PM Magazine, January 2025 by PM Magazine

Craddock Stropes

Cultural Arts Manager

Carlsbad, California, USA

I-NAPA Board Member

LOCAL GOVERNMENT LEADERSHIP

Leading & Managing Future-Proof Local Governments

Denver, Colorado February 26–28, 2025

Grand Hyatt Denver

Livable & Resilient Communities

Milwaukee, Wisconsin April 2–4, 2025

The Pfister Hotel

SESSIONS WILL COVER:

• PERSONAL GROWTH AND RESILIENCE

• ENHANCING EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCES

• STRENGTHENING PUBLIC TRUST

• USE OF AI AND OTHER STRATEGIC TOOLS AND MORE!

SESSIONS WILL COVER:

• NAVIGATING ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• CLIMATE AND DISASTER RESILIENCE

• RESIDENT ENGAGEMENT AND MORE!

FEATURES

What I Wish I Had Known as a Younger Leader

Leadership lessons learned the hard way as told by senior managers in the trenches of local government

Dr. Frank Benest, ICMA-CM (Retired)

Channeling Ted Lasso in Local Government

Three lessons from the iconic coach on leadership, community, and good intentions

Alex Torpey

26 The Nebraska-Norway Global Exchange Program

How university partnership helped to launch an ongoing global exchange of local government professionals and academics

Sue E. S. Crawford, PhD & Christian L. Janousek, PhD

Confronting the Local Government Trust Dilemma, Part 2

Engaging your community is the key.

Rick Davis, ICMA-CM 36

Let’s Think Differently About Why Local Government Can’t Think Differently

What’s holding us back?

Ed Everett, ICMA-CM (Retired) 40

Can the Police Solve All Crime Problems?

To reduce crime, you need place managers to dismantle crime opportunities.

Shannon J. Linning, PhD, Tom Carroll, ICMA-CM, Daniel W. Gerard & John E. Eck, PhD

Onward in 2025

Reflections on the public trust crisis and strategies for making strides in the new year

A new year fills us with optimism about what will be in store for the next 12 months. We make resolutions for what we seek to accomplish personally and professionally.

Some things are out of our control: natural or man-made disasters, governing body elections, community members sounding off on social media, or personnel matters that leave you wondering “what were they thinking!” These are snippets of what we experience in this profession, and one of the reasons why ICMA was founded to provide peer-support in facing these situations.

Now for the good news: let’s approach 2025 with a focus on the things we have the power to influence: our reactions to these external forces.

Principles that Guide the Work

JESSICA COWLES is ethics director at ICMA (jcowles@icma.org).

Local government is on the front lines of democracy every day, and for well over 100 years, the profession has existed to protect it. It is messy and very few things are likely to come neatly wrapped with a bow on top. There have been—and will be—periods when the principles of democracy are challenged. No local government is immune, and sometimes the best managers will not even see the trouble coming their way.

Public Management (PM) (USPS: 449-300) is published monthly by ICMA (the International City/County Management Association) at 777 North Capitol Street. N.E., Washington, D.C. 20002-4201. Periodicals postage paid at Washington, D.C., and at additional mailing offices. The opinions expressed in the magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICMA.

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ARTICLE PROPOSALS: Visit icma.org/writeforus to see editorial guidelines for contributors. For more information on local government leadership and management topics, visit icma.org.

BY JESSICA COWLES

Local governments must operate in a transparent manner committed to democratic (with a small “d”) principles to advance public trust. The value of enhancing organizational trust first appeared in the 1972 version of the Code and is summarized in Tenet 4, which was revised in 2023: “Serve the best interests of all community members.”

The approach continues to be the hallmark of communities with professional local government management. As an example, how would a proposed landuse development affect all stakeholders in the process, not just the usual suspects? The staff recommendation evaluates these angles and always strives to do what is in the best interest of all.

Professionals do not play favorites, and the organization’s actions directly influence public trust in our institutions. In 2024, Gallup reported that 68% of Americans trust their local government, with significantly lower favorable opinion ratings for state or federal levels of government.1 Resources from the National Academy of Public Administration further demonstrate this pressing issue for local governments.2

The Partnership for Public Service surveyed Americans for their 2024 report, “The State of Public Trust in Government.”3 The report confirms what we have known for some time: the lack of public trust in the public sector

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Creating and Supporting Thriving Communities

ICMA’s vision is to be the leading association of local government professionals dedicated to creating and supporting thriving communities throughout the world. It does this by working with its more than 13,000 members to identify and speed the adoption of leading local government practices and improve the lives of residents. ICMA offers membership, professional development programs, research, publications, data and information, technical assistance, and training to thousands of city, town, and county chief administrative officers, their staffs, and other organizations throughout the world.

Public Management (PM) aims to inspire innovation, inform decision making, connect leading-edge thinking to everyday challenges, and serve ICMA members and local governments in creating and sustaining thriving communities throughout the world.

continues to grow. Only 29% say democracy is working in the United States today compared with 68% who say it is not, and only 15% believe the government is transparent. These findings are from the third in a series of national surveys that the organization conducted on public trust in government; the first two were issued in 20214 and 2022.5

What does this mean in practicality? As the Partnership for Public Service report cites, when there is a lack of trust, the public is…

“[M]ore likely to opt out of voting and other types of civic participation. With less engagement, the public feels less empowered to influence government—and, in turn, government ‘hears’ people’s needs and preferences less. As a result, the points of interaction between our government

PRESIDENT

Tanya Ange*

County Administrator Washington County, Oregon

PRESIDENT-ELECT

Michael Land*

City Manager Coppell, Texas

PAST PRESIDENT

Lon Pluckhahn*

City Manager

Vancouver, Washington

VICE PRESIDENTS

International Region

Colin Beheydt

City Manager Bruges, Belgium

Doug Gilchrist

City Manager

Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada

Lungile Dlamini

Chief Executive Officer

Municipal Council of Manzini, Eswatini

Midwest Region

Michael Sable* City Manager Maplewood, Minnesota

Jeffrey Weckbach

Township Administrator Colerain Township, Ohio

Cynthia Steinhauser*

Deputy City Administrator Rochester, Minnesota

Mountain Plains Region

Dave Slezickey*

City Manager The Village, Oklahoma

Pamela Davis

Assistant City Manager Boulder, Colorado

Sereniah Breland City Manager Pflugerville, Texas

Northeast Region

Dennis Enslinger

Deputy City Manager Gaithersburg, Maryland

Steve Bartha*

Town Manager Danvers, Massachusetts

Brandon Ford

Assistant Township Manager Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania

Turning the page on the last year means we make room in our lives for what the new one has in store for us.

Southeast Region

Jorge Gonzalez*

Village Manager Village of Bal Harbour, Florida

Eric Stuckey

City Administrator Franklin, Tennessee

Chelsea Jackson

Deputy City Manager Douglasville, Georgia

West Coast Region

Jessi Bon

City Manager

Mercer Island, Washington

Nat Rojanasathira**

Assistant City Manager Monterey, California

Elisa Cox*

Assistant City Manager

Rancho Cucamonga, California

*ICMA-CM

and the public deteriorate and a fundamental disconnect emerges between Americans and the … institution[s] … with the resources, responsibility, and authority to serve all.”

On the international stage, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said about this trend,

“Public trust leads to greater compliance with a wide range of public policies, such as public health responses, regulations, and the tax system. It also nurtures political participation, strengthens social cohesion, and builds institutional legitimacy. In the longer term, trust is needed to help governments tackle long-term societal

** ICMA Credentialed Manager Candidate

Acting ICMA CEO/ Ray Baray

Executive Director

Managing Director, Lynne Scott lscott@icma.org

Brand Management, Marketing, and Outreach; Director, Equity & Social Justice and Membership Marketing

Senior Managing Editor Kerry Hansen khansen@icma.org

Senior Editor Kathleen Karas kkaras@icma.org

Graphics Manager Delia Jones djones@icma.org

Design & Production picantecreative.com

challenges such as climate change, ageing populations, and changing labour markets.”

Positive Resolutions for 2025

I was fortunate to be invited to a meeting of the University of Georgia’s student ICMA chapter where we discussed earlycareer dilemmas that young professionals may likely encounter. I was also on a panel with GFOA’s past president for a Kansas University class on the importance of ethics to our profession. Together these were fitting ways to end the celebration of the Code’s 100th anniversary. When the next generation chooses a future in public service, it is our obligation to both learn from them and share our wisdom accumulated in this profession.

January is a period of introspection, and we can start the year by committing to a continuous learning mindset where we honestly assess what is going right and where we can improve. The following strategies can help us to be the most authentic versions of ourselves as we approach the months ahead.

• Professional development: What are your interests and areas to enhance? Take this opportunity to push your personal growth boundary by getting out of your comfort zone.

• Accountability: Hold yourself accountable to the highest ethical standards and address breaches in public trust when others fall short.

• Being a force for good: Positions in local government management come with the responsibility to be a role model

for the organization and community. Likewise, adopt the characteristics of the person who inspires you!

• Supporting and leading employees: What tools do the organization’s employees need to be more effective, efficient, and equitable? Be the advocate they deserve, budget these resources, and lend support if these efforts have detractors.

• Finding your Zen: Prioritize mental health and respect when the organization’s employees need to do the same.

Turning the page on the last year means we make room in our lives for what the new year has in store for us. I choose to remain in awe of the opportunity to make a difference through a career in public service doing my small part to protect democracy in local government, and to have some fun in the process. I hope you’ll join me!

ENDNOTES AND RESOURCES

1 https://news.gallup.com/poll/512651/americans-trust-local-governmentcongress-least.aspx

2 chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https:// s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/napa-2021/Election2024-Onesheets-4_2024-10-15-014546_naln.pdf

3 https://ourpublicservice.org/publications/state-of-trust-ingovernment-2024/

4 https://ourpublicservice.org/publications/trust-in-government/

5 https://ourpublicservice.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/The-State-ofPublic-Trust-in-Government-2023.pdf

Cut through the noise

The only job board devoted to management and management-track positions, the ICMA Job Center is the single best career resource for job seekers and employers alike.

FOR JOB SEEKERS

• Find the top local government management and management-track jobs.

• More early and mid-career opportunities.

• Search by function, geographic location and population, salary, and job type.

FOR EMPLOYERS

• Reach ICMA’s members, the largest audience of dedicated local government professionals worldwide.

• With more than 12,000 unique visitors and over 150,000 page views each month

Calendar of Events

Invest in Your Organization: Bring ICMA’s Training to Your Organization! In-Person and Online Training for Your Team

Bring ICMA’s Certificate and Micro-Certificate programs to your jurisdiction.

Offered live online and in-person, we will bring the training to you. Choose from 13 topics. Schedule the perfect training for your team at a time convenient for you. Invest in your organization today! Scan the QR code to learn more.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Essential ACAO Development Series: Building Your Path to Leadership Excellence

January 16–February 19 | Webinar Series

FEMA “Just In Time” Recovery Training January 21 | Webinar

A Practical Guide to GenAI in Local Government February 12 | Webinar

Solace Wales Conference 2025 February 13, 2025

Local Government Reimagined Conference

February 26–28 | Denver, Colorado, USA

Athenian Program 25 March 30 - April 4 | Leadership Development Program | Lake City, South Carolina, USA

Leadership ICMA 2025

April 1 | Leadership Development Program | Hybrid

VI World Forum of Local Economic Development

April 1–4 | Seville, Spain

Local Government Reimagined Conference

April 2–4 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Gettysburg Leadership Institute 2025 April 9–11 | Leadership Development Program | Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Midwest Leadership Institute April 28–May 2 | Spring 2025 Seminar | Naperville, Illinois, USA

Modernizing Budgeting: A Transformational Shift to Priority-Based Budgeting

May 8–22 | Certificate Program

Economic Mobility and Opportunity Conference

May 21–23 | Baltimore, Maryland, USA

51st CAMA Conference and Annual General Meeting

May 26–28 | Mont Tremblant, Québec, Canada

Gettysburg Leadership Institute 2025 June 11–13 | Leadership Development Program | Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Taituarā Annual Conference 2025

September 3–5 | New Zealand

ICMA Annual Conference October 25–29 | Tampa/ Hillsborough County, Florida, USA

Plan your training for 2025!

