MWDigest (July 2016) - Municipal World's monthly digital digest by Municipal World

July 2016

THE

UNEXAMINED

CITY

ALSO INSIDE: HR FEATURE SECTION

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CONTENTS

MUNICIPAL WORLD – CANADA’S MUNICIPAL MAGAZINE

LEVERAGING THE POWER OF LEAN IN LOCAL GOVERNMENT Though often considered a business tool, Lean can be a powerful methodology for communities looking chance culture and do more for residents with less resources. 7

WHY DO CANADIAN CITIES HAVE SO MANY PLANS? New research looks at the reasons for the explosion of planning documents in municipalities.

IT’S TIME TO MAKE CITIES A NATIONAL PRIORITY Faced with an insufficient level of revenues and increasing service requirements, municipalities must stake their claim as drivers of the economy.

THE IMPACT OF VOTING METHODS The voter turnout data from the 2014 Ontario municipal election may hold important lessons as changes approach.

MW MAGAZINE

MUNICIPAL WORLD INC.

EDITOR & PUBLISHER

PRESIDENT

SUSAN M. GARDNER, MPA, AMCT

NICHOLAS R. SMITHER, BESc

ASSISTANT EDITOR

BETH WILSON

JAMES WILSON

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE & CLIENT CARE ASSOCIATE

DIRECTOR OF BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

ANTHONY GIBBONS CLIENT COORDINATOR

KIM COSTA CREATIVE CONTENT & MARKETING COORDINATOR

GABI FORTIN-SMITH

PUTTING THE “HR” IN COMMUNICATIONS

Subscribe to

A municipality can benefit on many fronts by establishing a corporate communications department. And, if you don’t know where to start, hiring an expert can help. 19

HR & HEALTH AND SAFETY Having HR staff taking an active role in health and safety can create a sense of community, while increasing accountability and alignment in your organization. 23

to access great feature articles like these, plus our must-read WALKING THE TIGHTROPE regular columns each month!

Managing the relationship between elected officials and staff can be complex and challenging. Communication is vital to success. 25

E B I R C A Life Lived................................................37 S B U S Association News......................................28 THE R E GUL AR S

STRATEGIC PLAN IMPLEMENTATION Lessons for small municipalities on a new method of strategic plan implementation based on the evaluation of data in real time.

volume 126, number 7

HR FEATURE SECTION

THE UNEXAMINED CITY Appropriate evaluation provides the cornerstone for municipal leaders to ensure they are best serving the “common good.”

JULY 2016

ACCOUNTING MANAGER

KATIE COTTRELL

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Coming Events....................................12, 39 Editor’s Corner............................................3 Governance Zone......................................29 Management Zone....................................31 Environmental Zone...................................33 The Reading Room....................................35

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INSIDE THIS ISSUE The Unexamined City Appropriate evaluation provides the cornerstone for municipal leaders to ensure they are best serving the “common good.”

HR Feature Section Putting the “HR” in Communications A municipality can benefit on many fronts by establishing a corporate communications department. And, if you don’t know where to start, hiring an expert can help.

HR & Health and Safety Having HR staff taking an active role in health and safety can create a sense of community, while increasing accountability and alignment in your organization.

Online Exclusive!

Editor’s Flashback This online-only feature column highlights select articles from past issues of Municipal World’s monthly print magazine. In this issue, we share “Problems! Glorious Problems!” – from the March 2011 issue.

