The leadership skills of public leaders of all kinds — especially city or county elected officials and managers — are being challenged this week in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. In the midst of this pain and conflict, some effective leaders are employing strategies to move us forward in a positive way.
Continue Reading-
-
The P4 Organizational Culture
The key to success in the workplace – for individuals and collectively – is building strong, trusting relationships. In the public sector, this is especially true. Our governance structures; the array of complicated populations and services we provide; our built in systems of checks and balances. It seems that just about everything we do requires interacting with other people.
Continue Reading -
The Value of Being Wrong
Recently I received the results of my comprehensive strategic leadership survey and 360 assessment. The results allowed me not only to see my shortcomings as a leader, but also areas of untapped leadership potential.
One comment stood out: “Wilson embraces being wrong.”
Within Army culture, being wrong and failure are synonymous, so I took this comment to heart.
Continue Reading -
Hidden Figures in Local Government Leadership
The hit movie Hidden Figures tells the story of four brilliant people — Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson and Christine Darden — who, in the 1950s, advanced the state of computing and space travel for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The achievements of these experts were remarkable for many reasons, including that fact that they were women and African American. And that they achieved so much during a time when women rarely worked outside of the home and the civil rights movement was in its early stages.
Continue Reading -
Four Suggestions for Polishing Your Crystal Ball
The recent surprise in the US presidential election results suggests that those who do not pay close attention to current trends and possible future events may be unprepared for sudden changes that can have a big impact. Here are four methods for polishing your crystal ball.
1. Tap a variety of perspectives. This includes various levels of management, departments, advisory board members, governing board members, leaders of citizen’s groups and others. The more your organization brings together information from all parts of the system, the less likely it is you will be blindsided. Mapping these key perspectives and organizing systematic ways of touching base (e.g., surveys, visits, phone calls, etc.) is key to success in this endeavor.
Continue Reading -
Collaborative Leadership for Economic Development in Alamance County
(Cover image from The Times-News, 3/22/2016)
The N.C. Commerce Park in Alamance County, North Carolina is an economic development success story that underscores how vital interlocal and regional collaboration is for community and economic development. It also highlights the power of partnerships and collaboration, and the importance of local leaders that share a collaborative mindset.
Continue Reading -
Nonpartisan Leadership in a Politically Polarized World
Here we are, one week past a particularly difficult election season, with some races still unresolved.
Most of the readers of this blog are people who hold governmental positions that require non-partisanship behavior. Others are people who got where they are, at least in part, due to their affiliation with one political party. Still others might be might be nonprofit leaders whose primary allegiance might be to a specific mission or particular client group, independent of political affiliation.
Continue Reading -
Appreciative Inquiry 101: Finding “The Flip” to a More Positive Outcome
Positive thinking is more than just a tagline.
It changes the way we behave.
And I firmly believe that when I am positive, it not only makes me better,
but it also makes those around me better.
-Harvey MackayA fundamental practice of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is to focus on strengths rather than weaknesses. Doing so enables us open up our thinking to explore our successes and opportunities rather than obsess about our shortcomings or failures. This practice does NOT mean that we sugar-coat or overlook reality. It simply means that we build on our immediate and local assets rather than focusing on what is not there or not desirable.
Continue Reading -
The Military Veteran’s Transition to a Leadership Culture in which Obedience is a Bad Word
Obedience is part of military culture, both as a legal obligation and as an instilled reflexive practice deemed essential to survival in combat. Circumstances might require following orders that go against natural instincts.
Military training also encourages initiative and independent thought, and, when appropriate, expressing concerns about decisions or a state of affairs. But it also involves understanding that when a decision has been made you must do everything you can to implement it and influence others to act in the same way.
Continue Reading -
What Am I Missing?
Pierre-Auguste Renoir -La Grenoullere (1869)
Try an experiment. Grab three or four people and ask them to look at this painting for 30 seconds then close their eyes and describe what they saw. Don’t be surprised if each person sees the painting in ways others do not.