For a full listing of events and details, visit icma.org/events. Shop all courses at learning.icma.org.

A Catalyst for Career Growth

Hailed as “life-changing,” this Harvard Kennedy School program has helped many local government leaders grow in their career. A scholarship from ICMA makes it even more accessible.

“A once-in-a-lifetime experience”—that’s how Scott Andrews, ICMA-CM, county manager of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, described the Harvard Kennedy School’s Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program. Andrews received the William Ferguson Jr. scholarship from ICMA, sponsored by The Ferguson Group, to attend a 2024 session of the program.

He agreed with past scholarship recipients that the program was life-changing and a catalyst for career growth. “The program amplified my leadership and interpersonal skills, while also proving to be an incredible boost to landing my next big role. It has already opened several doors that I never imagined.”

With the 2025 scholarship application deadline approaching— January 31, 2025—prospective participants should act now to learn more about this exciting opportunity. Learn more at icma.org/harvard.

About the Program

Senior Executives in State and Local Government, a flagship program of the Harvard Kennedy School, provides a balance of both traditional and hands-on learning experiences to help even the most seasoned local government practitioners better address the concerns of their residents and communities.

This three-week program for senior executives in local government mimics a city ecosystem that allows participants to test solutions to various issues in real-time, enabling the participants to:

• Challenge their assumptions about how to exercise leadership in the public sector.

• Develop new conceptual frameworks for addressing policy issues.

• Examine innovative partnerships and new models of collaborative governance.

• Explore the relationship between citizens and their government.

• Understand the behavioral dimensions of decision making.

• Exchange ideas with experienced faculty and a diverse group of colleagues.

The program operates as an interactive classroom, in which participants and faculty work together on real-life case studies and learn from each other along the way. This classroom setting transforms into an interactive environment that serves as a forum for raising difficult issues, which provokes discussions that lead to change.

Scott Andrews, ICMA-CM

The Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at the Harvard Kennedy School is hailed as a life-changing, transformational career development opportunity unlike any other.

The William Ferguson, Jr. Scholarship, awarded by ICMA, and named in honor of The Ferguson Group founder, will be awarded to an ICMA member to attend the 2025 program.

Criteria:

• Must be an ICMA member

• Must meet other scholarship criteria.

• Applications open December 9, 2024

• Application deadline: January 31, 2025.

continued from page 6

Scholarship Opportunity

While this program offers an invaluable, once-in-a-lifetime experience, the tuition fee is still a factor that can influence one’s decision to apply for the program. For those who are reluctant to apply because of the price tag, ICMA awards yearly scholarships covering the tuition fee, which is $17,900 for the 2025 program. The scholarship recipient will only need to pay their own travel expenses. This generous scholarship is provided by ICMA Corporate Partner, The Ferguson Group. Scholarship recipients may participate in the June 2–20, 2025 or July 7–25, 2025 class.

2024 Scholarship Recipient

Scott Andrews

Every year, we ask our scholarship recipient a few questions to hear more about their personal experience with the program. Here’s what Scott Andrews had to say:

What prompted you to apply for the scholarship?

I never imagined I would get the opportunity to attend Harvard, after failing out of my first two colleges and taking over a decade to get my “four-year degree.” The Harvard Kennedy School program itself is three weeks long, which is very intentional. The instructors are the best of the best; world-renowned professors, authors, thought leaders, and chiefs of industry with a specialization in local government. I have always wanted to apply to the prestigious program, but both the cost and time commitment were more than I could afford. I had heard amazing things about the program from mentors and colleagues over the years. After the tragic death of my daughter last year, I stopped making excuses for why the timing was not ideal for me to attend. Life will always be busy, and I wanted to lead by example, so I decided to apply for the scholarship. I am so grateful that I did as it has already opened several doors that I never imagined.

What surprised you about your time in the program?

I was a bit surprised to hear that all of these amazing leaders from around the world

also felt a little intimidated on day one. The program is set up in a way that allows you to make fast friends, expanding your knowledge base and network. By the end of day three, everyone already knew each other’s names. By the end of week three, I knew I had several new friends for life and several dozen other leaders that would lean in to support me as well. Many of us hear Harvard and put it on a pedestal, as we should. What surprised me the most was how this program blew away my already lofty expectations.

What did you enjoy most? What did you find most challenging?

I was amazed at the quality of the lectures, as well as the experiences shared by my classmates. My classmates were from all over the United States and at least a dozen other countries. As someone that truly values authentic experiences, my favorite part was hearing the success stories from my peers in Saudi Arabia, Australia, Ireland, and the Philippines. In many ways, we share the same issues, just on different scales and using different approaches.

The curriculum is current, fresh, and relevant, and the readings are enriched with practical, real-world case studies that provide powerful lessons. The skillsets and expertise of my classmates made their contributions to the class nearly as impactful as the professors. The attention to detail by the leadership team at Harvard was incredibly impressive. The staff go to great lengths to get to know the participants and ensure that everyone has an amazing learning experience. I certainly did, but it did not come without the challenge of extreme time management. There is a tremendous amount of reading and teamwork necessary for projects, as well as official and unofficial activities, not to mention all of the organic things taking place in Boston and at Harvard. There is a constant balance of maximizing the Harvard experience and metro Boston, while ensuring that you do the necessary work to not let your team down. Finding the proper balance during the program’s first week is critical for your successful completion.

Is there an aspect of the program you’re already incorporating on the job or even personally?

I put my new, sharpened leadership skills and improved network to use right away. I was appointed as the county manager of Doña Ana County, the second largest county in New Mexico, just a few months after my time at Harvard. Three of my classmates happened to be from New Mexico and were able to use lifelines on my behalf. Thus, I would say that the program amplified my leadership and interpersonal skills, while also proving to be an incredible boost to landing my next big role.

Scholarship Eligibility Criteria

The scholarship is only available to senior executives defined as municipal and county managers and assistants who have been members of ICMA for at least three years. View the complete eligibility criteria at icma.org/harvard.

CALL FOR NOMINATIONS

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT

2025 ICMA LOCAL GOVERNMENT EXCELLENCE AWARDS

ICMA recognizes the many achievements of its members to highlight extraordinary accomplishments as well as dedicated service to the profession.

Nominate a colleague who has made a significant difference in your community or to the profession or has implemented an innovative program that addressed a critical community need.

Nominations are open to U.S. and Global peers or programs.

To learn more about the ICMA Local Government Excellence Awards program, visit icma.org/awards.

NOMINATION PERIOD

January 13, 2025–March 10, 2025

icma.org/awards

PROFESSIONAL AWARDS

• Advocacy for the Profession

• Career Excellence

• Development of New Talent

• Excellence in Leadership as an Assistant

• Early Career Leadership

• Academic Contributions to the Profession

PROGRAM AWARDS

• Community Equity and Inclusion

• Community Health and Safety

• Community Partnerships

• Community Sustainability

• Strategic Leadership and Governance

A Journey Forged in Service

From sparks

to city

hall

BY JUSTIN EZELL

The screech of a grinder and the echoing chamber of an empty manhole—an unlikely place to find a calling. Yet, amid the grit and grime of machinery and utility construction, my path to public service began. It was a journey shaped by passion, mentorship, and an innate desire to do good—values that would later align seamlessly with the ICMA Code of Ethics.

I never envisioned that I would help lead a city one day. I was a self-proclaimed high school slacker, more at home in my grandfather’s machine shop, surrounded by the sparks of a welder and the precision of a lathe. I was perfectly content with who I was and where I was. College and office work seemed worlds away.

But life, as it often does, had other plans. At 26, I felt a pull toward something new. I traded the familiarity of my grandfather’s machine shop for the rugged world of underground utility construction. A year later, a chance encounter with city inspectors on the job planted the seed of public service. Their meticulousness, as well as their dedication to safety and quality, resonated with me. I admired their commitment to the community, and they, in turn, recognized my honesty and work ethic.

Amid the grit and grime of machinery and utility construction, my path to public service began.

Encouraged by these inspectors, I applied for a maintenance worker position with the city of Paso Robles—my hometown, which I knew and loved. Despite the 30% pay cut, a voice inside urged me to take the leap. This wasn’t a calculated career move; it was about belonging, about contributing to the community I knew and loved.

That job opened unexpected doors, including a path to higher education. To become a certified water distribution operator, I enrolled in a community college course. Suddenly, I was a student, surrounded by eager learners, and a thirst for knowledge I never knew I had was awakened. This “aha moment” propelled me to pursue more courses and eventually earn university degrees.

My true transformation, however, came with the arrival of Fred, our new public works director. He saw potential in me that I didn’t recognize in myself. It began when Fred visited a job site where we were repairing a water well. While others gathered around to chat, I stayed focused, organizing and cleaning to prepare for the next steps. Later, Fred called me into his office. He commended my work ethic and told me to keep it up.

Fred became my mentor, pushing me beyond my comfort zone, assigning me tasks that seemed far beyond my pay

grade. He saw my instinct to prioritize community needs and to serve the public’s best interests, and began entrusting me with leadership roles, forcing me to make decisions and learn on the fly.

Inspired, I sought new challenges, advancing from maintenance worker to water system operator in Sunnyvale and then to superintendent in Redwood City. Each step honed my skills and deepened my understanding of public service.

When the opportunity arose to apply for director of public works in Concord, I felt ready. For the first time, an executivelevel position didn’t feel unattainable. The recruitment brochure’s description of the “ideal candidate” matched my strengths: a proactive problem-solver with a knack for finding solutions. To my delight, I got the job.

However, the leap from superintendent to director wasn’t as smooth as my previous transitions. While I excelled at solving problems, I underestimated the importance of relationshipbuilding. The “soft skills” I needed to thrive in a department head role were a blind spot. I learned the hard way that jumping straight into “fix-it” mode without building trust and consensus left me struggling.

Fortunately, I found another mentor in Valerie, my city manager. She guided me, formally introduced me to the ICMA Code of Ethics, and helped me refine my leadership approach. At one point, I was facing significant challenges with labor relations, largely due to my communication style. Valerie recognized my inherent commitment to prioritizing the community’s needs and serving their best interests. However, she also saw that I needed to refine my approach. Through her mentorship, she helped me develop the skills to communicate more effectively and build stronger relationships.

Valerie’s mentorship has been invaluable, shaping me not only as a leader but also as a person committed to ethical and effective governance. Her belief in me and her coaching fostered growth that extends beyond my career, strengthening my ability to serve with integrity and purpose.

My journey has become one of continuous growth and alignment with ICMA’s mission to create excellence in local governance. Each role, each mentor, and each challenge shaped me into the leader I am today.

To aspiring leaders, I offer this advice: Embrace your passion. Seek out mentors who believe in you. Never stop learning. Give back by helping others grow. And above all, act with integrity, for leadership is built on trust.

Public service is more than a career; it’s a calling. The rewards are immeasurable, and I am grateful for every twist and turn that led me here.

JUSTIN EZELL is assistant city manager of Concord, California, USA.

The Economic Mobility and Opportunity (EMO) Conference is a free event for local changemakers to connect and collaborate across roles, sectors, and policy arenas. Learn how others have built capacity, generated buy-in, and obtained the resources necessary to move the needle for residents across issue areas such as:

• Affordable housing

• Workforce development

• Service delivery

• Financial security

• and more.

For more information on program and presenting partners, visit www.emoconference.org

Wisdom for the Next Generation of Leaders

BY CRADDOCK STROPES

Advice for women entering the workforce

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what to say to my daughter to prepare her for the world of work. She is 16, and discovering that the world is a scary, uncertain place for women. In the opening remarks of the United Nations 2024 Commission on the Status of Women, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres noted, “Patriarchy is far from vanquished; it is regaining ground. We cannot accept a world in which grandmothers fear their granddaughters will enjoy fewer rights than they had.”

Equality for women in the workplace is still a long way away. A 2022 study by CivicPulse predicted that gender parity would not be reached among local government leaders until 2048. More recent findings by McKinsey & Company project that it will take 22 years for white women, and 48 years for women of color, to achieve parity in the workplace, according to its 2024 Women in the Workplace report. McKinsey’s report also notes that ageism, or unfair treatment based on a person’s age, is most pronounced for young women. About half of women under 30 say their age played a role in missing out on opportunities at work, and they are almost twice as likely as younger men to field unwanted comments about their age.

