SGR's retreats for elected officials typically belong to one of four main categories: strategic visioning, governance, teambuilding, or a combination of these elements.

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Strategic Visioning

There is a distinction between strategic visioning and strategic planning. A strategic vision is about direction and priorities and is the responsibility of elected officials. A strategic plan is about how to accomplish the strategic vision and is largely the responsibility of the staff.

With that in mind, SGR is here to help lead your board to consider a series of strategic questions about the future to help identify where they are, where they want to go, and who they want to become. We will help identify shared key priorities for the future, and through facilitated discussions, help create a shared vision for the future built around strategic priorities.

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Team Building

Designed to identify obstacles to effective teamwork, this process helps elected officials grow in self-awareness and learn how to be more charismatic and effective leaders. SGR often designs these retreats around validated personality profiles, and part of the retreat includes discussing how the team’s collective profile can impact the way they function together as decision-makers. These kinds of tools can also help leaders address internal conflicts in a healthy way and develop positive operating practices.

Effective Governance

Focused on understanding the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of elected officials and staff, SGR facilitates a discussion of the key components of the Council/Manager form of governance to achieve clarity and awareness to overcome challenges to good governance processes. We make use of polarity scale assessments to foster this discussion, examine case studies from local government challenges, and provide a safe place for the board to discuss how they can improve as leaders.

Multi-Purpose Retreats

It is very common for organizations to want to spend just a little time on one of these topics and more time on another. SGR will collaborate with you to develop an agenda that fits your schedule and addresses your objectives in the most efficient way possible.

Performance Evaluation of Board-Appointed Employees

Many local governments struggle to find an effective, fair, and efficient way for the governing body to provide evaluations for the City/County Manager and other council appointees. That’s why SGR developed an evaluation procedure, including an evaluation form, that the governing body can use when doing performance evaluations for their appointees. This tool creates clarity on what the person will be evaluated on, as well as transparency and accountability. A trained and experienced SGR facilitator will guide this process, which will allow the governing body to fulfill their responsibility in a way that maintains dignity and respect for everyone. 

Contact Us

Email SGR for more information.

Email: Training@GovernmentResource.com
Meet the Team: Leadership Development and Training