If we see things so differently, what might each of us missing? Leaders need to be continually aware of what they and others may be missing. Our brains are constantly painting a picture of the world around us. Leaders need to understand what others do and do not see in order to tap into and shape a common picture of the future—whether that means convincing people to launch a new business or take action to protect the environment. Effective leaders look for ways to bridge their own and others’ mental pictures so everyone shares a sense of why their work is important, how they will get things done, and what they will accomplish.
Continue Reading -
Gender Mainstreaming and the Local Government Workplace
By Leisha DeHart-Davis, PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill & Tope Olofintuyi, Research Assistant, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
This blog was originally posted on the League of Women in Government site at ttps://leagueofwomeningovernment.com
How can local governments create gender-inclusive workplaces? This is an important question given substantial evidence that gender-balanced leadership makes for more effective organizations. Yet women are still woefully underrepresented in the senior ranks of America’s cities and counties. As a result, local government organizations need to be intentional in pursuing gender inclusivity.
Continue Reading -
What? Me Biased?
Supermodel, Cindy Crawford, was her high school’s valedictorian and received a full academic scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University.
How do you know if you’re biased? Are you a human being? Then the answer is an emphatic “Yes!” The truth is, we all are biased. Our brains are hard-wired to be biased. Bias allows our brains to take efficient short cuts to solve problems. We don’t have time to fact check everything we encounter on daily basis.
Continue Reading -
Worried About Getting the Right People on Your Team? It’s Not as Important as You Think
An assistant city manager recently told me about her frustration with a team she had formed to work on a special project for the city. Their task was to develop solutions to reduce the number of errors in the utility bills sent to customers.
Like many organizational issues, this one was not restricted to one department, so she pulled together a cross-functional team of employees to identify the source(s) of the errors and recommend ways to fix them. These were smart, dedicated folks who had a proven track record of getting the job done.
Continue Reading -
Mindfulness 101: An Essential Practice for Public Leadership
When I say mindfulness what comes to mind?
If the image that immediately pops up is a “woo-woo bleeding heart” sitting cross-legged, alone on the mountain top, eyes closed, silently contemplating the meaning of life – while the rest of us get the real work of the world done – you wouldn’t be alone.
Continue Reading -
Generational Differences About Ambiguity
Feedback received in a routine graduate course evaluation generated a process of reaction and curiosity in me recently, all of which led to an insight that will be useful in the future as I work with and teach Millennials.
The question posed: “What changes in the material, if any, do you feel might strengthen this course?”
Continue Reading -
Diversity and Inclusion in Rocky Mount: Lessons Learned
As North Carolina’s demographics continue to change rapidly, local governments are increasingly giving attention to diversity and inclusion and making efforts to align their organizational cultures, values, and practices to the changing faces of their communities. Last year I facilitated the annual Rocky Mount City Council Retreat, where diversity was a high priority topic on the agenda. On December 9, I interviewed City Manager Charles Penny and Assistant City Manager Thom Moton about their experience and advice to others.
Continue Reading -
The Emergence of the Outsider: Tracking North Carolina City/County Manager Career Paths
What professional paths do people take to become city or county managers? After all, most of our citizens are barely aware this position exists in our communities or that it might be a desirable career goal.
Research typically focuses on the complexities of the local government management profession rather than the career paths of local government managers.
Continue Reading -
Wicked Problems: What can leaders do?
Just over a year ago, I was spending countless hours (or at least it seemed that way) on a research project with Dr. Maureen Berner for the School of Government. That project eventually became a book in the Board Builders series entitled, “Wicked Problems: What Can Local Governments Do?” It was a big project for me and resulted in my first published writing. It took commitment, hard work, and a willingness to learn new skills to get the book from start to finish over the course of a year.