What advice can we offer to our daughters in these seemingly dire times? I have been fortunate to receive wisdom from diverse mentors throughout my career. As a mentor and coach to young professionals in local government, I have also gained insights from them about next-generation leadership. Here are some of my favorite takeaways from both mentors and mentees that I will definitely share with my daughter:

Mastery is a journey, not a destination.

Early in our careers we are often focused on skill mastery. We believe that if people can see how competent and knowledgeable we are, we will get better assignments and earn promotions. But skill acquisition is just the beginning. A constant cycle of learning and application is what keeps you relevant, demonstrates to others that you are capable of solving complex problems, and earns respect.

Genuine care will set you apart.

Research shows that women leaders are perceived as more effective when they exhibit caring alongside competence. Caring can be shown by leading with genuine curiosity,

asking questions to seek understanding, providing clarity, respecting differences, and considering the well-being of all team members no matter how large or small their role. As the poet and activist Maya Angelou famously said, “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” When you show genuine care for people and outcomes you distinguish yourself as a memorable professional that people are eager to work with.

Assimilate at your own risk.

Conventional career advice tells women to avoid “softening” their language, be more assertive or direct, and act more confident. But what if none of those things feel authentic to you? As a daughter of Vietnamese refugees, I was encouraged at an early age to assimilate to the dominant culture; to blend in so that others would believe that I belong. Years later working in largely male dominated areas, I found that teams were more willing to trust my leadership and work hard to deliver results when I was simply being myself—unabashedly and without apology. Don’t confuse assimilation with belonging. True leaders accept themselves and others for who they are, period.

Choose joy.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from young people it’s that joy is everywhere, and that it is a choice. When we choose to uplift those who exhibit joy in any form, at any time, we multiply the joy we experience. Entertainment icon Taylor Swift says, “The worst kind of person is someone who makes you feel bad, dumb, or stupid for being excited about something.” Don’t be that person; amplifying joy in others can uncover possibilities for new solutions and spark creativity.

Remember, there is always someone behind you. When asked about how to maintain optimism in the face of heavy opposition, Candance Stanciel, chief equity officer for the city of Atlanta, reminded the audience at the American Public Works Association Conference that there will always be others behind us to carry on the work. The perceived missteps and failures of today leave behind lessons for the next generation to improve upon. And while we may not be able to achieve everything we want right now, we are constantly laying the groundwork for future progress.

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WHAT I WISH I HAD KNOWN AS A YOUNGER LEADER

BY DR. FRANK BENEST, ICMA-CM (RETIRED)

Leadership lessons learned the hard way as told by senior managers in the trenches of local government

Dear Frank:

I am a mid-manager in a large city organization. I just attended an all-managers meeting where the city manager shared a few leadership lessons that she learned the hard way and wished that she would have known as a younger manager. It occurred to me that many of us emerging leaders could benefit from learning from senior leaders what they wished they could have told their younger selves. Maybe we current managers could avoid the same mistakes.

My response:

Great idea! I, too, wish that I could have shared with my younger self a number of leadership lessons that I learned after much adversity. As a result of your query, I contacted a variety of colleagues, both active senior managers and those who are retired but actively engaged in their “encore” phase. (See the contributor list at the end of the article.) I asked them what they wish they would have known as a younger leader. The lessons have been compiled as themes in various categories, including two mini-case studies.

Leadership Lessons

Followers choose to follow. As younger leaders, several contributors thought team members would follow them simply because they were formally in charge or had great ideas. People may have indicated that they would follow, but there was no active support. One city manager learned the hard way that “you can’t lead by fiat”— essentially, a leader must engage with their team and build consensus rather than just dictating actions.

You achieve nothing without a good team. Many of the contributors tended to be “lone wolf” leaders. They eventually discovered that to achieve anything of importance, a leader must build a team, develop a vision with others of where the team is headed, rally people toward that vision, and follow as well as lead.

Leadership is a humbling experience. One contributor concluded (thankfully) that “leadership is a learnable skill.” You learn how to exert positive influence through trial and error after experiencing many situations when people decided to truly follow or not. As younger leaders, we often assumed people had the same values, motivations, and goals that we did. To lead and get everyone aligned in the same direction (oftentimes not precisely your direction) takes

much relating, conversations with others, and openness to other perspectives. It is a humbling experience.

Relationships matter.

Several senior managers acknowledged that as younger managers they were focused on results, especially related to serving the governing board and their interests. While many results were achieved, they failed in fully serving the organization and the community. In forcing results, they failed to realize the importance of building strong relationships with staff and community stakeholders. They came to realize that one achieves results through relationships. Without strong relationships and engagement, one ultimately fails.

Patience is your friend. As younger managers, many of us felt we knew the answer and had the solution and thus made quick decisions based on our good instincts. Over time, we often discovered that problems were more complex than we anticipated, and many stakeholder groups had their own values and preferred solutions. Consequently, it was often better to fully delve into the issue, consult with different professional staff and key stakeholders, and evaluate options before rushing to a quick decision that may likely need to be reconsidered later. There is wisdom in the crowd. Before taking a

position, determining a course of action, or speaking out, it is often prudent to listen to many different people and perspectives, including ideas and concerns from staff, elected officials, community stakeholders, and other agency leaders. You will undoubtedly learn of implications that you may not have considered on your own.

People need to get their fingerprints on the solution. Several contributors noted that you will fail as the leader if you come up with most of the solutions and decide most issues. People need to influence the decision and get their “fingerprints” on the solution so that it’s owned by them and so that they commit to achieving the outcome. One contributor stated: “People will underwrite what they help write.”

Organizational Management Lessons

Seek shared leadership. Many chief executives discovered that they could not do it all. It is often stated that city/county management is akin to a three-legged stool, and to be successful, chief executives must spend sufficient time and energy effectively interacting with (1) governing board members, (2) employees, and (3) community. That is impossible. There is not enough time in the day.

Therefore, while you must spend some time with each of the groups (especially the governing board), you need to partner with other senior managers to help interact with the three groups and represent and promote the direction of top management. For instance, if the public works director has good communication

Success happens in

the middle.

As CAO, you may have a great vision, but nothing of significance occurs unless mid-managers embrace the change.

management the concerns of line employees. Consequently, contributors learned over time that they needed to spend time with mid-managers and engage them in the change.

and people skills, he may be the best executive manager to engage employees in a new city-wide initiative. Mitigate the natural “silo” mentality of departments. As a result of many experiences, good chief executives have learned to continually demand and reinforce an organization-wide perspective and behavior of departments. The community, as well as the governing board, expect the organization to act in a unified and coordinated way, not as a group of separate entities. Any important issue cannot be solved by one department alone.

Focus on the middle.

Several chief executives stated that success happens (or not) in the middle. While you may have a great vision or push worthwhile change initiatives, nothing of significance occurs unless mid-managers embrace the change. Engaged midmanagers connect employees to the vision from the top. They also connect the top to the bottom, communicating to top

Relentlessly communicate the value of the organization’s work and each employee’s contribution. To engage employees, senior managers must communicate on a daily basis why the work of the organization is important and how it makes a difference in people’s lives every day. In interacting with individual employees, it is necessary to make a clear connection between the employee’s individual work and the ability of the organization to fulfill its mission.

Consider mistakes as part of the path forward. Effective managers have learned that perfection is not possible in any work group or organization. While managers need to have high expectations, mistakes and errors will happen. If efforts by staff are well-intentioned, mistakes can lead to learning and better performance. No organization can address the big problems of the day without taking some risks and making some mistakes. The key is taking a few steps forward, seeing what works and what doesn’t, and fixing things up and learning as you go. Organizational members observe how managers respond to mistakes. If managers overreact, employees naturally become very cautious.

Confront performance problems. Several senior managers indicated that their preferred style of managing direct reports was coaching and mentoring. However, they learned that sometimes performance problems do not

get better with time even with coaching and performance improvement plans. The senior manager often waited too long (especially if the staff person was a long-tenured employee or had support from other employees or community groups). By not acting sooner to terminate the employee, the performance issue remained or grew worse to the detriment of the organization or the community.

Recognize your role to serve as one voice for the entire jurisdiction. Some chief executives suggested that their organizational and community leadership roles were changing in the face of term limits and especially the advent of district elections. Given the short-term perspectives of some elected officials and the limited views of governing board members elected by districts, the chief executive has learned that he or she must often advocate for the longer-term view and become the voice for the entire community, as well as uninvolved constituencies.

Navigating the Politics of Local Government

Think politically, act non-politically. As younger managers, most contributors knew that they must stay out of politics and remain politically unaligned. Therefore, we go to great lengths to act non-politically by sharing all information at the same time with each and every governing board member and avoiding surprises. We also avoid the perception that we are aligned with a particular governing board faction, even if we share policy perspectives.

Mini Case Study #1

Frank’s

Police Oversight Experience

To give you a sense of some lessons learned the hard way, let me first provide a mini case study from my own leadership experience.

During my time as city manager of Palo Alto, California, a number of residents and nonresidents (including some activists) came to city council meetings, complained about racial profiling by the police, and demanded better oversight of the police department (PD). During the public hearings, some residents shared personal stories of mistreatment by the police.

As city manager, I did not perceive much hard evidence supporting the claims. The police chief was a leader in addressing racial profiling. She had initiated the placement of video cameras in all police vehicles to record all encounters in the field. (This was before bodywear was introduced.) All police officers also underwent diversity training. Finally, the chief insisted on reports of any field encounters, including racial data. Quarterly profile reports were then shared with the city manager and city council. Over my tenure, there were no significant harassment or racial-related complaints filed against the police.

To eliminate racial profiling and related offenses by the police, the complainants demanded that the city council directly oversee the police (instead of the city manager) or that the council appoint a citizens commission to oversee the PD. I was very concerned about these demands:

• I did not see any hard data supporting these demands.

• I felt that any change would undercut the council-manager form of government.

• I believed that any change to police oversight would politicize policing.

Therefore, I did not support the demands of the anti-police activists and strongly recommended that we continue with my oversight of the PD as city manager.

During the council discussions, one of the nine councilmembers suggested establishing a contract with an independent police auditor with expertise in police-related laws and practices. The auditor could review all resident complaints, determine their factual basis, and make any recommendations for training, new policies, or officer discipline. The auditor would report directly to the council (and not the city manager).

The police chief and I were verbally attacked by the activists during the public hearings, and they demanded that the city council fire us. It was a very difficult and stressful time for me, but I maintained my support of the PD.

After a few meetings, the council decided to ignore my recommendation and voted to hire an independent police auditor. In the process, I lost much credibility with the councilmembers. However, because I had a large bank account of trust with the council, I managed to survive as city manager.

What do I wish that I knew back then? What did I learn from all this adversity?

I learned that soft data (stories, personal experiences, narratives) are as important as hard data (official police complaints, police statistics). In fact, stories often trump hard evidence and provide real insight.

My job as city manager was to help the council respond in a positive fashion to the demands of the public. I didn’t do my job by offering the council an acceptable solution responding to the complaints. I only considered the three options in respect to police oversight: (1) PD reporting directly to the council, (2) PD reporting directly to a citizens commission, and (3) continuing city manager oversight of the police chief and the PD. When under personal attack and much distress, we often limit our thinking. In such a situation, we must widen the options. I did not do that.

In hindsight, the police auditor was the perfect solution. Since the inception of the auditor, their review of any resident complaints often supported the police behavior. When there was a problem, they recommended new training, a change in police policy, or discipline of the officer. All their reports go directly to the city council and are public information.

While I was courageous in standing up for the police and resisting any politicizing of the police, I became part of the problem. Because of all the personal attacks against me and the resulting distress, I did not respond well and did not perceive a way out of all this mess (contracting with a police auditor). I took things personally. Most importantly, in my role as a leader, I did not help the PD adapt to new realities until they were forced to.

