumbled upon a shocking discovery. There is not even one municipality across india that has fully implemented their well-thought-out mission or policy objectives. This is worse than the record of companies in the world: Only one out of 10 companies meet their internally set strategic objectives.
The government’s mission is fixed. How they do the missions is not fixed: this is strategy. The problem is what if there are multiple strategies being pursued at once? How will we know if this is happening? A single framework for strategy is necessary to meet the challenges. Municipalities are no doubt different from companies in terms of objectives and goals. Nevertheless, it is possible to map the features of a private corporation on to a public organization. Our expertise in working with private companies, large and small, across the world on leadership development. Strategy and strategy execution, vision and mission development and innovation will be now ready for driving municipalities in India as a non profit initiative under Medici Institute.
Public institutions have increasingly come under pressure in recent years to become more economically viable and citizen-oriented. The shift from government department to a professionally run, performance oriented organization requires many changes both inside and in the way it is presented to the outside world. Pressures on governments around the world have contributed to the rising adoption of "performance management and measurement" - a focus on program and service outcomes, and on "managing for results". Specifically, state and local governments are becoming increasingly accountable for results and the cost-effective use of taxpayer money.
It is all about bringing out municipalities that perform like professional organisations, delivering better results and competitiveness.
Towns and Cities in India do not use strategy/mission planning frameworks which facilitates the execution of their agendas. At least, not the way most private-sector organizations would have. But when a municipality adopts some best practices in strategy execution, it has the potential to bring in transparency, accountability and citizen-centred developments that can transform the social fabric of the city, and bring the municipality to world class standards in administration.