Assess where you are on using economic story-telling, a description of what the various stages look like, what your focus should be to get to the next stage, and some hints about how to tackle common challenges.
Add 1 point for every YES
Economic Stories Quiz
1. Do you quote economic data when talking about your community? For example, unemployment rates, labor force, population, sales tax numbers, or any other representative statistics.
2. Do you link your community data to state or national data? For example, our sales tax receipts grew at 2% but state inflation was 5%.
3. Do you have an economic narrative for your community that adds why changes are happening? For example, 100 people more than usual moved here last year because they were recruited by an expanding local business.
4. Does your economic story talk about tradeoffs for your community? For example, because those extra people moved to town, more housing prices went up by 7 percent rather than the usual 3 percent.
5. When making decisions, do you talk about the tradeoffs captured in the economic story? For example, we want businesses to grow, and they can either hire locally (so we need to support education for unemployed people, requiring expanding that program) or recruit from outside (so we need to zone for and approve more housing).
6. Do you monitor the effects of decisions on the economy? For example, you have staff who monitor and report back about sales tax and house price impacts, and can tie it to that local business expanding.
7. Does the public reference the economic data or story you put out? This indicates that the narrative is capturing what it needs to. For example, when they show up to public comment periods, they cite the high unemployment rate as a reason for supporting a policy.
8. Does the public help you interpret economic data or your story? This is where you start to leverage community efforts. For example, they talk about how high unemployment rates aren’t a cause for concern because jobs are seasonal and lots of people are off during the summer.
9. Do you use your economic story and data when communicating with other levels of government? This can help you connect your community concerns with their decisions. For example, when talking to your state legislator, you can provide data that the business-friendly sales tax exemption hurt your revenue more than it helped.
10. Do you use your economic story and data when setting priorities for your community? This is where acceptance and use of the narrative can help participatory budgeting and investments. For example, when setting goals in a strategic plan, you decide that more housing is a higher priority than business zoning for more jobs.
Quiz Results / Developmental Levels
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It is quite common for organizations to treat economic development as a separate issue, which is likely why there is so much room for improvement here. As you incorporate data, you might notice that people pick up on it and interpret it on their own. This is why development of an economic story can help get everyone on the same page. At this level, you might only be ready for a Peer Review or Assessment of Needs.
0-2
At this level, you have an economic story, but it isn’t quite used to its fullest potential. It might be contained in an economic development plan, or a risk management report, but few people read them or reference the implications. You might be frustrated at how siloed information is, or notice afterwards that there were missed opportunities to connect the dots. Here the focus should be on using your economic story to help avoid future problems. You might benefit from a Full Package, but only if the organization is committed to change.
3-4
You are doing a good job of using staff to understand what is going on, making data-informed decisions, and learning over time. You might be missing some of the benefits of using the economic narrative to engage your community, though. If you are frustrated at the issues people complain about because they just don’t seem to understand the issues, being more intentional in how you use your economic story publicly might help. This is the level where the Full Package is most appropriate.
5-6
This is where the payoffs of having and using an economic narrative start to appear. Your engaged community members are your allies in helping understand and solve problems, and you are all in broad agreement about what those problems are. There are fewer disagreements purely about politics. While work within your community is going well, you still might feel like you’re at the mercy of broader economic trends that you don’t really understand. This is where taking it to the next level to talk to other organizations using your economic story might help. Targeted coaching might be all you need.
7-8
This is advanced level work, and your organization is likely looked at as a leader amongst your peers. You are regularly consulted by other levels of government for your insights, and most of your efforts are focused on solving problems under your control. Recruiting highly-skilled, engaged staff is probably easy at this level, as they feel like they can make a difference. While conflicts are inevitable, they tend to be civil and have a baseline of understanding what the tradeoffs are. Good work! You probably don’t need me except as a cheerleader of your efforts, or possibly for a Peer Review of materials.
9-10