Continue Reading -
Ready to Run? Gender Disparities in American Political Office
Though women comprise more than half of the United States population, they are significantly underrepresented at all levels of government. Several studies aim to explain why, and all come to similar conclusions. Women are less likely to consider running for political office than men, they are less likely to be encouraged to run, and they often consider several factors like motherhood and gender stereotypes when making their decisions about whether to run.
Continue Reading -
Dreaming Works
As a teenager, my father told me “A wise person dreams at night and works during the day.” That was good advice 40 years ago, and it remains good advice today.
Having a dream gives us something to work for. Without a clear vision of what we want to create, it’s hard to stay focused on priorities. When nothing is a priority, then everything is.
Continue Reading -
If You Don’t Want Your Board to Get “Into the Weeds” . . . Stop Holding Your Retreats in a Vacant Lot
We’re nearing the end of board retreat season: the window of time between December, when elected officials are sworn in, and April, when budget deliberations start in earnest. All across North Carolina, local governing boards and managers hold retreats during this time to plan for their community’s future, strengthen working relationships, and make strategic choices about how to best allocate resources to achieve their goals.
Continue Reading -
The New Breed…of volunteers…of staff…of us
Anyone who manages volunteers (or staff) has likely had to balance the needs and interests of the individual against the needs and interests of the organization.
There are no indicators that challenge is going to get any easier or less frequent given the “seismic shifts” identified in The New Breed: Understanding and Equipping the 21st Century Volunteer. The authors are youth ministers who are adapting their strategies of engaging volunteers in response to the generational and technological shifts we are all seeing.
Continue Reading -
Leading as You’re Leaving: Boomers and Their Legacies
As a subset of the American population, Baby Boomers focused on success in the workplace and were competitive there. They also made significant change happen in society. Does anyone wonder how that immense capacity for competition and implementing change might be manifesting in retirement processes?
After all, other rites of passage in life (pregnancy, marriages, parenting…) and rules of engagement in society (diversity and inclusion, sunshine laws, etc.) were re-evaluated and re-designed by the Boomers.
Continue Reading -
Leadership Lessons on Police Transparency: Body-Worn Cameras in Fayetteville
Since becoming Chief of the Fayetteville Police Department in 2013, Harold Medlock has taken steps to address police-community relations. Over the past two years, his department explored several vendors of body-worn cameras (BWCs).
Policy on the use, storage, and access to the videos of various police encounters was completed in mid-January. All patrol officers are using BWCs.
Continue Reading -
Collaborative Leadership=Collective Impact in Catawba County
Recently, a team of individuals from various organizations within the public/government, non-profit, and education sectors convened with the goal of being a “think tank” regarding our growing homeless issue in Catawba County and its municipalities. We organized around a collective impact model.
This process has demonstrated that individuals who have passion, vision, and a desire for something greater are able to align interests to create a great team. This is what collective impact is all about!
Continue Reading -
What is Your Strategic Vision?
A familiar Biblical Proverb states: “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” I would argue that this principle is true for communities and organizations as well. Perish may be too strong a word, but I do think we could say something like, “when a community or organization has no vision, they are prone to stagnate, go nowhere, or decay.” Does your organization have a strategic vision? What about your community?
Continue Reading -
Fun and Games at Work?
Imagine you’ve been asked to design a game. Your goals are to get everyone to play, to learn, and to have fun.
You might start with an overall goal. Get all the cards? Sink the other person’s battleship? Build the most hotels? You’ll devise actions that move the game forward, setbacks for the players to keep it interesting, and rules and constraints that challenge your groups as the game unfolds.
Continue Reading -
Learning from a Wider Spectrum
Two years ago, international software giant SAP launched their Autism at Work initiative. I learned about this effort a few days ago during a book group discussion after reading NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman. His exhaustive history of autism is filled with stories of individuals and our historic understanding – and misunderstanding – of autism. In brief, he describes a world in which autism – and all of its variations – is recognized as part of the diversity of the human condition.
