Upon completion of the first two phases of the strategic planning process, the Ernst & Young team strongly encouraged the MAGNET board, in late February of 2022, to reconsider its next steps.  The consulting team indicated it did not believe MAGNET, in its current form, had the organizational capacity to successfully carry out an implementation plan of economic development strategic priorities. 

They suggested that realizing the long-term economic development goals of the Cape Girardeau Area were likely to be far more successful if MAGNET was redeveloped to build an inclusive coalition of allies to actively engage in the difficult work that would be necessary to address emerging and long-term threats to economic vibrancy.  Therefore, although initially conceived as a traditional five-year economic development plan, the strategic engagement with Ernst & Young turned to an immediate effort to organize the rebuilding of the MAGNET organization.  

The organizational redevelopment framework provided by Ernst & Young consultants consisted of three distinct phases: