CEO Update “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This familiar phrase has guided business leaders for decades, and the principle behind it has always driven our economic development efforts at The Right Place. After all, how do you know if you are succeeding if you can’t measure your results?
We put this principle into action region-wide last year when we collaborated with local economic development, infrastructure, and workforce development partners to launch theWest Michigan Regional Dashboard. This dashboard is an online tool that tracks the region’s progress on critical economic, social, and environmental indicators. The goal of the dashboard is to inform, educate, and focus regional efforts around this common set of indicators, so progress can be achieved quicker and more collaboratively. Before the launch of this dashboard, the region lacked a common set of metrics by which to measure its overall growth, health, and prosperity. Although several organizations track their own individual dashboards and metrics, a coordinated and easily accessible tool was missing. The West Michigan Regional Dashboard brings this data together to fill that gap. While the dashboard was started just over a year ago, organizations are already using it to inform strategy and decision-making. Keeping this in mind, we recently redesigned and updated the dashboard with the support of our partners. The improved dashboard offers a more user-friendly design, the latest available data, and several additional indicators. You can find these updates explained in greater detail in the feature story of this issue on page 12. The updates to the West Michigan Regional Dashboard, along with the dashboard itself, would not have been possible without a collaborative group of partners, along with funding from the West Michigan Regional Prosperity Alliance. The participation from our local economic development partners, workforce development agencies, metro planning groups, and community foundations made the development and redesign of the dashboard a reality. The updated and improved dashboard can be viewed at www.wmdashboard.org . I encourage you to visit the dashboard for yourself and explore how your organization can impact West Michigan’s future health and prosperity.
Birgit M. Klohs President & CEO The Right Place, Inc.
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LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT
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