Continue Reading -
Developing Leadership: Opening to New Ideas and Delegation
The gift of the 360 degree review process is that the people who regularly see you in action offer anonymous suggestions on strengthening your effectiveness as a community leader. Perry Davis, the Director of Cleveland County Emergency Management, received and applied such feedback as a recent participant of the Public Executive Leadership Academy offered by the School of Government. Based on the feedback received, Perry set two goals: becoming more open to considering new ideas and to delegating responsibilities. He reports on his early successes here:
Continue Reading -
Effectively Managing a Project
Public sector projects are complex projects often involving staff across multiple departments and may require access to professionals that are external to the organization. Projects can range from creating an internal newsletter, revising policies, acquiring and redeveloping a property for economic development, or creating a new outreach project. These projects, with their variations in size, stakeholders, and complexity, all share in common that they must contend with issues of scope, time, and cost. Success will undoubtedly require “project management” skills.
Continue Reading -
Collective Leadership: Not who is it, but where is it?
Is the concept of a single, strong leader – or even a team of leaders – outdated? Nick Petrie of The Center for Creative Leadership thinks so. He published a white paper entitled “Future Trends in Leadership Development.” In it he identifies four trends, one of which is a shifting focus from the idea that “leadership resides in individual managers” to the idea that “collective leadership is spread throughout the network.”
Continue Reading -
The Perils of Leadership
When I teach leadership one of the first discussions I have is about the differences between leadership and management. Warren Bennis says that management is about doing things right and leadership is about doing the right things. Stephen Covey said management is about climbing the ladder fast whereas leadership is concerned with whether the ladder is on the right wall. I would also add that management is often about maintaining the status quo (“keeping the trains running on time”) whereas leadership is fundamentally about changing the status quo. Leadership is about making something different happen. And because leadership is about change, it is inherently perilous.
Continue Reading -
The Awkward Truths of Celebrating Small Victories
Last December, I was asked to take over the effort to launch my group’s new website, a project that had languished for the better part of three years. I will be honest: I didn’t think it would be very hard. However, I quickly realized that one of the reasons the project had been spiraling out of control was because no one understood what the true status of the project was. And it was not good.
Continue Reading -
Starting Off On the Right Foot
It has already begun. Candidates for municipal offices are telling the public how they will change your city or town. Some mayoral and city council candidates may be campaigning to fire the sheriff or eliminate funding for health services. A city manager or municipal employee may find such campaign promises amusing, that is, until the candidate gets elected and governing begins.
Continue Reading -
Honoring the Personal Opportunities of Leadership Development
The public sector is full of news about the “silver tsunami” and leadership gaps. We also speak of needing leaders who better reflect our communities, especially more women and more people of color.
Two different ideas expressed recently at a conference and on a blog might merge to generate one strategy to address this dual challenge of identifying and developing diverse talent.
Continue Reading -
Managing Organizational Culture
An organizational culture will be established or will occur… be proactive.
Elected leaders in Oceanboro promised voters that they would create greater efficiency in two operations, but they haven’t offered any specifics. The town has decided to restructure and create a Business Management office in which Finance and Human Resources are now combined into one department. The Director of this new department is about to convene the first staff meeting of the newly combined department, and she wants to make sure to set the right tone. As she prepares for the meeting, she recalls the management courses she attended while earning her MPA at the UNC School of Government, and in particular, the role of culture in organizations. The members of the department come from departments with very different cultures—each bringing a different set of assumptions and behaviors related to collaboration, communication, prioritizing strategies, and conflict resolution. Can she manage those different cultures, and how can she establish the right culture on the new department to ensure that its work proceeds as smoothly as possible?
Continue Reading -
What To Do When The Sharks Are Circling
Summer along the North Carolina coast brings many soothing experiences. The calming roar of the waves. Warm sand scrunched between your toes. And a cool libation sipped at sunset.
But there’s a danger lurking just out of sight. It’s big enough to swallow an entire government manager and maybe a few chubby council members. And only the prepared will survive the attack.