Coming Events

Evaluation that serves the common good

THE

UNEXAMINED

CITY

by Milton Friesen Â©iStockphoto.com/jackstudio

the public nature of that work merits quality evaluations. Organizational scholars such as the late Brenda Zimmerman have identified that some problems or settings are characterized by simple problems – we know all the moving parts and how they act, in addition to having a lot of experience sorting them out. This is the “recipe” type of problem, where uncertainty is relatively low. It doesn’t mean Evaluation is an important part of that simple problems are easy, but that collective examination. What is we’ve got most of the challenging eleinvolved in the art and science of takments sorted out. There are also probing stock of where an organization is, lems that are complicated. A common where it wants to be, and then how it might narrow the gap between the two? example is the task of sending a rocket into space. There is a whole lot going Over the years, I have had many on; and, getting all of the engineerconversations with councillors and ing and project management elements administrators who took up their muoriented in such a way that the rocket nicipal work with a desire to engage actually does what it is supposed to do in substantive debates and discusis indeed very complicated. Finally, sions about how to make a city better. there are the class of problems identiIn some cases, a particular failure to fied as complex. These problems may deliver what the community needed have a lot of contributing elements, but propelled them to seek out the chalwhat makes them truly complex is that lenges of leadership. I have also seen changing any one element can shift that aspirational drive get worn down the direction of the whole system. The very quickly as the bulk of their time global climate is a good example of a and energy is given to the mundane, complex system. or (worse) the trivial, while the subIn a municipal context, the differstantive questions are sidelined by urgencies. Evaluation frameworks and ences may be understood in this way. A simple system or context might be approaches can play a critical role in mailing tax notices. It may require a determining whether we attend to the substantive, the mundane, or the trivial. significant skill level, organization, diligence, and effort; but, the system How do municipal leaders know and process is clear, well known, and if the time and energy they invest is making their communities better? How easily verified or evaluated. A comdo they know if they are making a real plicated context or project might be replacing sections of underground contribution to the common good or public interest mandated by municipal utilities in a busy downtown corridor. Many specific and interacting capacilegislation? These are core questions ties must be brought to bear on accomfor all municipal leaders to consider. plishing the task and many technically Simple, Complicated, challenging elements contend with or Complex factors like weather. Each element is well known, but the number of moving Although it was not written with parts and intricate connections makes a municipal leadership audience in it difficult. Careful planning, experimind, a recent report by consulting ence, and execution can accomplish the firm FSG titled “Evaluating Comproject, and it is clear what needs to plexity: Propositions for Improving be done and when it is completed. An Practice” features critical thinking example of a complex challenge would for anyone who is involved in social be increasing a given municipality’s investment and community leaderpower to make decisions and access ship. The significantly social nature of elected and civil service is a prime resources such as new revenue, new context for complex interactions and There is a well-known philosophical maxim (attributed to Socrates) suggesting that the unexamined life is not worth living. Though the maxim applies, on its face, to the lives of individuals, the concept could apply equally to the “lives” of organizations – including municipalities.

markets or economic investments, or new legislative powers. The range of citizen, corporate, regional, provincial, federal, and global dynamics that come into play in changes like this are like a spaghetti plate of dynamics: some are known, many are unknown, and changes in any dimension can shape the range of possibilities in many other dimensions. There are many interacting elements, any one of which can change the nature of the game. The “common good” is not singular, is ill-defined, and can change significantly over time. All of these connected and interacting factors make this a complex problem.

Making the Most of Evaluation How does a discussion of problem types relate to evaluation? In one sense, it is about applying the right kind of evaluation to the right kind of problem or context. If we take evaluation approaches that have been designed for simple, well-established processes and apply them to contexts or dynamics that are complex, we will gain little insight, and any response to this information may actually be counterproductive. Given these dynamics, there are a few guidelines that will help improve the benefits that are possible with evaluation. First, evaluation can be threatening. It can yield new insight and shed light on what we are doing and how we are doing it. Although it can increase the function of a given process, department, or municipality, it may not always be a positive process for everyone involved. In some cases, we would rather be left to keep doing what we are doing. In other cases, people may become cynical when the wrong approach to evaluation is taken (e.g., treating an experimental project that explores unknown approaches the same as a well-established process).

July 2016

MILTON FRIESEN is the Program Director of Social Cities and a Senior Fellow at Cardus, a public policy think tank. He is nearing completion of a Ph.D. at the University of Waterloo, School of Planning.

Municipal World

Talented and capable people can and do experience enforced limits or sanctions based on wrongly-applied measurement or evaluation approaches. Our solutions, derived from incorrect evaluation, can make a problem worse rather than solving it. Second, we need evaluation and must continue to develop our ability to see linkages between cause and effect, however imperfectly. Evaluation always has flaws, but it is important to understand that it happens continuously – even where it is not formalized. Raising our evaluation approaches to a conscious and organizational level enables large groups of people to take stock of whether they are making progress toward their collective goals. It is important to be able to see connections between the work people do and the results of that work. If a municipality undertakes a tree planting program, they may want to know if new trees are being planted faster than old trees are dying. They may also want to know if they can afford to increase the city-

wide tree canopy given its impact on the departmental budget. Third, growth in evaluation that contributes to the common good (or to the thriving of a community) requires an increased capacity to identify the kinds of problems or systems to which the evaluation is being applied. Horst Rittel and Melvin Webber published a paper in 1973 about the nature of problems faced in social policy and identified the existence of problems they labelled “wicked” – solutions are not clear, the problems may not even be defined, no one controls drivers of the problems, and the effect of solutions is unknown (perhaps unknowable). Though the term has reached common use status (and morphed into superlative forms such as “super-wicked” problems), we have yet to absorb the core ideas into our practices. Administrative and political leadership can ill afford to assume that most of their problems are simple; but, in the unexamined city, the business-as-usual core

