3.0. SR 02-17-2004 - Laserfiche WebLink

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lOPractice Continuous Perso.nal [] Learn,ng and Development as a Leader Leaders read, attend workshops, and constantly seek information, under- standing, and insight. Highly effective councils are composed of members who honestly know they don't know it all. They take advantage of the myriad of opportunities to learn and to perfect their skills by reading, going to state and national municipal league workshops, and attending every forum that can ex- pand their skills to lead and govern well. A highly effective council -also learns as a council. It works closely with the manager to improve its leadership skills and the council-manager relationship, assessing objectively its performance on each of the 10 habits. This assessment should include the observations of coun- tilmembers, manager, department heads, id selected members of the community who have occasion to work and interact with councilmembers. The effective council should decide where gains can be made, then set up the opportunity through council workshops to learn the skills needed to make these gains. In 1990, Mayor Margaret Carpenter and City Manager Jack Ethredge of Thornton, Colorado, began a process with Thornton's council to increase the council's leadership skills and effective- ness that incorporated the 10 habits de- scribed in this article. First, the council conducted a careful reexamination of the city's mission and the role that it had to assume to ensure fulfillment of that mission. Then, in dis- cussions with the city manager, coun- cilmembers made a commitment to lead- ership innovation and excellence that focused on long-term and strategic issues vital to the community's future. The pro- cess involved advances, close attention to community feedback through focus ups and surveys, and frequent self- ~.aluation of both council's and staff's PUBLIC MANAGEMENT The Manager's Role in Building a Highly Effective Council · Focus the council on leadership and achieving a quality future for the community. · Select a time and place to conduct a facilitated discussion about t~ac- tots affecting the council's effec- tiveness. It is recommended that the manager be involved in this discussion. · Invite the council to assess can- didly and objectively its perfor- mance relative to the 10 habits of highly effective councils included in this article and other effective- ness indicators that councilmem- bers feel are appropriate. Have the council identify where significant gains in effectiveness are desired. Develop specific strategies and op- portunities with the council to achieve desired goals. Schedule specific skill-building workshops for the council. Include key staff members when the focus is on council-staff relationship issues. Establish a process with the coun- cil to evaluate gains that have been made and to target new opportu- nities for improvement. Remember: peak performers con- stantly seek to improve their Per- formance. They know they are on an endless journey of growth, performance effectiveness, and achievement. performance and sense of partnership. Now, the council holds multiple ad- vances each year to define and validate its strategic perspective and policy leader- ship. Skill development workshops ac- company these advances and focus on defined needs that are identified by coun- cilmembers. Specific "time-outs" are taken to evaluate how the council is func- tioning as a team, as well as how it func- tions with staff and with the community. The continuous quest for effectiveness al- ways begins with the question "Is there more we should be doing to improve our leadership performance and to ensure a quality future for our community?" As Jack Ethredge observes: "The entire process has helped Thornton's council to identify the issues that are essential to achieving our community's goals and to building collaborative relationships with citizens and with staff to agree about the goals. Thornton now is a community of partnerships, all focusing on a vision and using our combined resources to become the city we want to be in the future. There has been a real breakthrough in the amount of creative energy that is moving Thornton forward." The last, and probably most impor- tant, point: Keep your sense of humor. Governance is a serious business dealing with the vital issues affecting our com- munities and the quality of life we expe- rience within them. But humor reduces friction and stress, lets others know that we and they are human, and brings a pause that refreshes our insight and commitment. It is essential to forging and maintaining good relationships. Every community deserves nothing less than a highly effective council that embraces accountability for the commu- nity's performance in creating its future and in effectively addressing, in the pre- sent, those challenges vital to attaining that future. That is what is at stake: our communities' future. With few excep- tions, every council can be highly effec- tive and can provide strong leadership, but to become effective will require a good governance model and disciplined adherence to the fundamental habits of effectiveness, flIT1 Carl Neu, Jr., is executive vice president of Neu and Company, Lakewood, Colorado. All rights are reserved to Neu and Com- pany and the Center for the Future of Local Governance, 1997. Contribute to the ICMA Endowment Fund Call 202/962-3648