From Talking to Strategic Doing:Open Participation

Concepts drawn liberally from i-Open

16 counties – 7,125 square miles

Population – 4.1 million

Size of Economy - $170 billion

Employment– 2.1 million

NEO Average Annual Wage - $33,200

OUR REGION

Major Industries: Metalworking; plastic products and chemicals; agribusiness; health care; manufacturing; insurance; biomedical; instrumentation, controls and electronics

Northeast Ohio By the Numbers

Journey To Today

• 2004 – Fund for Our Economic Future established and regional activity propelled

• 2005-2006 – Voices & Choices– 20,000 Citizens– Council of Economic Policy Advisors – Dashboard

of Economic Indicators

The Dashboard:Our Region’s Economic Performance

The dotted line marks the boundary of influence of the business community: Economic Development takes place in the CIVIC SPACE

IllustrativeExample

Civic

Space

Civic

Space

Business Community

Business Community

Relevance of the Civic Space

• Economic Development takes place in the civic space

• Many economic development functions take place outside of the sphere of chambers of commerce / business community

• Civic space is fragmented• There is no agreed upon hierarchy in civic

space

Civic Space: The Truth

Within the civic space, nobody can tell anybody else what to do. The mayor cannot tell the chamber what to do. The chamber cannot speak for every businessman or woman. The city council cannot tell the superintendant what to do. The University President cannot tell the WIB what to do….there is no hierarchy in the civic space.

NEOCivic

SpaceFoundations

Policy Leaders

K-12

Citizens

Prof. groupsProf.

groups

Med Size

CEOS

Med Size

CEOS

alliancesalliances

Social serviceSocial

service

Big Co. CEOS

Big Co. CEOS

Federal Electeds

Federal Electeds

State ElectedsState

Electeds

AcademiaAcademia

The FundThe

Fund

Minority leaders

Minority leaders

Civic entrepreneurs

Civic entrepreneurs

Block groupsBlock

groups

cdcscdcs

Local electedLocal

electedSelf

employedSelf

employed

Wealthy people

Fund Grantee

s

Fund Grantee

s

Big Chambers P-16P-16

workforceworkforce

Religious leaders

Religious leaders

LandConservation

LandConservation

Economic Culture Change:Yesterday’s Ways are gone

• Command and Control mentality dominated business culture

• Civic space organized in hierarchy that mirrored hierarchical business models

• Click here for short video: Coal Miners

Economic Culture Change:Today & Tomorrow’s Way

• Civic Space built upon networks• Openness, collaboration key to success• Technology facilitates rapid change and

human interaction• Click here for short video: The Human Networ

k

Networks At Work• Competitive economies have strong networks in the

civic space• Strong networks are built upon trust• Trust emerges when people work together and share

information and resources• Networks have strong and weak ties

– Strong ties: get things done– Weak ties: learning and innovation

• Healthy networks have a strong core and porous boundaries allowing new people and thoughts in easily

• Within a network people play different roles

AdvanceNortheast

Ohio

AdvanceNortheast

Ohio

How will Northeast Ohio develop the will, skill

and tools to foster Regional Collaboration?

How will Northeast Ohio align the region’s plan

with the network-driven civic space?

Business Growth and Attraction

AdvanceNortheast

Ohio

AdvanceNortheast

Ohio

Talent Development

Growth through Racial and Economic Inclusion Government Collaboration & Efficiency

Networks will assure alignment with sub-regional strategies and plans

Networks will develop Strategic Outcomes

Networks need to be built, fostered and strengthened to enable success

NEOCivic SpaceisFragmented

Foundations

K-12

Citizens

Prof. groupsProf.

groups

Med Size

CEOS

Med Size

CEOS

alliancesalliances

Social serviceSocial

service

Big Co. CEOS

Big Co. CEOS

Federal Electeds

Federal Electeds

State ElectedsState

Electeds

AcademiaAcademia

The FundThe

Fund

Minority leaders

Minority leaders

Civic entrepreneurs

Civic entrepreneurs

Block groupsBlock

groups

cdcscdcs

Local electedLocal

elected

Self employed

Self employed

Wealthy people

Fund Grantee

s

Fund Grantee

s

Big Chambers

P-16P-16

workforceworkforce

Religious leaders

Religious leaders

LandConservation

LandConservation

PolicyLeadersPolicy

Leaders

Building Networks Required:NEO Civic Space Fragmented Based on Hierarchy

Funders, Business

Community and Elected

Officials

Civic SpaceCivic Space

Top Down or Bottom Up?

Effective Strategies RequiresOpen Participation and Leadership Direction

Voices & Choices

Voices & Choices

HistoricalLeadershipProcess

Chaos

Apathy Closed door decision making

EffectiveStrategies

Leadership Direction

Employers

Elected Officials

Community Groups

Citizens

Racial & Economic Inclusion

FundersFunders

Government Collaboration & Efficiency

Business Growth & Attraction

Talent Development

Alignment

Regional

County

Municipal

Local

Alignment is achieved when there is clarity how local, municipal, county and regional plans correlate to one another.

Defining Regional Strategic Outcomes will come only after alignment exists across the Region

Alignment through ANEO

Advance Northeast Ohio Partners &Northeast Ohio

Citizens

Advance Northeast Ohio Partners &Northeast Ohio

Citizens

Open Participation: What’s Next• Convening: people to facilitate defining regional strategic

outcomes and to catalyze strategic doing• Aligning: emerging and existing initiatives with Advance

Northeast Ohio• Building: a state-of-the-art, region-wide learning and

collaboration framework and tool box to allow for more informed and efficient decision-making

• Sharing: relevant, fact and data-driven information to enable citizens and leaders in all sectors to act regionally

• Engaging: Northeast Ohio citizens in strategic initiatives aligned Advance Northeast Ohio

• Representing: Citizen’s voice at the table with business, government, education and philanthropic leaders

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