For a realistic perspective on Change For presentations and workshops For expertise and insights Contact: Peter de Jager

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July 2016

tends to evolve toward standardized approaches in the service of efficiency.

Adapting to a More Challenging “Normal” As Clay Christensen has so capably demonstrated in The Innovator’s Dilemma, commonly accepted standards or approaches strongly favour the simple-to-complicated end of the spectrum. In the increasingly dynamic world of deeply interrelated influences we live in today, a world where wicked problems seem more prevalent, the complicated-to-complex side of the spectrum represents a much more challenging normal. Evaluation approaches that are not tuned to the context will lead to option blindness – we won’t see what we need. We would think it ridiculous and dangerous if a driver only looked at the temperature gauge and made that the measure of success or failure as a driver. Temperature matters – but on a busy highway, there are other measures that matter more.

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Citizens are ready to help share the workload, says Aitken. “Local government will need to be open to, prepare for, and not be overly cautious of the opportunities that will present EPUB themselves. Governments that understand the importance of participation, and that protect the rights of their citizens to do so, can capitalize on these opportunities.” available lso

Identification of our context, problem type, and potential evaluation approaches requires that we sharpen our set of investigative questions as we approach evaluation. In a recent blog post, I proposed a dozen questions that can sharpen our evaluation. Two questions will serve as examples. First, are your evaluation approaches as dynamic and adaptive as the realities you are attempting to measure? A completely rigid and predetermined measure that cannot change according to context may be a sign of an ill-fitted approach. Second, do your evaluation approaches fit naturally with the time frames and rhythms of the contexts and systems you are seeking to change? For the early years of most new ventures, profit margins can be far from robust and require patience as a new product, clientele, or strategy is developed. Effective venture investment recognizes this and evaluates measures such as profit margins differently in year one than they do in year five. Finally, evaluations don’t live outside the system, they are part of it and are critical to the performance of that system. A well-fitted evaluation approach will resonate with and substantiate the work itself. We wouldn’t think of considering our view of the road ahead as an appendage to driving – looking at the road is a vital form of continuous evaluation that every driver needs and is inherent to driving. If evaluations feel like they are being Frankensteined onto a project or process, it’s worth understanding why that is the case and could signal a misapplied evaluation approach. Public officials, administrators, and employees are accountable to the people they represent and serve. Measuring the performance of individuals, projects, departments, and the systems they inhabit remains a critical aspect of the diverse, common-good mandates they serve. Fitting specific evaluation frameworks to the contexts and problems is a requirement that is becoming more important as the complexity of municipal dynamics increase. It may well be that, in such an environment, the wrongly examined city is as much a hazard as the unexamined city. MW

If local governments can see past the risk and the unknown, and are able to look into the future with clear eyes, they just might be able to see that this is a moment of great potential for their communities.

July 2016

Municipal World

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HR FEATURE ARTICLE

Putting the “HR” in Communications Preparing to hire a communications professional by Leigh Carter In today’s world (and tomorrow’s for sure), residents, customers, clients, media, and the general public are increasingly demanding to know what’s going on with governments, organizations, and corporations. People are becoming accustomed to getting information anywhere and anytime, and they have a not-unrealistic expectation that public and corporate bodies will make their information quickly available, easy to find, and easy to understand. Private companies and businesses (as well as membership associations) caught onto this the quickest. It was not unusual to find communications staff (then mostly referred to as “PR”) in those places over 30 years ago, using the methods available at the time to ensure that people got answers to questions, had their concerns addressed, and could find what they were looking for. Federal and provincial governments took a little longer to add staff dedicated to making information clear and available, but communications personnel began to appear throughout departments and ministries, too. Local government, though, has often been slower to bring communications professionals on board. In mid- and smaller-sized municipalities and regions, corporate communication staff were frequently seen as something only “big” cities needed. The idea that in smaller areas everyone knew each other, knew the elected officials, and knew exactly what was going on was prevalent – but often incorrect. Even in smaller communities, local governments were finding that, although

