City of Germantown: A Journey to Excellence Through Strategic Planning and Performance Management

Executive Summary

The City of Germantown, Tennessee has transformed itself from a recession-recovering municipality into a nationally recognized model of excellence, culminating in the prestigious 2019 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. This comprehensive case study explores how Germantown leveraged strategic planning, citizen engagement, and ClearPoint Strategy's performance management software to achieve remarkable results, including recognition as a Forbes "Top 10 City for Working Families" and home to Tennessee's highest-performing school district.

A Community of Excellence

Germantown's well-educated population expects exceptional service from their city government, and the city has consistently delivered. The community boasts several impressive distinctions: it's been named a "Top 10 City for Working Families" by Forbes, hosts the region's only Apple Store, and the Germantown Municipal School District has achieved the highest ACT scores in Tennessee since its inception just four years ago. However, these achievements didn't happen by chance—they resulted from deliberate strategic planning and performance management.

The Vision: From Government to Corporate Model

A Different Framework

In 2010, City Administrator Patrick Lawton returned from a conference with a bold vision. Still mindful of the 2008 recession's aftermath, Lawton was inspired to pursue renewed excellence through the Baldrige framework. The city chose an unconventional approach for local government, drawing inspiration from the book "We Don't Make Widgets: Overcoming the Myths that Keep Government from Radically Improving."

Germantown adopted a corporate model that reframed their operations: citizens became customers, city services became products, and outcomes became the primary focus. Rather than simply maintaining beautiful parks, the city concentrated on what citizens truly wanted—spaces to form community bonds, exercise, congregate, and enjoy the full benefits parks bring to a community.

Building Germantown Forward 2030: A Grassroots Strategic Plan

Community-Driven Development

In 2015, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a process to develop Germantown Forward 2030, a 15-year strategic plan designed to guide the community's growth and development. To ensure true grassroots ownership, the Board handed development to a 30-member steering committee representing all aspects of the community—diverse in age, race, gender, and neighborhood representation.

The year-long planning process, facilitated by city staff, aimed to understand and influence the future rather than simply prepare for it. The process engaged citizens at every level: after numerous meetings, a town hall discussion with over 200 citizens reviewed the vision. Task forces of citizens then created action plans and measures based on nine key performance indicators, adding objectives, action items, and performance measures to track progress. By completion, community members had invested approximately 2,000 hours in the plan.

Strategic Focus Areas

The Germantown Forward 2030 plan centered on:

• Quality-of-life issues
• Fiscal responsibility
• Strong public safety
• Community engagement

These focus areas would guide the city in navigating the economic, environmental, and social arena while aligning resources to bridge the gap between present conditions and desired outcomes.

Implementation: From Vision to Reality with ClearPoint Strategy

The Technology Partnership

Understanding that Excel spreadsheets wouldn't suffice for executing their ambitious plan, Germantown partnered with ClearPoint Strategy. This cloud-based software provided a centralized platform for managing performance measures, aligning strategic and operational goals, and enhancing transparency with citizens.

De'Kisha Fondon, Germantown's Senior Budget & Performance Analyst and ClearPoint Community Advisory Board member, oversees both the city's overall budget and its performance management metrics as part of everyday operations. The transformation was immediate and significant.

Solving Pre-ClearPoint Challenges

Before ClearPoint, Germantown struggled with:

• Reliance on Excel and various disconnected software tools
• Lack of alignment and consistency across departments
• Different reporting methods and formats
• Time-consuming reviews and analysis
• No centralized location for data comparison

Achievements After Implementation

ClearPoint delivered several transformative outcomes:

Centralized Operations: A single platform for managing performance data, streamlining reporting, and ensuring consistency across all departments.

Time Efficiency: Automated reporting features and an intuitive interface significantly reduced time spent on data collection, analysis, and reporting, allowing the performance management team to focus on strategic tasks.

Strategic Alignment: The software facilitated clear connections between strategic and operational goals, enabling departments to see how their actions contributed to the city's overall strategy.

Data-Driven Decisions: City leaders shifted from debating data accuracy and formatting to asking meaningful questions: "How much did it cost?", "How long did it take?", and "Did it have the impact we wanted?"

Continuous Improvement: The software's analysis capabilities helped identify improvement areas and suggested actions for better results.