However, with some experience in the political and messy world of local government, most managers learned that they had to “think politically” (or strategically) if they were going to be effective leaders. To think politically requires that you get to thoroughly know elected officials and their motivations, values, fears, and aspirations (even if they are not aligned with yours). In other words, you must have “positive regard” for them even if you disagree. The more of a relationship you can develop with political actors, especially elected officials, the easier it is for them to understand and somewhat appreciate what you are trying to achieve. Relationships usually must precede problem-solving. Frame issues differently for different political actors. Part of thinking politically is “framing” the issue differently for different elected officials and any of their constituencies. A blue frame brings out the blue in a painting. A red frame brings out the red in the same painting. So how do you talk about an issue so that the political actor considers the positive possibilities given his or her interests? For example, if you are recommending the funding of a clean energy project, do you frame it as “saving the planet” or “creating new jobs”? Which frame better resonates with the elected officials and other political actors?

Augment the data with a compelling narrative. Managers focus on what they know. Over time, managers discover that elected officials tend to focus on what they believe. We managers seek hard

data and evidence. Elected officials are more comfortable with stories and narrative. Consequently, effective managers not only provide data but also put a human face on an issue and share stories aligned with the data. (See Career Compass #50, “Storytelling: A Powerful Way to Communicate and Lead.”) Know when to push forward and when to pull back. As a city manager, I often tended to push forward on a decision even when it would result in a major conflict or a split council. I failed to adequately learn when to pull back and present a proposal at a later date when there was more support or a greater readiness to consider the recommendation.

Avoid disagreements with elected officials that become “personal.”

It is easy for a policy dispute to become personal. A disagreement that becomes personal turns into a real danger zone for the manager. If you feel that your relationship with a councilmember is spiraling out of control, several managers suggested that you be open to another councilmember providing mediation or seek the advice

of your coach or a trusted city/ county manager colleague. Embrace criticism. In the political world of local government, chief executives and senior staff are often criticized (if not abused). Senior leaders have learned to consider and even embrace criticism. As one contributor noted, “there is a gem in every criticism.” (See Career Compass #31, “Political Savviness” and Career Compass #102, “Responding to Public Criticism.”)

Interacting with Community Groups

Understand that public hearings do not effectively engage the public. One contributor learned that “public hearings are the worst forum for problem-solving.” They just bring warring tribes together. The community stakeholders must be engaged in advance of public hearings. Authentic community engagement assumes that the professionals provide good information, listen to the values of the stakeholders and their concerns and ideas, acknowledge what they heard, and let people get their fingerprints on

the solution. Then public hearings can confirm the solutions developed.

Engage the typically non-involved. One contributor emphasized that it’s important to ask, “Who’s missing from this conversation?” This question will help the leader and staff to reach out and engage all voices in the community. To do so, identify which people and organizations have access to and positive relationships with underrepresented members of the community. When dealing with a “wicked” adaptive challenge, these groups can help the local government engage those typically not involved and thus create a more inclusive public conversation. Demonstrate to people how you have incorporated their input. One of the biggest complaints about local government staff is that “they don’t listen to us.” Consequently, effective leaders have learned to show people to the extent possible how their ideas have been incorporated and concerns addressed.

Self-Management

Understand thyself. Contributors strongly suggested that leaders must manage themselves if they are going to effectively lead others. To do so, they must first be self-aware about their values, motivations, attitudes, and behaviors—and how those impact others. Don’t feel responsible for things you cannot control. As younger leaders, we often cared too much and took responsibility for things outside of our control. We had to learn to let go of issues

and concerns outside our realm of control or influence, especially when things don’t go our way.

Set boundaries. You and you alone are responsible for monitoring and metering your work efforts. Do not expect elected officials to encourage you to work less on weekends and holidays, spend more time with family, exercise more, or take a needed vacation. You must take control of your work and personal lives. Set

Mini Case Study #2

expectations early in your tenure and create boundaries. Keep the work in perspective. If work stresses are affecting your health mentally, emotionally, physically, and/or spiritually, get help! Don’t assume that you can just “tough it out.” Take care of yourself. Plan, schedule, and commit to family activities, exercise, and hobbies that refresh you and make you a better leader and person. Stated one seasoned city manager, “If you don’t

take care of yourself, you can’t take care of others.”

What Are You Learning About Leadership?

Leadership is a learnable skill. What lessons from these senior managers resonate with you? What lessons are you learning the hard way? How are you making adjustments in your behavior? How are you sharing what you have learned?

Developing a Dog Breeding Ban/Mandatory Spay Neuter Ordinance

One of the contributors provided the following story: In my first leadership role as animal control coordinator for the county, I faced an immense challenge that would shape my understanding of effective leadership. I was tasked with leading a technical advisory committee composed of diverse community stakeholders including animal breeders, Humane Society staff, veterinarians, and others to create an implementation plan for a groundbreaking ordinance: the nation’s first dog breeding ban and mandatory spay neuter law. Our committee met for months, and those initial meetings were often contentious, requiring security from the sheriff’s office to maintain order. Despite the challenges, we persevered, ultimately crafting a consensus proposal that we believed included the interests of all. However, when we presented our work to the board of supervisors, we were met with disappointment. The board members expressed that our proposal lacked the strength and impact they desired and ultimately rejected it in favor of an alternate process that we had not been privy to.

I still remember the feeling of devastation I had walking out of that meeting. This experience became a powerful lesson in the necessity of aligning stakeholder efforts with the governing body’s expectations from the very beginning. As a young leader, I had naively assumed that achieving consensus within our committee would ensure that our proposal was valued and approved. However, I should have prioritized ongoing communication with the board throughout the process, ensuring we were in sync with their vision and goals. If I could advise my younger self, I would emphasize the importance of establishing a clear line of communication with decision-makers and seeking to understand their interests from the outset. Regular checkpoints would have provided insight into their expectations, allowing us to adjust our approach accordingly. Effective leadership involves not only facilitating collaboration among stakeholders but also managing relationships with decision-makers to ensure your work is aligned with their vision.

DR. FRANK BENEST, ICMA-CM (RETIRED) is a retired city manager and currently serves as a local government trainer and ICMA’s liaison for Next Generation Initiatives. He resides in Palo Alto, California. (frank@frankbenest.com)

CONTRIBUTORS

• Valerie Barone, city manager, Concord, California

• David Biggs, former city manager, Orinda, California (retired)

• Anil Comelo, city manager, St Helena, California

• Kevin Duggan, former city manager, Mountain View, California (retired)

• Melissa Diaz, city manager, Redwood City, California

• Peggy Flynn, city manager, Petaluma, California

• Ed Everett, former city manager, Redwood City, California (retired)

• Rod Gould, former city manager, Santa Monica, California (retired)

• Derek Johnson, county executive, Marin County, California

• Dan Keen, former city manager, Vallejo, California (retired)

• Dominic Lazzaretto, city manager, Arcadia, California

• Tess Lengyel, executive director, Alameda County Transportation Commission, Oakland, California

• Brian Loventhal, city manager, Campbell, California

• Kevin O’Rourke, former city manager, Fairfield, California (retired)

• Peter Pirnejad, city manager, Los Altos Hills, California

• Laurel Prevetti, former town manager, Los Gatos, California (retired)

• Dan Rich, former city manager, Mountain View, California (retired)

• Ed Shikada, city manager, Palo Alto, California

• Christina Turner, city manager, Morgan Hill, California

• Donna Vaillancourt, former HR director, San Mateo County, California (retired)

• Kevin Woodhouse, city manager, Pacifica, California

Channeling Ted Lasso in Local Government

Three lessons from the iconic coach on leadership, community, and good intentions

BY ALEX TORPEY

Do you find the TV show Ted Lasso compelling? Many do.

In fact, I was at a workshop with the Municipal Management Association of New Hampshire and the speaker brought up the show in the context of how to be curious, not judgmental. A good reflection. But beyond that, I noted that many of the managers there who liked the show really liked it. Some had watched it through several times right off the bat. The show really grew on me, too. Why?

I’ll start with identifying the three of the main themes I argue make Ted Lasso so compelling, and then leave you with a few thoughts for how we think about our workplaces, communities, and our own lives. Though this article may be most relevant for folks who have seen the show, with only very mild spoilers, if any, it should be safe as well as interesting for people who haven’t seen it.

1. Coach-based Leadership in Ted Lasso

The first theme is really excellent coach-based leadership. Ted is a true

coach, not a “boss.” That’s a big difference. His character exemplifies some of the best qualities we hope for in coaches, teachers, counselors, and the like. I’ve worked on many projects—whether while teaching, managing, mentoring, or consulting—that have brought people from different backgrounds into discussion about what “good leadership” looks like. There are remarkable similarities in what people have in mind, even when coming from different perspectives. And many of these themes are just rolling off of Ted much like his endless supply of (excellent) dad jokes.

For example, Ted is humble, and even uses his lack of knowledge of the sport he was hired to coach as an ice breaker. He frequently mentions that he doesn’t need to be an expert in soccer— excuse me, football—because he is an expert in coaching, and that’s what matters and makes him valuable in his role. Does that sound familiar? Are managers really expected to be subject matter experts in every technical policy area, or does our real influence and impact lie in being experts at helping others be successful?

Beyond that, Ted is supportive, takes and acts on critical feedback with ease, intentionally creates bridges between people who don’t get along (but potentially could), provides his team with a shared purpose, and ultimately, he sees his job not as enforcing rules and discipline toward a specific result, but rather, as facilitating others to be the most successful versions of themselves.

2. Community, Belonging, and Identity in Ted Lasso

Second, the feeling of community, belonging, and identity to a shared mission or purpose. Anyone reading this I’m sure has frequently come across the widespread HR content these days discussing the drop off of belonging and positivity in workplaces. Some of these challenges aren’t just from changing economics and demographics of our labor market. Rather, the simple reality is that many organizations and workplaces are losing or have outright lost the thread about how to be positive, supportive places

that people look forward to participating in.

The AFC Richmond organization (the English football team that is Ted’s employer) shows what can happen when these things align and people feel belonging and community at an organization where they share a common goal. Granted, a sports team is always going to be more like that than a municipal government, but you get both the explicit and implicit sense that everyone working at AFC Richmond is along for the ups and downs of the journey. From the club owner to the security guards, grounds crews, players, and the fans, everyone feels part of the mission and vision of the team.

3. Good Intentions in Ted Lasso

The last point, and perhaps the most overlooked and important, is about intentions. It is this sequence of things that exists in the Ted Lasso/ AFC Richmond universe:

1. The good intentions of most of the characters.

2. The characters capacity for actually acting on those good intentions.

3. Everyone’s general awareness that others have good intentions toward them.

In my podcast episode about Ted Lasso, I dive into some really interesting details about the historical basis for how individuals in groups interact with each other, look at the ratio of “good/ negative/apathetic” people in an organization, and how our “modern” world has somewhat fumbled managing the change from much smaller

Everyone working at AFC Richmond is along for the ups and downs of the journey. From the club owner to the security guards, grounds crews, players, and the fans, everyone feels part of the mission and vision of the team.

to much larger environments that attempt to leverage institutionally facilitated trust, rather than interpersonally facilitated trust, to enforce social norms, set goals, etc., a major but underappreciated thread underpinning problems in our world.

But to summarize the most key point, instead of characters routinely having perfect things happen to them, there are plenty of missteps and mistakes made. But what’s interesting is that there is significant character development throughout the show largely stemming from people confronting each other, apologizing, talking things out, sharing vulnerabilities, holding each other accountable, and not only doing all of that, but doing it with the implicit understanding that the people they are interacting with are also largely trying their best and acting with good intentions. When people talk to their captain, coach, or friend, they largely trust that person is not out to get them.

In our world, is that how people feel when going to human resources? Is that how people tend to interact with each other around political issues in our communities or country? I don’t think so. And we see the growing tendency to assume that others are acting in bad faith, triggering a cascade of worse outcomes for everyone that John Von Neumann would surely shake his head at. This growing dynamic in how people interact—on platforms like social media and online dating, in the workplace, and when discussing important political issues—is one of the greatest tragedies in our culture today.

