I was on the road the other day, and drove by a reminder that the things beneath the surface are as important as the things we see.

How often do we look at the elements of our community and judge the effectiveness of them by the part we understand and experience directly?

Consider the health of a few things are beneath the surface…

• Road maintenance budget
• User interface of the online bill pay service
• General plan’s goals and implementation
• Fee structure of the water system
• Employee policies and compensation
• ROI of the economic development plan

Without a whole-system perspective and approach, the things not seen can create serious problems that no one wants to deal with.