Abstract
The following case study describes a consulting project conducted with a Northwest Ohio municipality. The administration felt that the community needed to be more pro-active with economic development. However, previous attempts at combining the efforts of three separate economic development entities proved difficult due to parochialism and philosophical differences.   

Business Navigators, Inc. was hired to facilitate a series of joint meetings of all three of the economic development entities, as well as members of council, and concerned citizens. The meetings followed a highly structured facilitation technique developed by Business Navigators entitled “I.B.S.”. The facilitation process led the group through the process of identifying the economic development issues facing the community, and prioritizing the issues in order of importance. The group was then led through the process of identifying, discussing, and prioritizing the barriers that they perceived as hampering their efforts. The group then developed strategies for overcoming those barriers.

The administration set three goals for the meetings: to establish a common vocabulary regarding economic development, to create a common understanding of certain economic development concepts and terminology, and to create a common vision of what economic development within the community would entail. Over the course of nine hours of structured facilitation, the group accomplished all three of these goals. Additionally, five members of the group readily volunteered to champion each of the five issues identified as being the most important to economic development within the community, and committed to managing the implementation of the strategies developed.