Continue Reading -
Conflicting Views on Confederate Flag, Memorials, Symbols: What to do in a “Post-Charleston” Environment?
There are strong feelings and many ideas about what to do with Confederate flags and memorials in the aftermath of the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church murders.
The Confederate battle flag and flagpole were removed from the South Carolina Statehouse grounds on July 10th, after emotional debate in the S.C. Legislature.
Continue Reading -
Try Using “Yes, and” in Your Next Meeting
You are meeting with members of your economic development board and trying to make decisions about infrastructure investment to promote growth. One member wants to focus the discussion on the need to construct a new shell building, while another member wants to talk about water and sewer infrastructure. The proponent of constructing a shell building just finishes a point about the need to have space available for new companies, when the water and the sewer proponent cuts in. “Yes, but….” Immediately the speaker knows that the water and sewer proponent is trying to take the conversation in a different direction and likely feels like they are not being heard. On the other hand if the water and sewer proponent had said “Yes, I hear your point about the need to have space available for new companies, and I am hoping we can also find a way to think about expanding the water and sewer infrastructure” there is a greater chance to build a mutual and productive conversation. This latter approach provides the start to creatively finding new strategies together that the “yes, but…” does not allow for.
Continue Reading -
The Next Generation of Local Government Leaders: Leaning In or Out of Local Government?
Sheryl Sandberg’s number one bestseller Lean In examines why women hold fewer than half of leadership positions despite graduating at higher rates from institutes of higher education. The book also sparked a nonprofit organization, leanin.org, to encourage and support women “leaning in” to their career goals. Sandberg also published Lean In: For Graduates, which includes new material intended for young people beginning their careers. With the one-year anniversary of our own MPA graduation fast approaching, thoughts are swirling about next steps, interviews, job hunting, and career tracks in public service leadership. Sandberg’s book focuses primarily on the private sector. Do “Lean In” issues affect women working in the public sector in the same way?
Continue Reading -
The Art and Science of County and Municipal Government in NC (and the book that discusses it all)
“I never dreamed I would be expected to know so much about so many different topics!”
– A newly elected county commissionerThere is the “What” of public work, and then there is also the “How” of it. Success as any kind of public leader – as staff or as appointed or elected officials – requires mastery of both the art and science involved in the topics and processes of local government.
Continue Reading -
Military Leadership and Public Administration: a new MPA course
When approaching the bridges to the nation’s capital, someone joining an agency, legislative staff, or NGO cannot help but notice the Washington Monument. This landmark does not depict the figure of the leader it honors, who commanded the revolutionary forces and then personified a civilian chief executive. Its simplicity and prominence reflect the unifying and transcendent nature of his leadership. The government and its military forces remain necessarily intertwined in public administration, but the cultures of service and leadership are increasingly separated in American society.
Continue Reading -
We Have To Stop Meeting Like This!
Some meetings really are a waste of time. A recent survey reports American workers spend up to 9 hours a week preparing for and attending general status meetings. Status meetings are defined as a meeting in which team members update one another on completed and active work tasks.
Continue Reading -
The Heart of Collaborative Leadership
The need for collaborative leaders has never been greater. Most, if not all, of the public problems we grapple with are highly complex and “boundary crossing,” meaning they cut across organizational, jurisdictional, and sectoral boundaries.
Collaborative leaders are catalysts who bring stakeholders together to address shared issues. They are conveners and facilitators that lead more from the middle than from the front. Much has been written in recent years about the skill set of these post-hierarchical leaders. They are systems thinkers. They are effective facilitators and negotiators. They help resolve conflict.
Continue Reading -
Creating a Culture of Civility
Are we losing civility? Over 1,000 US adults were surveyed in 2014 and a whopping 94% considered the tone and level of civility in the country to be a problem, with two thirds saying it was a “major” problem.
Government and politics were rated as less civil than any other public sphere–less civil than traffic or talk radio. Only places of worship and friends/relatives were thought to be places where people are civil.