Transparency and Engagement: Germantown's Community Dashboard, powered by ClearPoint, enhanced transparency and citizen engagement by displaying real-time progress on strategic initiatives.

Operational Excellence

Every quarter, the City Administrator meets with each department director to review key metrics using "Business Plan" reports generated through ClearPoint. Directors can view high-level overviews of the strategic plan at any time, seeing clear alignment between goals, measures, and processes at all organizational levels. The reports are concise, with status icons that easily focus discussion on performance.

The Journey to Baldrige Excellence

State Recognition First

As a strategic step toward national recognition, Germantown engaged with the Tennessee Center for Performance Excellence, the state-based Baldrige program. Their work on Germantown Forward 2030 and the community dashboard helped them win top honors from the Tennessee Center—an unofficial prerequisite for the national award.

The Baldrige Framework in Action

In 2019, Germantown set its sights on the national award, preparing a comprehensive 55-page application covering all seven Baldrige criteria for performance excellence:

1. Leadership
2. Strategy - Demonstrated through Germantown Forward 2030 and ClearPoint tracking
3. Customers - Exemplified by the transparent Community Dashboard
4. Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management - Enabled by ClearPoint's comprehensive tracking capabilities
5. Workforce
6. Operations
7. Results - Centralized in ClearPoint for easy reporting and sharing

Having much of the required information already organized in ClearPoint made the application process significantly more manageable, as the team could easily export data for their submission.

The Site Visit and Victory

Out of 26 applicants in 2019, only 12 received site visits. In October, Germantown hosted nine Baldrige examiners for a week-long deep dive into city operations. ClearPoint made showcasing required information straightforward, as examiners interviewed leaders, reviewed documents, and verified findings from the initial application.

On November 12, 2019, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross delivered thrilling news: Germantown had achieved its 10-year goal and was being honored with the 2019 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. The city became one of only four municipalities nationwide ever to receive this honor.

Key Success Factors

Several elements contributed to Germantown's transformation:

Systematic Approach: The city learned the importance of aligning processes and systems, being systematic across all operations.

Community Ownership: Involving citizens at every step created buy-in and ensured the plan reflected community values.

Technology Enablement: ClearPoint provided the infrastructure needed to track, measure, and report on progress effectively.

Leadership Commitment: From Patrick Lawton's initial vision to department-wide adoption, leadership drove the excellence journey.

Transparency: The public dashboard kept citizens informed and engaged throughout the process.

Looking Forward: Continuous Improvement

For Germantown's leadership, the Baldrige Award represents a beginning, not an endpoint. The city continues to:

• Dig into feedback from the Baldrige application to identify improvement opportunities
• Update their Community Dashboard for Germantown Forward 2035
• Explore ClearPoint's artificial intelligence capabilities for advanced analysis and recommendations
• Maintain their commitment to continuous improvement and excellence in strategic planning and execution

Lessons for Other Municipalities

Germantown's journey offers valuable insights for other local governments:

1. Think Like a Business: Viewing citizens as customers and focusing on outcomes can transform government services.
2. Invest in Community Engagement: The 2,000 hours citizens invested in the strategic plan created unprecedented buy-in and ownership.
3. Choose the Right Tools: Moving beyond Excel to a comprehensive platform like ClearPoint enables true performance management.
4. Maintain Focus on Alignment: Ensuring all departments understand how their work contributes to overall strategy is crucial.
5. Embrace Transparency: Public dashboards and regular reporting build trust and accountability.
6. Commit to Excellence Frameworks: Pursuing recognized standards like Baldrige provides structure and validation for improvement efforts.

Conclusion

The City of Germantown's transformation from a recession-recovering municipality to a Baldrige Award winner demonstrates the power of strategic planning, citizen engagement, and effective performance management. Through their partnership with ClearPoint Strategy and commitment to excellence, Germantown has created a model for municipal governance that prioritizes outcomes, transparency, and continuous improvement.

Their success proves that local governments can achieve private-sector levels of efficiency and effectiveness while maintaining their public service mission. As Germantown continues toward 2035 and beyond, they remain committed to the principle that excellence isn't a destination but a continuous journey of serving their citizens better each day.

For other municipalities seeking similar transformation, Germantown's experience offers both inspiration and a practical roadmap. The combination of grassroots strategic planning, modern performance management technology, and unwavering commitment to excellence can help any city better serve its citizens and achieve recognition for outstanding public service.

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