they’d take out an ad in a local paper, it turned out not everyone in their community read that paper; and, everyone did not, in fact, know their neighbours – or talk to them about community programs. They were also finding out that, although their head of public works or engineering clearly understood the need for a new sewer line or bridge, they were not thinking beyond that need: how and when to inform and engage with residents, what concerns specific groups might have, how to be ready to talk to reporters, etc. Getting information together and presenting it in simple language using a variety of methods, and anticipating issues that the media might pick up, was not a focus for local government operational staff. It was not a focus for elected officials, either. In many cases, local government operations, administration, and elected leaders were not trained in those areas, or even very interested in actively participating in them. However, the public demand for information was changing; and, with it, the needs of local government were shifting as well.

Hiring a Communications Professional Enter the addition of communications professionals in smaller and mid-sized local governments. It’s no longer an unusual sight to see a local government communications official quoted in the media, or to see them listed in the contact area of a website. But, it’s still not completely common either. While some organizations have taken the step, others don’t know where to start.

Sometimes, local governments decide they need communications support (often after a crisis of some kind), but don’t have the experience to address certain important questions. What kind of skill set do they really need? What are the expectations of the position? What will they tell naysayers, who will still say it’s a waste of taxpayers’ money? Before a job posting is placed, there are some things that local governments should consider before moving to the hiring process. Be clear on your goals and expectations – Be sure you know what you’d like the communications person to do in your organization. If you want them to do a lot of writing, hire for that skill. If you want them to do a lot of event planning, make that a priority. Not everyone has the same skill set. Be realistic about the capacity of a new position – Not only do you need to know what you’d like the communications person to do, but you need to be realistic about your expectations for this new team member. One lone communications officer is not going to give

LEIGH CARTER is Senior Communications Advisor at ZINC Strategies <www.zincstrategies. com>, a Comox Valley-based communications firm that specializes in helping local governments and engineering firms guide public communications during major projects in western Canada. With 30+ years’ experience, she recently retired from the position of General Manager, Corporate Communications for the Comox Valley Regional District.

July 2016

Municipal World

Even though a communications person can help your organization by working more effectively with the media – and being proactive with information – it’s not their job alone to communicate. you Mad Men-level advertising, Pulitzer Prize-winning writing, and Oscars-level events. They may be capable of one of those things; but, one person cannot do everything. Remember, the new position is a first step, not a blanket fix for everything. Be honest about what you’re trying to fix – Understand the limits of what communications can do for your organization. The best communications cannot fix bad policy or bad operating decisions. There is no “spin” that can save it – and a good communications person won’t try it. Communications can help to explain decisions on a project, develop better relationships with the media, or find ef-

Municipal World

fective ways to get information out. But, if a mess has been made, don’t expect communications to make it disappear. Be prepared to be inclusive – Communications staff need to be involved – at the table – right from the start of planning a project. They should be invited to sit in on project team meetings. Your communications team doesn’t have to understand engineering; they understand what the media and the public are likely to question, wonder, and think about the engineering project. Thinking things out ahead of public concern will make life easier for your staff – and your elected officials. Be confident in your decision to grow the team – Everywhere, on every

July 2016

controversy, the amorphous “communications” is seen to be needed, or seen to have been lacking. Don’t undersell or apologize for the need to help make better communications happen. You hire qualified engineers, planners, and building inspectors to do those jobs properly. The same applies for the communications department: hiring a qualified communications expert can help your organization do that job better as well. Be ready to be involved, too – Even though a communications person can help your organization by working more effectively with the media – and working with operating areas on being proactive with information – it’s not only their job

to communicate. The public still wants to hear from the subject matter experts on critical issues (e.g., your manager of water services on boil water advisories, and your CAO or director of finance on budgets). Putting a communications person in place doesn’t absolve people in other areas of the organization from being part of the world of improved public information and interaction. The communications person can, however, help other spokespeople get better at being interviewed, prepare clearer public information, and provide a number of other benefits for a municipality. Be equipped to put some money in – The “body” isn’t the only cost. Yes, you need salary for the person; but, to make sure the communications work is effective, you also need to build in dollars for things like website work, advertising, graphic design, printing, or events. If you have the person, but no money for tools or support, you’re not going to get very far. And, when thinking of money, use the “Goldilocks” principle for salary – not too high or the council/board won’t

