Just Gathering Dust?

One of my first jobs while in college was behind a drawing board in the university’s planning office. I prepared construction drawings and maps and the occasional artistic renderings of new campus buildings.  It was great work, but as the lone student employee among a group of seasoned professionals, I was also picked to be the “gopher” for the office (e.g., “go ‘fer this, and go ‘fer that”). I logged a lot of miles on foot and in university vehicles, but I also got to meet a lot of great people and see a lot of the campus and the city in the process.

I had been on the job only a week or so when the boss asked me to deliver the final photo-ready copies of the campus master plan to the printer across town.  Then, a few weeks later, I was asked to go retrieve a number of boxes of carefully bound volumes that were then distributed to administrators across campus.  Each member of our office staff was given a copy, complete with the staff member’s name embossed neatly on the cover.  I still have mine on my office shelf.  I didn’t have much to do with the contents, but my name was there nonetheless.

I learned a great deal from that first job, from the people I worked with, and the opportunities those contacts brought later in my career. But I always wondered about that book on my shelf. There it sat, for years, gathering dust.  A few years later, a new master plan was developed and published and, though it wasn’t hard bound for posterity, it likewise sat on a shelf.   A dozen years, three jobs and two cross-country moves later, I was back at the same institution—this time in my boss’s chair.  And when an update of the campus master plan was necessitated by the potential for a massive outside investment in campus development, I had the chance to do it all differently.

The new plan took the bulk of the next four years to complete. The plan itself was structured as a land-use document, tied to the needs of the campus and its impact on the environment. For the first time, it was based heavily on the broad input of campus and community stakeholders. Perhaps even more unique was that it was completed and “published” as a series of reference documents in a loose-leaf binder, with the intent that it wouldn’t be a shelf decoration, but would be pulled down and used regularly by architects, planners, and engineers. 

The plan was successful. I left shortly after it was finished and took a new job 2,300 miles away, but many of the elements of the plan came to fruition. Furthermore, when the time came to update it again, I noticed that the institution used a similar approach and format. They’ve also continued—strengthened, in fact—the environmental and community focus.  So I’d like to think I played a part, at least, in helping improve the process and shift the direction of the campus toward its new future.

Getting the right information into the document is only half the battle. I wonder, for instance, if those plans—like that neatly bound volume with my name on it on my office shelf—sit unopened, gathering dust, while development decisions are being made.  I’d like to think that documents like these are consulted regularly. But I’m not sure that’s the case.

So what does it take to make sure a well-prepared plan is used and referenced regularly?  Here are a few of my thoughts on that question:

Seek Broad Participation.  Involve as many people as you can in the plan’s preparation.  Being part of a plan’s preparation means stakeholders are invested and interested in the outcome.  They won’t let you forget the promises you made and will always be interested to see how the ideas they shared to be incorporated in the final.

Include Targeted Goals/Objectives.  Elements of the plan should directly address the needs of the individuals and groups the plan is intended to benefit.  If a plan is organized around these clear goals and objectives, and includes specific ways to measure its success over time, it will become a useful tool and be referenced frequently.

Choose Simplicity.  Organizing a document in a way that it can be easily referenced and updated will help ensure it is used. Clear, precise language and high quality graphic design make the document more readable.  The binder idea was helpful, but many now find electronic documents far easier to use. Regardless of the format, being able to find what you’re looking for at a click or at a glance, helps keep people using the plan.

Use Carrots and Sticks.  Communities require reference of, and adherence to, plans and building codes.  But you can also reward people for using the plan.  Tying goals to budget requests, by insisting that requests demonstrate compliance with the plan, will help guarantee frequent access to the plan itself.

The bottom line is that, after spending all that time and effort putting the very best information in a place where those that need it should be able to find it, you definitely want them to use it.