The majority of the blame doesn’t fall on the individual. Rather, there are many things in our world that inhibit people’s capacity for consistently showing up with good intentions. Too often people are already drained, say, when starting their work day after fighting with their health insurance company over coverage for an aging parent, or spent 90 minutes alone in a car commuting to work where they don’t feel appreciated, or can barely afford rent that keeps rising in a building where they don’t know a single neighbor, or are constantly tired from eating junk food that’s marketed and labeled as healthy, or are emotionally

fragile and distracted because they were using any number of common technology platforms that we know openly manipulate people’s emotions for profit, to name a few.

But AFC Richmond gets to sidestep some of this. One of the benefits of existing in a scripted TV show, I suppose. The characters in the show largely do have the capacity to rise above—importantly, not by doing everything right, but rather by having the energy and capacity to believe in others around them and to give others the benefit of the doubt, and by openly communicating their needs, concerns, feedback, and goals without fear of retribution or judgement.

What Can We Do with All This?

1. Coach-based Leadership in Local Government

First, what kind of leaders do we enable, and how do we see our role? I’m sure many of us have worked for people who don’t exemplify those Coach Lasso qualities. And unfortunately, many of our real-world leadership environments seem to enable and even encourage those people (the Ruperts) to rise to the top.

For our organizations and in our communities, what are the various incentives and pathways toward leadership? How do people actually rise

through the ranks as staff in the organization? Where do volunteers on boards or governing bodies come from, and how are they set up for success or not? What incentives exist in the community to encourage or discourage civil participation and engagement? Although we must be explicit in our roles about avoiding partisanship and political activity, we must also do things like “manage up,” not by stroking the ego of a political leader, but ideally, by helping them be the most constructive and successful version of themselves.

A few thoughts: How many folks have an onboarding for newly

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elected officials, not about legal guidance, but about soft skills—trust building, successful leadership values, and things of that nature?

It’s easy to forget that many people elected to office have never encountered any guidance of that sort before. They aren’t eyeballs deep in professional development the way most of us are. In fact, fleshing out some best practices on this front is a project several of us in Vermont and New Hampshire are working on right now. If you’re at February’s Local Government Reimagined Conference in Denver, come to my session about this!

A second idea, which I love, though I have mostly gotten Tommy Lee Jones–level side-eye from colleagues about it, is having elected

officials participate in your organization’s performance review process, meaning getting reviewed. It’s deeply puzzling to me why this is not standard practice. Obviously, they don’t have the same employment terms as an employee does, but that’s not the point. Yes, one purpose would be to actually use this as an opportunity to provide real feedback that could help improve how the organization functions. But almost more importantly, it’s to show all the staff in the organization that the top dogs are enthusiastic to participate in something similar to what they are asking everyone else to do. Too often I’ve encountered the attitude from elected officials who see by virtue of their position that they should be exempt from the rules

and standards they set for others. But in my opinion, the higher you climb on the org chart, the more you should lead by example. I do not believe towns should exempt themselves from permitting, even if they are allowed to, but rather, they must hold themselves to the same or higher standard to have any real credibility to govern. And the same should go for any organization’s leadership. And then lastly, on a selfreflective note, hopefully many of us have had relationships with our own coaches, teachers, camp counselors, maybe even bosses, over the years who exemplified those Ted Lasso coach qualities. Can you think back to people like that, perhaps when you were younger, people who had a

profound positive influence on you in this way? How can we channel their empathy and energy as professional managers and encourage others to do the same?

2. Purpose, Belonging, and Identity in Our Own Communities

Second, creating purpose, meaning, and real community. Great organizational culture can’t be created quickly but it can be lost easily. And usually when you find out it’s happening, it’s too late. How accurate, really, are your existing mechanisms to measure this?

Quick story: When I was 23, I was elected the (nonpartisan) mayor of my hometown. I was also a volunteer EMT on our rescue squad. I frequently interacted with public works, police, and fire employees not as the mayor, but as an EMT. Even my first partner was a long-time highway/ equipment operator at public works. Careful to not throw the entire chain of command out the window, I had literally countless hours of conversations late at night in the garage, coming back from calls, or over breakfast about all sorts of things that never made its way to me through the traditional channels. Combined with the high-level context from the supervisors and department heads, this gave me an insanely honest and detailed look into how the organization actually functioned. I’m lucky that early in my public service career, this provided me with context that has driven much of my work since then, which is that the frontline employees, who often

Great organizational culture can’t be created quickly but it can be lost easily. And usually when you find out it’s happening, it’s too late.

work under the toughest conditions, are often the least appreciated and least listened to. Why doesn’t that feedback make it up the chain? Well, I refer you back to the first topic about good leadership tone-setting.

When our public works garage flooded in South Orange, it wasn’t hard to rally community members to help. Within days, the department had assistance— and new couches, furniture, and kitchen equipment from dozens of residents and local businesses who came down to thank them for everything they do. Beyond getting some stuff replaced (and finally some plans to address the building in the capital plan), they felt listened to and appreciated not just by their CEO, but by the people they serve in the community. It gave everyone a chance to build some pride and sense of community.

You don’t have to be a volunteer EMT to get at this feedback. In the prior town where I was town manager, when renegotiating our three union contracts and studying our pay scales for all employees, we had more than 75 meetings with union and non-union staff over a year, not only getting feedback from department heads and supervisors, but talking with, in many departments, every single staff person without their supervisors present, multiple times. We learned a ton through this, down to small but important details, like the fact that public works employees previously had no worker’s comp coverage while driving into work during a snowstorm to plow because their shift didn’t start until they clocked in at the building. We fixed that. But beyond that, I had quite a few custodial staff, equipment operators, and laborers— some of the folks who had fallen most behind in the pay scales—who reached out and said they finally felt listened to and appreciated, some for the first time.

3. Good Intentions in the People We Interact With Third, intentions. This is such a rabbit hole, so I’ll just make two closing points here.

First, on a self-reflective level, when you look at others around you, do you assign motive or intentionality? We all do this to some degree. It’s something I constantly am working on myself, which is harder to do the more pressure I personally feel. But there is something powerful here in trying to reverse the trend where people more likely seem to

assume the worst intentions. What can you accomplish if you just decide to always start assuming the best intentions and really push that culture down and out to everyone in the organization? And what if that caught on? Try to imagine what our political discourse as a nation would look like if the majority of people believed that everyone else was coming with the best intentions.

Next, I argue local governments can and should think a lot more seriously about our impact in where people get a sense of community and what is allowing them to show up with good intentions, especially as it relates to people’s capacity for broader civic engagement.

I was catching up with a friend who also works in public policy. We were reflecting on how different our and our parents’ train commutes were compared to younger people today. Often taking the same train every day, they used to be social scenes, where you’d look forward to seeing your neighbors and friends on your way to and from work. Now, virtually everyone is buried in a smartphone with headphones on. Much larger dynamics are at play here, but for example, where we come in is that if that public transit doesn’t exist, or the stops/ stations aren’t designed well, or people don’t know about it, then we aren’t even giving people the chance to build that community.

In 2024, we all know, and the data is ultra-clear: people are desperately searching for community. These aren’t “nice to haves.” They

are fundamental building blocks to long-term wellfunctioning people and communities, a la Robert Putnam and similar. How can we create public or outdoor spaces better? How can we encourage a little more walking around versus driving? How do we design new housing to create a sense of shared living? How do we create neighborhood collaboration, not competition, in our local civics? How do we affect this feeling within our organizations?

There are a thousand ways we can make small changes in how things work at the local level that at least help us go in this direction. And critically, like with any major change, we don’t need to do the whole thing in one shot, but rather, make smaller incremental changes that help to start nudging us to go in a better direction. We can build momentum with each small success that further engages, energizes, and inspires people. Considering we’re talking about people’s capacity to have the actual energy to show up and engage and advocate with others constructively, every small win will compound and build, as people gain momentum toward a better future. I think that’s a legacy Ted Lasso would be proud of.

ALEX TORPEY is a municipal manager, consultant, educator, and podcast host. You can find his latest updates, links to his podcasts, and more at alextorpey.substack.com

The NebraskaNorway Global Exchange Program

How university partnership helped to launch an ongoing global exchange of local government professionals and academics

BY SUE E. S. CRAWFORD, PHD & CHRISTIAN L. JANOUSEK, PHD

Global exchanges provide an important tool for international readiness, offering a unique opportunity for ICMA members to learn from and share with their local government counterparts around the world. They help to foster relationships for cultural and economic growth, drive innovation through the exchange of diverse best practices, and heighten personal awareness of diversity and inclusion dimensions of leadership. In addition to the long-lasting connections and friendships that are made, exchange participants have relayed stories of how their experience has helped them find innovative approaches to solving their governance and community challenges.

Each global exchange is unique. The specifics of each trip are worked out between the exchange partners, but include immersive programming such as:

• Shadowing local staff through the course of a typical workday.

• Attending council and community meetings.

• Meeting with various departments to gain an understanding of how they are structured and funded and to learn about the services and programs they manage.

The host partner may also arrange for the visiting participants to meet with colleagues in neighboring communities, other levels of government, local nonprofits, or private-sector organizations.

ICMA members have been participating in global exchanges for decades, some on their own through their municipalities, state associations, or universities, as is the case of the NebraskaNorway Exchange below, while others have been facilitated by ICMA.

A Decade of Nebraska-Norway Exchange Tours

A shining example of a successful global exchange is the program established by Nebraskabased members of ICMA and Norwegian city administrators. What’s significant about the program is the value that comes from collaboration with the universities that have facilitated this exchange. The Nebraska City/ County Management Association (NCMA) and University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) have

had a tremendous partnership with University of Agder (UiA) in Kristiansand, Norway, and city administrators from municipalities in the county of Agder in southern Norway.

Since the Nebraska-Norway exchange began in 2014, the tours have involved direct interaction between city administrators from both countries, visits to multiple municipalities, focused discussions, and academic seminars. Over the years, discussions among participants have included topics such as how to foster community collaboration, how to reduce greenhouse gases in city enterprises, innovations in recycling, how to create safe spaces for pedestrians, and how to serve residents in small rural municipalities with a robust set of services.

The combination of sharing professional experiences and working together with research faculty to build knowledge about city management enriches the experience. Chris Anderson, ICMA-CM, city administrator of Central City, Nebraska, said, “During my three visits to Norway, I’ve seen significant differences between Norwegian governance and our local governance, but we also discovered great similarities in the problems we encounter and how we respond to them. We all want to improve the lives of our residents and care deeply about public service. Our Norwegian colleagues have enriched our appreciation of collaborative leadership focused on serving every member of our communities with dignity and equality.”

Jeff Hofaker, city administrator of Sutton, Nebraska, said, “The exchange has broadened our view of ideas that our community could potentially utilize for future development, and it provided additional perspectives about how community or regional challenges can be overcome by having more citizen and leadership involvement.”

Funding

NCMA has prioritized global engagement by budgeting for travel assistance for the exchange program, covering most of the cost of the flights to Norway for the participating Nebraska city administrators. The exchange has also benefited from university research grants and university funding commitments that help to cover lodging and food costs. This funding support makes the exchange more accessible and attractive for city and county administrators, especially those from smaller communities.

University Partnerships

Much of the value of the exchange comes from the university partnerships that support it. The exchange tours emerged from a university

partnership between UiA and UNO. Years ago, ICMA member and UNO Professor Robert Blair stepped into the role of furthering the partnership, working directly with Professor Dag Olaf Torejesen of UiA.

These types of exchange collaborations between universities and professional associations contribute to a nexus of theory and practice that is crucial to the longterm viability of the local government management field. Based on extensive research involving numerous focus group sessions, it’s clear that local government administrators greatly support university partnerships that enable global interaction. Both practitioners and scholars agree that collaborative exchange, like that of Nebraska and Norway, encourages research and engagement that facilitate best practices that help move the field of local government management forward.1

The university partners also add value to the exchange in several other ways. They have the staff and expertise to coordinate the program over several years and to maintain the institutional memory

of the program. Structuring experiences to empower learning is their professional passion. This allows the local government participants to easily step into the learning framework created by the university partners.

Valuable Research

The relationship between the exchanges and city

management research is a symbiotic one. Professors Blair and Torjesen, along with Professor Christian Janousek of Creighton University, have gathered data from the tours over the years and have made presentations and published articles in academic journals. Topics include comparative city management issues such as political culture, management orientation and strategy, and coordination mechanisms of intergovernmental and interorganizational collaboration.2

On the value of the exchange program, Professor Blair said, “This is one of the few (if only) city management professional exchange programs that is designed and implemented by faculty and practitioners from both countries. The exchange program not only supports professional

development, but also provides valuable information to university researchers.”

