Town of Cochrane Strategic Plan – Final Report October 2014
3.0 Community Engagement and Commitment
In strategic planning, stakeholder involvement and communication is critical. Without buy-in and
commitment from the people most affected by the plan, it can be very difficult to implement the
projects that emerge from the planning process. Communicating the information about the process
to the community at large is a common strategic planning challenge. To help address this, the
consulting team developed a website specifically for this project. The site contains regular updates,
progress reports, background information and other communications tools. It is also a central
location for hosting web-based surveys and providing contact information so that stakeholders can
get in touch with either the Steering Committee or the lead consultant.
There were three major stakeholder engagement activities:
1. Public Consultation and On-line Survey.
2. Sectoral Focus Groups.
3. Interviews.
The engagement process took place between October 2013 and January 2014.
3.1 Public Consultation and On-line Surveys
Community members were invited to the Public Consultation via newspaper advertising, the
Municipal website, the Cochrane Strategic Plan project website, and flyers distributed via Canada
Post. Attendance at the public consultation was very good. Most of the 30 people who attended
indicated that they had heard about the session through the flyers. The goals of the public
consultation were to:
• Increase awareness and understanding of the strategic planning process.
• Share and refine the community’s vision and mission statement.
• Contribute to the SWOT analysis.
• Brainstorm potential opportunities.
• Assess potential partnerships and level of commitment for implementation.
3.1.1 On-line Surveys
Two on-line surveys encouraged comments and ideas from those unable to attend a face-to-face
session. These surveys collected data that were then organized in terms of the SWOT framework.
No respondents completed the Business and Community Ideas Survey. Thirty-one people
responded to the Community Input Survey.
3.2 Focus Groups
Eighty-six people attended the twelve focus group sessions (Table 3.1). These were held at
locations throughout the community, including the Tim Horton Event Centre, the Native
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