approve it; but, not too low, or you won’t get the skill set you actually need. Conduct a salary audit/comparison with other like-sized local governments, connect with colleagues in other organizations, or use information from sector-specific salary surveys to give you an idea of what organizations like yours are paying. Consider getting help with hiring – When the Comox Valley airport commission decided it could benefit from hiring a communications person dedicated to improving media relations, telling the airport story in better ways to the public, and helping develop proactive information for controversial issues, it required a lot of planning. The then-CEO realized that, although she wanted to have communications “on board,” she wasn’t totally sure of the best type of person for the job. To help create that outline, she brought in a local communications expert to help her work through the airport’s needs, expectations of the person to be recruited, right questions to ask in an interview, and even to sit in on the interviews to help ask those questions and

assess candidates’ answers. By having a communications professional help with the hiring process, the desired result was achieved: a well-qualified, well-suited communications professional was hired and remains in place, engaging in media outreach and working with the current CEO on public events, messaging, and communications planning.

Crossing the Communications Bridge There is no silver bullet when it comes to communication. Hiring a communications person doesn’t automatically mean all your residents are going to love what you do, or even that they’ll all know what you’re doing. But, if your organization has someone on board who looks at issues of public concern, who helps to communicate clearly on those issues, and whose sole focus is ensuring that information (one-way, two-way, and multi-way) is everywhere it needs to be, then you’ll have walked far more than halfway across the communications bridge. MW

ONTARIO MUNICIPAL HUMAN RESOURCES ASSOCIATION • Represents over 400 members in almost 200 organizations in Ontario. • Ontario's premier municipal HR Association that provides leadership and

direction on Human Resources issues.

• Networking opportunities with other HR professionals to exchange information. • Municipal voice on emerging HR legislation, policies, and programs. • Relevant education and training opportunities, and professional development

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HR FEATURE ARTICLE

Integrating for a Culture of Health and Safety Human Resources and the Health and Safety Role by Kim Takata No one knows an organization to the extent of the human resources department. Through understanding how roles, policies, procedures, business requirements, culture, and structure support the strategic priorities of the organization, HR has the opportunity to partner and influence the leadership team. With an aging workforce, constant legislative changes, and new hazards emerging daily – including fatigue, mental health, violence and harassment, post-traumatic stress disorder, and more – the role of HR continues to shift and expand. While HR leaders may not necessarily know the ins and outs of health and safety from a technical perspective, they are expected to respond accordingly to health and safety needs as they arise. Recognizing the importance of this changing role is critical in promoting and sustaining an effective IRS (internal responsibility system).

Roles and Responsibilities

culture. To begin with, some of the responsibilities of HR are: ►► recruitment and selection; ►► performance management and development; ►► employee and labour relations; ►► policy development; ►► organizational and employee effectiveness; and ►► compensation and benefits. Responsibilities of the health and safety manager are to plan, implement, assess, and review protective and preventative safety measures. The role may encompass: ►► health and safety training; ►► legislative compliance; ►► risk assessments; ►► hazard identification and investigations; ►► health and safety policy and program development; ►► joint health and safety committee metrics; and ►► claims and disability management. So, how can an organization integrate the roles and responsibilities of both to provide innovative solutions for workers? How can health and safety leaders work optimally in partnership with employers, employees, and unions to mitigate operational losses, occupational health issues, accidents, and injuries?

For smaller organizations, HR is often responsible for health and safety, thus making it easier to address, promote, and identify health and safety issues. However, in larger organizations, HR will often work in tandem with the health and safety manager. These separate roles can become siloed, and perhaps even compete for resources; yet, when integrated, these allied forces can Alignment and Integration help create a positive health and safety Since health and safety has long been viewed as the role of everyone

July 2016

in an organization, HR can play a key role in bringing alignment and facilitating conversation. HR can work alongside the health and safety manager to support and be part of the joint health and safety committee (JHSC). Both roles can work together to develop policies and help advocate, while overseeing communications and reporting. Alignment where there is overlap will also assist with a more engaged workforce when it comes to health and safety. HR is also an important part of representing workers, providing support for safety concerns, coaching, and additional health and safety training. In an article in the October 2015 issue of Municipal World (“Laying a Foundation for Success: Solutions to prevent and manage the new wave of workplace health and safety issues,” p. 27), Monica Szabo suggested ways to prevent and manage the new wave of workplace health and safety issues such as psychosocial hazards. These are fast becoming major issues for Canadian employers, and HR is integral in helping to reduce the stigma where

KIM TAKATA, CHRL, is Manager, Human Resources and Employee Relations for Public Services Health and Safety Association. Kim has been in the HR field for over 15 years in both public and private sectors, supporting all levels of the organization. She holds a commerce degree and MA, Leadership from the University of Guelph.

