Happy National Implementation Month!!

This year marks the 5th National Implementation Month. My how time flies! The concept for the month-long event came out of one of the earlier posts on this blog entitled, “Implementation, the Lost Step in Comprehensive Planning“. This post looked into how few comprehensive plans are utilized to their fullest extent. They often sit on a shelf, rarely to be looked at. Why go through the arduous work of developing a comprehensive plan if you aren’t going to use it regularly?

That’s where National Implementation Month steps in. It dedicates a full month each year to review your community’s plans. Not just comprehensive plans, but all of the community’s plans. It’s time to dedicate time to the development of a work schedule toward the implementation of plans. It’s time to lay out actionable steps toward reaching goals.

January is an ideal month for National Implementation Month. Everyone is looking to start a new year with the energy and vigor that stirs souls to get things done.

This first month of the year is also ideal as many of us in the upper Midwest are cooped up inside trying to shake off the cold while dreaming of warmer days. Why not use those daydreams to plan how you plan to move forward with implementation activities? So throw another log on the fire, then sit down and write up some action steps for the next year to get things done.

Yes, this Rural Resurrection has no official capacity to officially declare an entire month as National Implementation Month. I don’t even have the power to declare such for the community that I work for. Maybe someday national recognition will happen. But for now, make National Implementation Month an event in your community. Gather others, pick out a goal, and make it happen!