Continue Reading -
The Intersection of “Public Outreach” and “Conflict Management”
In this post, I continue to share the insights both confirmed and stretched by teaching two sets of veteran county and city elected officials through our LELA program, Managing Conflict: How to Disagree and Still Get Along.
Choosing policies and budgets on public matters puts elected officials in the center of conflicts. Understanding and responding to conflict is a central leadership competency.
Continue Reading -
The Intersection of “Transparency” and “Conflict Management”
In January, I had the pleasure of teaching two sets of veteran county and city elected officials through our LELA program, Managing Conflict: How to Disagree and Still Get Along. The experience affirmed some of my insights and stretched a few others.
Choosing policies and budgets on public matters puts elected officials in the center of conflicts. Understanding and responding to conflict is a central leadership competency.
Continue Reading -
The Leadership Potential of Shared Idle Time
Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
— RodinWith few exceptions, public servants tend to work hard and achieve remarkable outcomes in often less than optimal circumstances. As is typical of western society, there can even be a sense of competitive busyness at times. Creative problem-solving does arise out of situations when resources are constricted, the stakes are high, or time is limited. The intensity created by crisis can be an effective motivator for personal or community change.
Continue Reading -
Why’d She Do That? Explaining Workplace Behavior and Why It Matters
The boss walks by your office with a scowl on her face. Your employee rolls his eyes halfway through your comments in a meeting. Your project fails miserably.
Next come the mental gymnastics, where you try to figure out why these things happened and what it means for you and your organization.
Continue Reading -
To Ask Or Not? Deciding to Survey Employees
Have you ever wondered what employees are thinking and feeling about your organization? Whether they are ready to bolt for the next job or planning to stick around until retirement?
Surveys are a great way to figure out employee perspectives on a range of workplace issues. Done right, they can yield valuable information for management decision-making and give employees a voice in your organization. Some issues to consider beforehand:
Continue Reading -
Green Tape in Organizations: Creating Good Rules That People Follow
Organizations – public, private and nonprofit – need effective rules to function. Whether policy, procedure, regulation, or guidance, rules accomplish a staggering array of functions that:
- Distribute scarce resources, whether salaries, promotions or budgets;
- Delegate authority, through empowering lower-level employees to make decisions on behalf of the organization;
- Create accountability, such as processes for hiring and promotion.
Rules also coordinate activity, communicate expectations, motivate people, and ensure fair treatment. And this is the short list.
Continue Reading -
Annual Retreats, Part 2: How to plan a successful retreat
Producing a long list of issues to learn about or discuss at a retreat is easy. Crafting an agenda that will generate effective discussion, decision-making, and follow-through, however, is a more complex task.
Be thoughtful when developing the plan As the retreat planning committee progresses through its work, consider the following topics:
Continue Reading -
Don’t Rush Off: Making a Good Impression on Job Applicants
As a daughter of the south, I was raised with a revolving door of guests in my parents’ home. From the moment a visitor walked through our den door, my mom or dad would focus every ounce of attention on making that person feel comfortable and welcome. The air conditioning was turned on (which made me love visitors). My mom made sweet tea and my dad made cream cheese dip served with Ruffles.
Continue Reading -
Annual Retreats, Part 1: Why hold a board retreat?
By Lydian Altman and Margaret Henderson
It is the responsibility of elected and appointed leaders to set a vision and direction for their communities. This function involves convening the stakeholders who can influence the future and modeling strategic leadership so they can all align their work with the shared vision.
Continue Reading -
Making “Big Rock” Decisions
Stephen Covey trained the modern world to manage time by using the metaphor of filling a jar with rocks of varied sizes. The bigger rocks symbolized more time-consuming tasks. He demonstrated that by putting the biggest rocks in the jar first, followed by the smaller rocks, he was able to eventually put a greater number of rocks in the jar. In other words, he used his time strategically to achieve a greater number of tasks. For a YouTube video of Stephen Covey demonstrating this time-management strategy, click here.
Continue Reading