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leadership commitment and focus is concerned. Nothing is more frustrating than inconsistent messaging, or worse, the perception of being in a queue and being transferred from one person to the next until you finally give up and hang up. By integrating health and safety along with the roles of where responsibilities lie, it becomes part of business planning, which means that accountability can lie throughout the organization. From initial recruitment efforts through to annual planning, health and safety can become an integral part of an organization’s culture – and can result in real meaning and value for employees. Cross-discipline and crosssector initiatives bring new ideas and creative strategies to overall health and safety planning.

an annual basis. Treat it like a yearly business plan. The focus on health and safety will contribute to productivity and influence positive morale. Align communication – Align with the health and safety manager on what communication is essential to keeping workers up to date so that HR can effectively interact with each department using company-wide notices. Being transparent and encouraging accessibility is key to ensuring workers have open communication on all health and safety issues. Manage change together – Change in the workplace can often affect employees. As a result, it is important to take steps to evaluate your organization’s health and safety culture on a quarterly or annual basis. Be transparent and share outcomes with workers to demonstrate solutions and action. Strategies for Success Find new ways to keep employees enThe following integration strategies gaged. Develop leadership – Work tocan help ensure that the organization is gether from a place of “reduced” not only focused, but also aligned. enforcement, to instead incentivize Integrate health and safety into engagement and collaboration when it strategy – This will include not only comes to safety. Encourage and inspire the HR strategy, but strategy across employees to develop their own leaderthe organization. Goals can then casship skill set when it comes to health cade down to departmental plans and and safety. individual performance objectives. Mentor one another – For larger For example, implementing the psyorganization, HR and health and safety chological health and safety standard are separate departments; and, while could be a goal that is cascaded down they might report into the same leader, to individual objectives (for example, the roles have a different set of skills as a commitment to participate in and/ and competencies. The opportunity to or promote psychological health and work together and develop one another safety). not only provides a growth opportuRecruit for competency in health nity, it will ensure that priorities are and safety – This can be a consideraligned and common goals are articuation in hiring staff and management. Develop questions during the interview lated. that focus on awareness and knowlConclusion edge. Become an active member of the Following the roadmap to success JHSC – Not only is it important for will lead to establishing an effective HR to be an active member of the health and safety management system. JHSC, they should also recognize the Through a participatory approach, importance of becoming a certified workplace stakeholders become acmember. tively involved in the recognition, Measure success – To improve assessment, and control of workplace workplace health and safety standards, issues. Having both the HR and health HR and the health and safety manager and safety staff working together will should compile and track data – from create a sense of community and shift training compliance to lost time inciorganizational health and safety culdents – to help identify priorities on ture. MW July 2016

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Problems! Glorious Problems!

C. K. Chesterton penned a quote that I’m especially found of: “It isn’t that they can’t see the solution. It’s that they can’t see the problem.” This one constantly reminds me that there is always, without fail, an opportunity lying around somewhere. I just need to find it. That wasn’t a typo; I meant to type “opportunity” I didn’t forget that this discussion was about “problems.” A problem is opportunity disguised as a thorn in your assumptions. Fix the problem and you’ve moved yourself forward in some manner, large or small. Because of how I earn my living, I get lots of feedback – more than a person normally gets in other lines of work – file folders filled to overflowing with feedback. The good feedback is great; I love it (great reading when I’m down in the dumps). It’s what keeps me motivated to keep going. But, it’s the negative feedback, when people point out a problem, that’s the true treasure. Becoming aware of new problems, if we have the motivation to respond to them, is what motives us not only to “keep going,” but to start going in a new and improved direction. Problems are always doors to something better. Organizations don’t like problems. We shy aware from them; we

shoot messengers who bring them to us; we surround ourselves with 800 lb gorilla problems that no-one dares talk about; we have terms describing cultural approaches to problems (“willful ignorance” comes to mind); and we have to legislate whistleblower laws to protect those who make problems public. