The municipality of Sylt looks to the future
corsus supported the municipality of Sylt in the first half of 2024 with the development of a mission statement for the municipal administration. The assignment included the moderation of workshops, the involvement of local politicians and administration and support in the development of the Sylt and community-specific focal points.
The municipality of Sylt is one of five municipalities on the popular North Sea island. The administration, based in Westerland, was created in 2009 through the merger of the town with the municipalities of Sylt-Ost and Rantum. In addition, the municipality of Sylt conducts official business for the Sylt Landscape Office, of which it is not itself a member.
In 2023, the idea was born to create an internal administrative mission statement for the municipality. This is seen as the first building block to orientate the actions of politics and administration towards current and future key issues, taking into account the global sustainability goals of the United Nations and strengthening the island community.
The process of developing the mission statement was organised in close cooperation with the project management team, consisting of the office manager of the island administration and the mayor. Representatives from politics and administration came together in various constellations and working groups to shed light on basic principles and key topics. At the events organised and moderated by corsus, the respective aspects were worked on in a trusting and constructive manner, discussed intensively and the formulations for the mission statement were jointly defined. For the vision, the self-image and future image of the municipality of Sylt were discussed. The subsequent guiding principles set out the goals to be achieved together and the values and principles that characterise the administration’s actions. The guiding principles serve Sylt- and community-specific key topics that were set by the central working committee of the community representatives.
The central topics of administration and finance, education, culture and social affairs were included, as well as aspects of business and tourism, mobility, construction and housing, disaster prevention and the protection of the climate, environment and resources. The areas were not prioritised in relation to each other, but rather are directly linked and always interlinked. The insular idea, co-operation between the municipalities on Sylt and beyond, was just as important to those involved as the responsible weighing up of all interests. It was also decided to align the municipality’s actions with the SDGs.
The interim status was presented at the 11th meeting of the Sylt municipal council and politically adopted at the meeting of the municipal council on 26 September 2024. The result of the intensive work is a lean and precise mission statement that offers a good starting point for a possible further strategic direction for the municipality of Sylt.
We very much enjoyed working in front of the beach backdrop with the sound of the sea and thank you for the opportunity to use the ISTS premises. We would especially like to thank everyone involved for their time, commitment and the trust they have placed in us.