PEOPLE FIRST
Culture, Core Values, and Chalk?
How Goodyear, Arizona, implemented and communicated a core-value program that increased employee satisfaction. BY JULIE KARINS, ICMA-CM When was the last time you
touched a piece of chalk? For those of us who can remember actually using chalkboards instead of computers at school, the last time we have probably touched a piece of chalk is during childhood. The feel of chalk on a board and the sound of an eraser that follows is unmistakable. We’re making new memories with chalk at the city of Goodyear. When you step off the elevator onto the second floor at city hall, you can’t help but notice a giant chalkboard wall adorned with quirky questions, clever answers, jokes, a game or two of tic tac toe, and doodles. Framing it are colorful signs with the words “Team Goodyear Shares” and the city’s six core values: 1. Integrity 2. Empathy 3. Optimism 4. Initiative 5. Adaptability 6. Innovation. It’s not something you’d expect to see in a government office, and that’s exactly why we have added not one, but five, chalkboard walls in offices around the city. Non-negotiable
JULIE KARINS, ICMA-CM is city manager of Goodyear, Arizona.
The culture at the city of Goodyear is as special and unique as the public servants who serve the ninth fastest-growing community in the country. When I joined the city at the start of 2018 as city manager, I sensed immediately that Goodyear was special. Different. A blend of energy, motivation, and new ideas peppered with a hefty dose of genuine kindness and respect for one another. Everyone I spoke with said that one of the reasons they enjoyed working for the city is because it felt like working with family. I knew that with the continued boom in growth that we needed to keep this family feel and the mixture of teamwork,
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Photo courtesy of Goodyear, Arizona
dedication, and elbow grease. It was also imperative that, from the minute a potential new hire filled out an online application, they understood the city’s core values are non-negotiable. Because they are. Thus, we embarked on an intentional culture journey.
At the city of Goodyear, we often say, “We care. We achieve. We celebrate.”
Earning Attention and Avoiding “HR Speak”
The city’s human resources (HR) team reintroduced the city’s core values to all employees in 2018, spending 18 months focused on each core value in three-month blocks. We know from our biennial employee survey that city employees overwhelmingly prefer to get important news and information directly from their supervisors and department leaders, so we used a cascaded approach for the rollout.
