Although IT plays a critical role in delivering community development services, the two departments often work in silos.
But that’s not how it should be, says Retired Snohomish County Planning Director Barb Mock.
Speaking in a webinar on building a better working relationship between community development and IT, she explains that if you don’t have communication and collaboration between the departments, “You might find IT to be the team of ‘nos’.”
And if IT is saying no, and you don’t have them on board, you’ll have a harder time making any updates or changes to improve your services - or even just maintaining the status quo.
Why? Because IT won’t understand the reasoning behind your requested changes and may not prioritize your needs.
As Former Arlington, Texas CIO Dennis John adds in the webinar, “IT is often responsible for anywhere from 10-30 departments depending on how large your organization is, so if the relationship with community development isn’t there, your priorities won’t align, and you’ll have a hard time getting projects off the ground.”
Ultimately, IT and community development need to work together to ensure you’re delivering the best permitting, inspections, and code enforcement experiences for your customers and staff.
Here are eight proven strategies to foster a partnership between the departments and turn IT’s “nos” into “yes.”
1. Set expectations and clearly define responsibilities
One of the most important things you can do to create a strong, positive working relationship between departments is to set expectations and ensure both teams are clear on who’s responsible for what.
You should give IT regular updates about community development activities and who’s responsible for them, or better yet, create written documentation outlining responsibilities within your team.
Barb suggests two documents: a program charter where you establish the roles and responsibilities between your staff and the community, and a strategic technology enhancement plan for the next 3-5 years.
In your program charter, you should establish how your department manages conflict, makes decisions, and elevates things that need attention. That way you’ll have a clear written document that shows who does what and when, which is especially helpful with staff turnover.
Equally helpful is a strategic technology enhancement plan. This is where you can capture your goals on paper to share with your IT Director. It’s an easy way to stay in sync so your department’s needs are more likely to be prioritized in IT’s strategic plan.
2. Communicate early and often
This goes without saying as it’s the foundation for any effective working relationship, but you need frequent communication between departments. And the earlier you start communicating about an initiative, the better.
Have an idea for a permitting process improvement or want to begin the process of buying new permit software? Involve IT at the very beginning.
In her time as planning director, Barb says she met with the director of the IT department every month, and had the department managers meet at least quarterly. The rest of the staff were meeting even more regularly.
“Then, if you’re in community development, you probably have a newsletter or an email blast that goes out to the public, so make sure you include the IT department in those so they get another reminder of what you’re doing and what you’re working on,” explains Barb.
3. Stand in the other department’s shoes
This can be helpful for both departments, but especially for your community development department to put themselves in IT’s position.
Because a lot of the time, they’re doing the best they can with the limited resources they have.
In Barb’s experience, there were 150 people in the planning and development department, 80 in IT, and over 3000 county employees in total. So as she explains, “Imagine all of the different departments competing for some of IT’s time. All of them had different funding and missions.” It’s a lot.
Looking at it from this perspective can help your team manage project expectations and understand how much capacity IT has to support your goals.
4. Know where you rank
This is related to putting yourself in IT’s shoes and only pertains to your community development department, but essentially, it’s making sure to remember that community development isn’t the center of the universe (as much as it may feel like it).
Other departments are vying for the same things as you.
There’s law and justice, the sheriff’s office, the prosecutors, and the courts… everyone wants a piece of the pie.
So it’s important to figure out how to “wedge yourself in there as a priority for both funding and IT’s time,” says Barb.
5. Teach the other department your business, and encourage participation
“I found this to be really, really helpful,” explains Barb. “How many times have you had a new development director invite an IT person into an inspector's car for the day, or shadow a plans examiner, or stand at the front desk with a permit clerk?” Realistically, this rarely happens - and it should.
“Getting IT to experience the real-world situations you’re trying to improve and showing them why it matters is surprisingly powerful in getting IT on board to help you implement change,” says Barb.
Also, encourage IT to participate in your community development staff meetings.
By doing so, you can help them understand how your department operates and what you’re trying to accomplish.
In turn, they’ll better understand what direction the department is going so they can strategically plan for the future, whether that’s putting together the infrastructure to support new technologies as they come out, or adding 5G as a priority because the inspections team wants to do remote inspections.
IT will be able to plan better, and your improvements are more likely to be approved. It’s a win-win.
6. Celebrate joint wins
Just as it sounds, make sure you celebrate joint wins.
Staff are jumping from task to task and project to project, and often they only get recognized for the things that fail. Don’t forget to celebrate the successes, too.
For Barb, this entailed having a little “hurrah” to celebrate the completion of joint projects. It may sound insignificant, but it can help boost both teams’ morale. They’ll feel appreciated.
7. Implement technology that promotes collaboration and transparency
Your system plays a big role in your staff’s ability to communicate and collaborate, and also in your ability to stay online.
If you can implement a solution like Clariti’s Community Development Platform that’s used by your planning, permitting, inspections, and code enforcement teams, you can easily share information across your organization on an ongoing basis.
There’s a single source of truth for all activities and information which not only makes it easier to manage complex development projects, but also to build trust and understanding org-wide.
Plus, the latest multi-tenant cloud-based permit software can help ensure you’re always online because your system isn’t hosted on-site. You can operate all the time remotely and hand off responsibility to your vendor.
It’s a way to diversify, says Dennis, so that “if something does happen on-site, you can keep critical functions like permitting and planning online.”
Of course, the right permit software has many other benefits, too. You can:
Learn more about Clariti’s permit software for community development here.
8. Bring on a business analyst
Last but not least, if budget allows, bring on a business analyst assigned to your community development department.
This is someone who can look out for both departments' best interests and knows how to decipher whether an issue is process-based or technology-based.
Because as Dennis explains, “Technology doesn’t solve everything. You can bring in technology and try to automate a bad process, but now all you have is an automated bad process. It doesn’t solve any business challenges or needs.”
A business analyst can help prevent that.
With an analyst representing both departments in a collaborative role, IT will have an insider who can effectively communicate your community development department’s needs and vice versa. They’ll also be able to represent both departments in the relationship with your permitting vendor if you have one.
Essentially, they’ll act as the liaison for both departments, which Barb agrees is critical.
“I can’t stress enough how important it is to have an analyst assigned to your department. You may not get them full-time, but you’ve got to have someone whose job is to make sure both departments stay in sync with each other,” says Barb.
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To deliver great community development services online, you need a strong working relationship with IT and the right technology to support staff.
Make sure to communicate early and often, set expectations, and involve IT staff in your meetings and projects. That way your priorities should align.
Couple that with a Community Development Platform every team can use as their single source of truth, and you’ll be well on your way to success.
Want to learn more about Clariti’s Community Development Software? Get a personalized demo to discover what Clariti can do for you.