During one visit to Norway, the Nebraska delegation and Norwegian city administrators discussed various management tools used for effective interlocal cooperation and initiatives. The discussion contributed to prior research gleaned from the NebraskaNorway exchanges, which revealed notable distinctions in service delivery and professional associations for local government professionals in the United States and Norway.

Following discussions from the 2016 exchange, researchers connected with participating administrators from both countries for community site visits and interviews to observe innovative projects and perspectives of interlocal coordination. Currently, Professors Blair, Janousek, and Torjesen are exploring the comparative attitudes and characteristics of managing informal municipal collaborations in global settings. The research component of the exchange program offers a forum for the transfer of knowledge and practice among city administrators and scholars.

Conclusion

Through the Nebraska-Norway exchange and other exchange programs planned through ICMA, the possibilities of

expanding global horizons for city/county management are being realized. These programs provide a vital platform for interlocal collaboration from a

Getting Started: University Partnership for Global Exchange

1. Build support for global exchanges with other communities and ICMA members in your area.

2. Find university faculty with expertise of interest who have international experience. Look for faculty with Fulbright fellowships and/ or global research areas. Connect the faculty with Professors Blair (rblair@unomaha.edu), Torjesen (dag.o.torjesen@uia.no), and Janousek (ChristianJanousek@creighton.edu).

3. Identify a mutually beneficial program to build international relationships among local leaders while at the same time building research expertise for the faculty.

4. Encourage the faculty to take the lead in structuring the pre-trip preparation and exchange learning.

5. Identify university support to build sustainability for the exchange.

6. Find opportunities for collaboration and applied research to enhance the exchange, such as comparative management strategies and practices.

7. Reach out to ICMA’s Global Engagement team (global@icma.org), who can provide more information and assist in making global connections.

global perspective. University partnerships can bring additional value to exchange tour programs, helping to foster immersive experiences that incorporate career development, innovation, and the promotion of best practices, all key strategies for reaching the vision of cultivating international readiness.

ENDNOTES

1 Janousek, Christian L., and Robert Blair. (2018). Theory-practice exchange in local government management: Perspectives of practitioners and scholars. American Review of Public Administration, 48(7), 730-742. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0275074017725597

2 Janousek, C. L., Torjesen, D. O., & Blair, R. (2024). Policy mechanisms for interlocal service delivery: management perspectives in the USA and Norway. International Journal of Public Sector Management, 37(2), 215-231. https:// www.emerald.com/insight/content/ doi/10.1108/ijpsm-03-2023-0092/ full/html

SUE E. S. CRAWFORD, PHD, is city administrator of York, Nebraska, USA. She is also professor emeritus, Creighton University, USA.

CHRISTIAN L. JANOUSEK, PHD, is an assistant professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, Creighton University, USA; as well as the faculty advisor for the university’s ICMA Student Chapter.

With

DAG OLAF TORJESEN, PHD, professor, Department of Political Science and Management, University of Agder (UiA), Kristiansand, Norway.

ROBERT BLAIR, PHD, professor emeritus, School of Public Administration, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA; Fulbright Canada Fellow, 2022.

CONFRONTING THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT TRUST DILEMMA, Part 2

BY RICK DAVIS, ICMA-CM

Engaging your community is the key.

In my last article, I discussed the mutual trust dilemma that we all confront in local government. In this context, I suggested that the best way I’ve found over the course of my career to elevate trust with residents is to demonstrate both our trustworthiness and competency. I shared my experiences with a concept known as communitybased strategic planning and asserted that it’s the most effective method I’ve found to demonstrate both critical elements necessary to build trust. With that, I would like to share the basic recipe for a community-based approach.

There are five basic steps to the creation of a communitybased strategic plan:

• Set the stage.

• Listen.

• Identify priorities.

• Compose the plan.

• Return and report. Whenever I’ve become aware of a strategic planning initiative not being successful (not exclusively “communitybased”), it has always, and I mean always, been because one or more of these steps were neglected. I bet you can guess which step is the most often short-changed by cities. Yep, it’s listening. I’ll explain later, but I will say that the “return and

report” step is also a common omission. However, let’s start at the top with setting the stage.

Setting the Stage

As one of the most critical steps in the strategic planning process, setting the stage will

determine the success of the strategic planning process. It is here that the entire endeavor is officially sanctioned by the governing body. In fact, if your city council isn’t strongly in favor of such an initiative, my recommendation is to

leave it alone until they are. You don’t need to be fighting a councilmember or two or three during the entire process. Likewise, the elected body is the one who is going to ultimately be required to adopt the plan. If your elected

folks are against the initiative from the get-go, the final plan doesn’t stand a great chance of being adopted, much less implemented.

But let’s be positive here and assume your elected body is in favor of pursuing this

initiative. We will want them to appoint a strategic planning advisory committee (SPAC) to serve in an ad-hoc capacity to guide the process and provide a “face” of the initiative to the community. Ideally, we want seven to nine residents who

can and are willing to devote quite a bit of time to guiding the process and composing the plan. Remember, this isn’t the administration’s plan nor the governing body’s. This is going to be the residents’ vision for their community.

Your SPAC members therefore ought to be residents who demonstrate some acumen for business processes or strategic planning—and free of personal agendas. I have found that my best SPAC members through the years have been those who have never really been involved in their local government before the introduction of this initiative. The most important point here is that the selection of your SPAC ought to be made with the utmost care. This appointment is not a consolation prize for someone who wasn’t successful in a council or mayoral election. It isn’t something used to “finally shut up” that vocal resident who keeps showing up to council meetings. Finally, an

My counsel to any community is to

continue

data gathering until priorities start to come into clear view.

appointment to the SPAC isn’t for someone who represents or claims to represent any specific group. You don’t necessarily need the chamber, PTO, school district, faith-based coalition, cultural group, etc. on the

SPAC should be composed of capable individuals without agendas, free to consider the needs of the community in a comprehensive and very broad-based manner. And one more word on the SPAC. Make sure they are appointed by the elected body and officially commissioned by resolution. You don’t want to leave any doubt in their heads that they have the sanction and blessing of that body.

At their very first meeting, the SPAC is going to elect a chair and a vice-chair. There isn’t a need to appoint anyone else. We just need someone to lead the discussions and generally make sure that the group stays focused and engaged. The vice-chair is there to take minutes, making note of assignments given to SPAC members. The vicechair is also there to fill in for the chair as needed. I am often asked whether the meetings of the SPAC need to comply with open meeting laws. That will depend on the laws of your state. However, I will say that it is best if the SPAC can meet

who need to be able to express themselves and offer ideas without those remarks becoming emblazoned on the front page of the next edition of the local paper or otherwise publicly debated prematurely.

As the next order of business, the SPAC is going to develop a mission statement. Now, why would I suggest this? Well, you know as well as I that elected folks aren’t the only ones who like to venture off into the weeds. I think we all do this if we’re not grounded to a common objective or mission. I won’t go into great detail here, but the mission statement ought to be short, clear, and capture the very reason why the group exists and what the end product will be. From there, the SPAC is ready to gather the stakeholders of the community. Every city/ county is different. What may be a key stakeholder in one community is not necessarily one in another. You’ll have to decide who your stakeholders are. As a general rule, you will need to identify those groups

with whom your community frequently partners to serve your residents and/or who make an indelible contribution to your community. Commonly, these can be business, faith-based, civic, service clubs, educational, and ethnic or cultural groups.

Stakeholders are critical because you will have a limited capacity to generate sufficient participation in the planning process using a shotgun approach. It is imperative that you take advantage of the influence, trust, and lines of communication that have already been long established by your stakeholder groups. The SPAC should bring representatives of these groups together and explain the strategic planning initiative, describing in detail the anticipated benefits to them and the community, and inviting their participation. I have rarely heard of a stakeholder group that fails to not only enthusiastically express support, but also compliments the city for pursuing such an endeavor. Instinctively, people want to be involved in determining their collective future. You will want to describe the entire process to them and explain that the SPAC’s ability to communicate with their constituents/members will be integral to the success of the process. That means that there will be instances when you’ll want to send something to their members and associates. This could include a survey, an invitation to participate in a workshop and focus group, or simply updates on the planning process. Be sure to commit to accomplishing this in the manner with which

The involvement we obtain from our residents acts like a collection of pixels in an image—the more pixels, the clearer the picture.

they (the stakeholder groups) are most comfortable.

Once you have the support and commitments of the stakeholder groups, it is time to begin branding and promoting your strategic planning initiative. There are so many surveys, ideas, events, celebrations, and promotions flying around out there. It is critical that residents identify this initiative as the official strategic planning project of the city/county. They need to feel the importance of it and know that this is something real. Most SPACs accomplish this in a variety of ways. The most effective method I’ve witnessed involves developing a visual element that can quickly identify the initiative and that can be replicated physically and digitally. Online examples are abundant if you simply search for “strategic planning logos.” It’s also effective for the SPAC chair to sit down with the local paper’s editorial board to develop stories about the initiative, from its introduction to the community to providing information about data gathering events. This is where you’ll also want to craft messaging that can be disseminated by your stakeholder groups introducing their people to the strategic planning initiative. Lastly, it is important to take full advantage of the city’s internal media. Most cities have access to not only websites, but also possibly a cable channel, social media, newsletters, etc.

As a final step to the “setting the stage” process, the SPAC will need to consider the

various means of gathering feedback from residents during the “listening” phase. Post-pandemic, there are far more ways to gather feedback from residents than I recall when I first wrote the book. Prior to 2020, most of the emphasis was placed on physical gatherings at workshops, open houses, and focus groups. Not that I don’t encourage these physical interactions, if possible, but people are much more reluctant to participate in these than they were before 2020. There has meanwhile been an explosion of applications that can allow you to gather people in virtual environments. My recommendation is to take full advantage of these. At the same time, allow your SPAC to be creative in the way they involve residents and liberal in scheduling as many events as possible. Be sure to take advantage of celebrations or festivals when you already know people will be gathering. As a final word about these events, don’t forget the often forgotten. When it comes to strategic planning, I have found that young people are frequently left out of the process. Work with the school district and/or your youth council to get the young involved.

Listening

I know that was a lot to say about setting the stage. Hopefully, you can sense the importance I place on making sure your strategic planning initiative starts out on the right foot. Our next phase in the planning process is perhaps even more critical. I’ve already described the various ways to gather resident

feedback. What I want to focus on here is what you’re going to ask your residents. I have found that the five most powerful questions you can ask are:

• What do you like most about living in our community?

• What do you perhaps like least?

• Why are you here or what made you move here?

• What, if it changed, would cause you to consider leaving?

• If you were “king or queen” for a day, what would you

explains to a group of students the difference between those things that enable us to live and those that provide us with the rationale for living. In a municipal sense, there are services we provide our residents that enable them to live in our communities, but such don’t explain why they live in our communities. To be sure, there are likely factors that at least appear to lie well outside our immediate circles of control or influence. However, don’t we want to know what those are? Don’t we want to know if there are things that do indeed land inside our means to affect? Absolutely!

change or what would you do?

By asking these probing questions, the SPAC will eventually be able to piece together a multi-dimensional image that shows what residents truly hold as most critical to their quality of life. We meanwhile take for granted that there are services that cities provide that make it possible for residents to live in their community. I very much appreciate one of the more memorable scenes from Robin Williams’s Dead Poets Society where his character

The listening phase is that portion of the strategic planning process where I really want the SPAC to slow down, take their time, and pull as much input together as possible from our residents. To explain why, I’ll use an analogy with a principle. The involvement we obtain from our residents acts like a collection of pixels in an image—the more pixels, the clearer the picture. If the base of participation in the strategic planning process isn’t broad enough, the SPAC will have a very difficult time interpreting the data; and worse, they may interpret it incorrectly. Likewise, every community enjoys the presence of some extreme voices. As you broaden your base of participation, you will nevertheless be surprised that even the few and shrill blend into a tapestry of reason and intelligence. My counsel to any community is to continue public involvement and data gathering until priorities start to come into clear view. Not only will it make

When it comes to strategic planning, I have found that young people are frequently left out of the process. Work with the school district and/ or your youth council to get the young involved.

composing the final plan easier, but you will likewise find that broadening the base of participation in creating the plan makes it more likely to be implemented and even survive political and administrative changes.

