Once shadowed by the glimmer of the Las Vegas strip, Reno has often been characterized by the faint glow of aging casino neon and its infamous parody television show, Reno 911. So why is the city’s vision being noticed by the likes of the Wall Street Journal?
Reno is stepping into the spotlight as the nation’s unlikely posterchild for economic diversification and its proactive vision to get there. And OnStrategy has been fortunate enough to be part of this visioning process.
The need for a new vision
Due in large part to the state government’s push for economic growth with luring tax-incentives, Northern Nevada is welcoming the likes of Telsa, Apple, and Switch, providing thousands of jobs and diversified tax revenue. But, Reno’s aging infrastructure and image need some attention before the region can truly embrace new growth.
The City of Reno decided they need a proactive strategic vision to embrace the coming change. And judging by the attention they’re receiving, it looks like that vision will stick.
Here are the six steps Reno took to “Get it Right”:
- Gather Stakeholder Insight – Before crafting a vision, you need to collect and analyze your stakeholder’s feedback. Reno used a unique campaign to systematically collect and analyze citizen input to craft the City’s new vision.
- Build On Your Past– To know where you’re going, you need to understand where you’ve been. Reno’s rich western history is important to the identity of the region, so the City Council couldn’t just ditch the past. Rather, they’ve embraced it and are moving forward to build upon it.
- Storyboard Your Vision – Visualizing and storyboarding your vision are a great way to create a strong strategic vision. In Reno’s case, we helped facilitate an exercise where they were given a blank Life Magazine cover and told to draw a cover story and headline to represent what the City’s success would look like 10 years from now.
- Make It Easy to Remember – A vision needs to be easily remembered. This applies to both substance and length; it needs to resonate with your stakeholders and not be over-engineered during wordsmithing.
- Get Your Team Onboard – For you to achieve your strategic vision, your team needs to be on board. If you’ve done your due-diligence in crafting a vision statement that resonates with your stakeholders, they should be inspired to achieve it. Reno is doing a great job communicating their vision to get both City Council and the community behind it.
- Begin Your Journey – Once your fire has been lit, get going! Set your strategic vision and create a plan to achieve it. Reno is putting the finishing touches on their newly completed plan and is ready to hit the ground running. Now it’s gaining attention on a national scale.
Whether you’re a small business, non-profit, city, or enterprise organization, a strong and directive vision statement is key for strategic success. Plus, if you create a compelling and strong enough story from your vision, you could be the next headline in the Wall Street Journal.
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