Identifying the Priorities

It should not astound or surprise anyone that 50% or more of their time pursuing a strategic planning initiative will be spent listening to residents. After all, community-based strategic planning is best described as “deep community listening.” Take a tip from Dr. Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.” Successful cities and counties, just like highly successful people, have learned and applied the same principle. We have now arrived at the data interpretation portion of the planning process. I usually regard this as one of the more exciting phases. It is here where we finally get to find out who killed the butler, like a good murder mystery. What on earth do they really want? While I have not addressed this yet, it is very critical that your SPAC organize the data in a manner that makes this phase a snap. Okay, I’ll be real with you. Even if your SPAC does a great job in organizing the data gathered over the last several months, it is still going require them to exert patience and discernment. You may have a fairly good idea of what residents are saying, but another SPAC colleague may not. Additionally, you’re going to have to filter a few things out as well. Here’s an example. A Utah community I was assisting was a candidate host city for a new state prison.

Community-based strategic planning is best described as “deep community listening.”

They hadn’t asked for this consideration and most residents were adamantly opposed. Many organized and were very vocal about their opposition to the new prison. It just so happened that the community was attempting to put together their fiveyear community-based plan at the same time that the prison controversy was in full bloom. You can imagine that when the SPAC sat down to identify community priorities, “don’t let the prison come to town” was front and center. Since they were composing a plan for their future, it didn’t make sense to include an issue that was going to be decided within a few months. By the way, the prison ended up going somewhere else. What would their plan have looked like if the SPAC hadn’t filtered a one-time, finite issue? Likewise, in a Texas community I was assisting, just after Hurricane Harvey, what do you think dominated the landscape? That’s right— storm drainage and emergency response. Not that those aren’t valid concerns that couldn’t be addressed by the plan, but if the SPAC hadn’t exercised some prudence, the entire plan would have been about those two things.

I compare data analysis to looking at one of those three-dimensional, computergenerated posters. You have to spend time gazing deeply into it before you see the image. As I did before, I encourage the SPAC to take their time. Look at the data, discuss together what it’s saying, and carefully begin to identify the highestlevel community priorities. I call these “strategic directives.” Strategic directives are large bucket categories that describe a broad topic as a community priority. They are not intended to prescribe solutions. Instead, directives are the key themes the residents view as the most critical areas of community need. In a typical plan, I am used to seeing five to eight directives. Soley as a hypothetical example, strategic directives could be articulated in the plan thusly. Again, this is only an example:

• Community engagement and civility.

• Economic prosperity.

• Transportation and infrastructure.

• Parks and environmental stewardship.

• Our rising generation.

• Neighborhood quality. One of the most creative ways I’ve seen a SPAC articulate a strategic priority is

the process, the presentation of the plan, and its implementation.

RICK DAVIS, ICMA-CM, is assistant city manager of League City, Texas, USA. He is the author of Elevating Trust in Local Government: The Power of CommunityBased Strategic Planning. (rick.davis@leaguecitytx.gov)

Let’s Think Differently About Why Local Government Can’t Think Differently

What’s holding us back?

BY ED EVERETT, ICMA-CM (RETIRED)

This article explores why local government does not embrace change even when research data tells us that what we are doing doesn’t work. This is the culmination of the previous articles in the “Let’s Think Differently About…” PM series. This entire series uses research and data to demonstrate to local government that we should significantly change or even eliminate some of our sacred practices, policies, and programs.

Thesis

Our resistance or avoidance to change is caused by four factors:

1. How our brains work.

2. Our monopoly status.

3. Our culture and government model.

4. Our lack of leadership. I explain below how each of these conditions is holding us back.

Our Brains

Our brains form patterns, repetition, and habits. Our brains are wired to recognize patterns. Patterns initially help our brains make preliminary

decisions through associations with what we have previously known. Human brains can’t help but look for patterns and find repetitive structures or procedures to deal with problems. Our brains are merely trying to be efficient. It is a bit of an over-simplification of the science, but our brains find patterns that lead us into repetitive thinking, which ultimately leads to habits and status quo thinking. Patterns, repetition, and habits served as survival mechanisms for our ancestors. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson stated the following:

A hunter’s skills and patterns at spotting prey and predators and telling poisonous plants from healthy ones offered them a better chance of survival than those blind to these patterns. This enabled the survivors to pass on those patternfriendly genes to future generations.

Some key findings about our brain are summarized here.1

• Our brain is 2% of our body weight, but uses 20% of the body energy. Thinking uses a lot of energy so optimizing our thinking is important.

• We process 126 bits of information per second, but our brain receives over 10 million bits of information per second. This means that we can only focus on 1/80,000th of the data our brain receives.

• Conscience thinking is a scare resource, so we build brain patterns to: - Cause our brain to be more energy efficient.

- Free up the scare resource of conscious thinking.

- Permit our brains to do what they do best.

Since our brains love patterns, repetitions, and habits, our brains encourage us to do the same thing over and over. It is the reason many people never challenge the status quo and it prevents us from thinking differently. Patterns and repetition reinforce past practices and reduce innovative thinking. If that is how all brains work, then why is the private sector more creative and innovative than the public sector?

Our Monopoly

Investopedia provides a good definition of a monopoly:

A single organization supplying a good or service, a lack of competition in the specific market, so a similar substitute for the product or service is not

available. Monopolies can dictate the price and create barriers for others to enter the marketplace.

Local government is not only a monopoly, but also a monopoly that can’t fail. No city or county is going out of business. A local government can go broke, but it is usually taken over by a county, state, or court master (another monopoly). There are no competitors for most of the services we offer, such as police services, fire protection, street repairs, sewers, water, or others. Most of us agree that we are a monopoly. The question is what is the impact of our monopolistic status? Do monopolies prevent creativity and innovation? Economic theory on this question is mixed.

1. One economic theory states that monopolies restrict innovation, which is supported by an abundance of historical data from economists. Economists argue that monopolies want to control the market, and they don’t want to introduce new products or services that others might replicate or copy. Status quo keeps their monopoly intact.

2. Another economic theory states that some monopolies restrict innovation; however, these economists argue that large and profitable monopolies enhance innovations. Their argument is that profitable monopolies use their enormous wealth to fund research and development that smaller companies can’t do. Before the federal government broke up the

AT&T monopoly, it funded the infamous Bell Labs, which invented the transistor, communication satellites, fiber optics, and solar photovoltaics. Economists also point to Microsoft, which was able to build a $250 million supercomputer to allow Open AI to begin to perfect artificial intelligence.

Unfortunately, local government has all the negative aspects of a monopoly without the positive benefits of large profits to invest in innovation. Our profession often appropriates innovations from the private sector, but our monopoly status is a significant factor preventing us from creating or innovating on our own because we do not have:

• To worry about “the competition” or market share.

• The powerful incentive of ensuring that we don’t go out of business and lose our jobs.

• The pressure of another organization providing one of our services at a cheaper cost and/or with improved performance. This lack of pressures and incentives has led to the public sector’s atrophy in innovation and creativity.

How does local government overcome our monopolistic lack of incentives to become more innovative?

Our Culture and Government Model

I have written extensively about local government having a culture that is risk averse, abhors mistakes, and is driven by the status quo.2 We are prisoners of such statements as good enough for government work, not my job, go along to get along, and don’t rock the boat.

When I train local government staff to develop and foster creativity, participants regularly complain that their organizations are risk averse and intolerant of mistakes. There can be no creativity or innovation without making some mistakes. Unfortunately, our risk averse culture is deeply ingrained in our organizations, our executives, and our elected officials.

Furthermore, our model of government, which I call “bitch and fix,” stifles our potential. This model is badly outdated and holds our profession back. Basically, this model assumes that the only role of residents is to vote and complain. This model assumes that local government must solve everyone’s problem and

must do so alone. When I have presented this model to elected officials, city staff, and residents, they agree that this is how we operate.

The alternative—the “partnership model,” makes different assumptions about how we should operate. Below is a chart showing these differences. For a more thorough discussion of these two models, read the article, “Today’s Local Government Management Model,” in the August 2015 issue of PM

How do we go about changing our deep-seated risk-averse culture and our old government model?

Our Lack of Leadership

Local government has countless quality and talented managers who do good things and know how to run an efficient organization. We have a breadth and depth of technically skilled managers who understand how to operate a library, provide recreation services, develop a budget, and provide clean and safe utilities.

However, leaders are different than managers. There is a geometric truth that all squares are rectangles, but all rectangles are not squares. Similarly, all effective leaders are also good managers, but

• Public as necessary evil.

• Resident as customer.

• Local government is the decider.

• City organization centric.

• Service delivery focus.

• Manager is the problem solver.

• Public as partner.

• Resident as responsible citizen/customer.

• Civic engagement of others.

• Building community.

• Community building/service focus.

• Manager engages partners in solving problems.

OLD: Bitch and Fix Model

NEW: Partnership Model

FIGURE 1

all good managers are not effective leaders. Leaders possess characteristics that managers do not demonstrate, such as:

• Perceiving things that others don’t.

• Recognizing that one of their roles is to change the culture of their organization and community.

• Always envisioning and driving forward to something better and different.

• Exhibiting the courage to act in spite of their fears, status quo pressures, or sacred cows.

• Visualizing a better future and knowing how to implement their vision.

John F. Kennedy articulated the following about leadership: “The problems of the world cannot possibly be solved by skeptics or cynics whose horizons are limited by the obvious realities. We need individuals who can dream of things that never were and ask, ‘why not?’”

to discourage leaders. Our profession needs more city/ county leaders, not just city/ county managers. How does our profession recruit and develop more leaders?

Let’s Stand Back for a Minute

It takes a strong leader to recognize and implement a new and improved version of themselves. It takes leadership courage to stand up to a tepid or dysfunctional council, a risk-averse city attorney, a fearful risk manager, and a naysaying organization. Strong leaders are laser-focused on doing things differently to transform and strengthen an organization and community. Leadership is developed over time from many experiences and not something someone inherently has.

There are significantly fewer leaders than managers in both the private and public sector; however, it is my experience working in government for over 40 years that the

Many readers may think I am being overly critical of our profession. Some may think that my challenges of our profession are not helpful or productive.

The science is clear: Neither organizations nor individuals can change their behavior until they admit their weaknesses and failings. We know that individuals cannot modify their personal behaviors like addiction, depression, eating disorders, anxieties, insecurities, or fears until they have admitted to themselves that they have such behaviors.

Likewise, organizations cannot change until they admit to themselves and others that they have weaknesses and failings that

honoring our achievements and highlighting our progress, but this alone will not move our profession forward. Let’s all begin to be more constructively critical of our profession in order to maximize our potential and serve our residents.

Mitigating the Forces Working Against Us: Brain, Monopoly, Culture, and Leadership

In the spirit of creativity and innovation, I am introducing a new approach for PM readers.

I need your help, your brain power, and your creative ideas to answer the questions I have posed in this article:

• Why is the private sector more creative and innovative than the public sector?

• How does local government overcome our monopolistic lack of incentives to become more innovative?

• How do we go about changing our deepseated risk-averse

How does our profession

I will be crowd-sourcing your ideas and suggestions on how we mitigate, resolve, or manage the four issues that keep local government from and from endorsing innovation. Please everetted@comcast. ) your thoughts and ideas to help solve the issues I have raised. Put your thoughts and ideas in a few sentences or a couple of paragraphs, but please, no long treatises. Don’t worry about your writing skills as I am only interested in your thoughts and ideas. Feel free to react to one or more of these four questions or provide an additional contributing issue. I will read every response and summarize your thoughts and input (along with my own thoughts) in a follow-up article. I believe our profession has countless individuals who are full of thought-provoking ideas, positive critiques, and helpful suggestions. Please share them with me. I look forward to hearing from you!

ENDNOTES AND RESOURCES

1 New and Improved (April 24, 2012)

2 “Let’s Think Differently About… Creativity and Innovation,” PM Magazine, November 2023. https:// icma.org/articles/pm-magazine/ lets-think-differently-about-creativityand-innovation “Let’s Think Differently About…Our Stupid Rules,” PM Magazine, May 2024. https://icma.org/articles/ pm-magazine/lets-think-differently-aboutour-stupid-rules

ED EVERETT, ICMA-CM (RETIRED)

is a retired city manager (everetted@comcast.net).

Can the Police Solve All Crime Problems?

TO REDUCE CRIME, YOU NEED PLACE MANAGERS TO DISMANTLE CRIME OPPORTUNITIES

BY SHANNON J. LINNING, PHD, TOM CARROLL, ICMA-CM, DANIEL W. GERARD & JOHN E. ECK, PHD

This is the fifth in a series of six articles about crime reduction.

What Is the Role of the Police in Reducing Crime?

We usually think of the police as the lead public agency for crime reduction. Although we also recognize that many institutions contribute to public safety, if crime surges and the public is fearful, it is the police to whom we turn. But consider these three case studies, two about police and crime and one about police and car crashes.

(1) For years, residents of the English village of Staining complained to police about burglaries, thefts, assaults, and arson. They pointed to a scrap yard as the source of the problem. Thieves, for example, stole vehicles and parts around the village and sold them at the yard. Police increased their patrols in the area, but this did not reduce crime. They tried to persuade the yard to change its business practices but were unsuccessful. Finally, they enlisted the support of an environmental safety agency. The agency inspected the yard and demanded alterations to stop oil and pollutants from seeping into the ground water. The owner closed the yard. Crime dropped in the village.1

Justice requires that serious offenders be removed from society. But if we do not dismantle the opportunities these offenders exploit, other people will take these offenders’ places.

(2) Police in Chula Vista, California, were handling many calls from motels. To understand why, the department’s crime analysis unit investigated and found that a few motels accounted for most of the calls.2 Negotiations with the hotel owners and operators failed to reduce the calls. In response, the city passed an ordinance requiring motels to keep their calls to police under 0.61 per room per year. Most motels could easily comply with this requirement, but the few high-call volume motels had to work hard to comply. One went out of business. Others were bought by new owners who changed business policies. The calls for police service to motels plummeted.3

(3) Three street segments in Cincinnati, Ohio, were responsible for a large proportion of vehicle crashes resulting in death. One was so notorious it had a nickname: “the kill zone.” A new commander of the police traffic section (coauthor Dan Gerard) looked into these street segments. The deaths were on curves, usually at night, and frequently in wet weather. Skidding was the likely cause. Police, the city’s roads department, and contractors investigated ways to reduce skidding. City contractors lightly roughed up the pavement on the curves to increase friction and, thus, reduce skidding. The deaths stopped.4

In each case, the public presented the police with a problem. In each case, others had created situations that led to harmful events. In each case, the police had responded in a traditional manner and had been unsuccessful. In each case, the police found ways to push the problem back onto the shoulders of the organization responsible. In each case, the problem was solved.

In none of these cases was the problem solved by deep social change.5 In none of these cases was the problem solved by arresting people.6 Instead, in each case, the police identified those responsible for the problem and compelled them to dismantle opportunities encouraging harmful events: closing the scrapyard that enticed thieves, compelling problem motels to change their business practices, and addressing the road conditions that led to fatal crashes. Police led these efforts, but the solutions only came once place managers acted.7

Behind these successful case studies are three important ideas. First, crime problems are often the byproduct of everyday decisions made by people and organizations who fail to understand the crime consequences of their actions. Second, those who create crime problems need to help solve them. Third, to solve crime problems, you need to dismantle crime opportunities. Dismantling opportunities that produce harmful events seems reasonable, but how does one do this in practice? The principal way is through situational crime prevention.

What Is Situational Crime Prevention?

Situational crime prevention (SCP) asserts that people make choices to offend based on how they perceive the conditions around the time and place (situations) of a possible crime. People’s choices consider five conditions:

1. How much effort does it take? Effort includes both physical effort and effort to get the knowledge and skills to be successful.

2. How much risk is involved? Risk includes arrest and punishment, but it also includes other possible losses such as affection of others, jobs, and self-esteem.

3. How rewarding is the crime? Rewards include money, status, and anything else the person might gain from the act.

4. Are there provocations that encourage the act? Provocations include conditions that propel the offender to choose to act: insults, heat and noise, peer pressure, and so forth.

5. Are there excuses for the act? Excuses include stories the offenders can tell others or themselves that let the offender off the hook. If these are five important contributors to crime, then removing one or more will stop crime. That is what situational crime prevention does. The first step in using SCP is to understand the who, what, where, when, and how of specific crime problems. Specificity matters. For example, reducing violence in general is extremely difficult but reducing repeated assaults in one parking lot of a motel is feasible. Some of the needed information may come from statistical information in police and other government databases, but much of the information comes from observing the places and interviewing those knowledgeable about the crimes (including possible offenders).

With specific details known, problem solvers can craft tailored solutions. The solutions increase effort and risk and decrease rewards, provocations, and excuses.

Ronald V. Clarke identified 25 techniques that solve problems (Figure 1). In this brief article, we cannot elaborate on each of the techniques. Fortunately, there are free resources that explain them.8

The problem solvers select relevant techniques for a specific situation, adapt the chosen techniques to local conditions, find the people and organizations who can apply the techniques, and then they implement them.

Does Situational Crime Prevention Work?

Situational crime prevention

is the opposite of a generic, off-the-shelf, program. It provides guidance to locals who tailor-make interventions. Because the interventions are small-scale, they can be adapted to precise local conditions. Because they are hyper-focused on crime hotspots, these small-scale solutions can have big impacts.

John Eck and Rob Guerette’s review of 149 SCP studies revealed that 77% effectively reduced crime. Another 11% produced mixed findings while 12% provided ineffective or inconclusive results.9

But doesn’t crime just move somewhere else? Sometimes SCP can cause displacement, but usually it does not. The question of displacement has received considerable scientific attention. Since the mid-1990s,

none of the four reviews of the evidence found displacement overwhelmed crime prevention gains. Usually, no displacement was detected when researchers looked for it, and if they found some, it was inevitably less than the total improvement in safety. Further, SCP frequently produces positive unexpected benefits, which are referred to as the diffusion of crime control benefits. Diffusion of benefits occurs when prevention spreads beyond intervention sites. So dismantling crime opportunities is often far more effective than anticipated.10

Who Can and Should Dismantle Crime Opportunities?

Police can promote SCP, and many do. However, when they dig into a problem, they

almost always discover that to dismantle the opportunities that make crime likely, place managers need to make changes. The owner of the highburglary apartment complex is the place manager that needs to install lights, improve the locks, and control access. The owner of the high-violence bar is the place manager that needs to change alcohol serving practices, exclude repeat offenders, and reduce crowding. The public agency operating a drug-infested park is the place manager that needs to install lights, trim trees, and set opening and closing hours. The agency that controls the street with a high number of vehicle fatalities is the place manager that needs to modify the street. We have an impulse to call such problems police problems,

1. Target-harden

• Multi-factor authentication

• High-security locks

2. Control access

• QR code building access

but they are not really police problems. They are problems created by others. The police do not create the crime opportunities that offenders take advantage of. Other people and organizations create these problems. We send the police to handle them, but it’s only the place managers who can dismantle the opportunities.

What Is the Role of Police in Cities?

The principal agency of local government responsible for fighting fires is the fire department. But the number and severity of fires does not decline because of better firefighting tactics. The principal agency of local government responsible for attending to medical emergencies is emergency medical services (EMS). Yet, improvements in the public’s health are not due to improved EMS services.

6. Extend guardianship

• Neighborhood watch apps

• Buddy systems

• Gated entries 7. Assist natural surveillance

• Video doorbells

3. Screen exits

• Exit barriers at events

• Bag checks at stadiums

4. Deflect offenders

• Street closures

• Benches away from stores

5. Control tools/weapons

• Airport luggage screening

• Monitor spray paint sales

The police reduce crime when they shift the burden of crime reduction onto the people and organizations who create the crime opportunities.

The principal agency of local government responsible for addressing crimes is the police department. Nevertheless… well, you get the picture. We send local police to handle events that no other public entity does. But just because we send them does not make these events police problems. Problems roll downhill and the police are always there to catch them. Relying on police to use their criminal justice authority to address crimes creates additional problems for cities. It increases costs to the public, who pay for the police. It shunts people into the criminal justice system who do not need to be there. To be sure, justice requires that serious offenders be removed from society. But if we do not dismantle the opportunities these offenders exploit, other people will take these offenders’ places.

11. Conceal targets

• Secure lockers for deliveries

• Tinted car windows 16. Reduce stress

• Improve lighting 12. Remove targets

• Cashless payment on transit

• Mobile payment incentives

• Comfortable seating at transit hubs

• Air conditioning in transit

Avoid disputes

• Mobile ordering at cafes

• Fixed taxi/cab fares

8. Reduce anonymity

• ID for workspace rentals

• Cameras in transit areas

9. Use place managers

• Parking lot attendants

• Sports arena security staff

10. Strengthen formal surveillance

• Drones at events

• License plate readers

13. Identify property

• Microdot tagging of electronics

• GPS tracking 18. Reduce arousal

14. Disrupt markets

• Detect suspicious e-commerce listings

• Monitor black markets

15. Deny benefits

• Tamper-proof labels

• Smartphone kill switches

• Ban offensive symbols

• Regulate bar noise

19. Neutralize peer pressure

• Anti-bullying campaigns

• Allow one teen shopper in store at a time

20. Discourage imitation

• Rapid repair of vandalism

• Avoid publishing security flaws

21. Set rules

• Rental agreements

• Public transport codes

22. Post instructions

• “No smoking” signs

• Emergency procedures signs

23. Alert conscience

• “Shoplifting is stealing” signs

• Roadside speed display boards

24. Assist compliance

• Easy checkout

• Trash cans in busy areas

25. Control drugs/alcohol

• Alcohol-free zones

• Allow consumption of alcohol only bought on premises

Figure 1. The 25 Techniques of Situational Crime Prevention

The police reduce crime when they shift the burden of crime reduction onto the people and organizations who create the crime opportunities. We saw this in the three examples opening this article. The notion that the role of police is to help crack open and change the immediate facilitators of crime and other troubles is more than 45 years old. Herman Goldstein proposed it in 1979.11 Since then, two things have occurred. First, researchers and practitioners have created a thick body of guidance about how to solve problems, situational crime prevention being one of the most important. The Center for Problem-Oriented Policing (popcenter.asu.edu) is a repository of this information. We have mentioned several others in our previous articles. Second, researchers have tested problem-oriented policing and found it is successful and outperforms enforcement-oriented patrolling.12,13 It has been adopted by police agencies around the world.

Although many police agencies have applied problem-oriented policing and situational crime prevention, most do not or do so inconsistently. If police are reluctant to take the lead in investigating and dismantling crime opportunities, some other arm of local government could do this. This arm would need police assistance, but they would also need the assistance of other arms of local government. An office of crime opportunity dismantling, reporting to the city manager, could coordinate crime problem solving efforts. It even might

be better positioned than the police to shift the burden of crime reduction from the shoulders of the police to those who created the crime opportunities.

Conclusions

The title of our article asks a question: can the police solve all crime problems? Our answer is no. If you expect the police, using standard police tactics, to improve public safety, you will be disappointed. Instead, ask yourself, how can we dismantle crime opportunities? Standard police tactics usually only temporarily disrupt crime opportunities. To dismantle crime opportunities, situational crime prevention is necessary. The only people and organizations who can apply SCP are those with control over the situation (e.g., property owners, product manufacturers). Police can play a vital role in identifying these people and organizations and in suggesting solutions, and so can other branches of local government. City managers whose departments collaboratively dismantle crime opportunities will increase public safety more than city managers who do not.

In our series, we have identified five principles you can use to construct effective crime reduction programs. We have provided these five principles to help you overcome five fallacies about crime. These fallacies are often embedded in misguided proposals to reduce crime. Next month, we will provide you with a simple tool you can use to identify misguided ideas before they become practice: the SCRAP test.

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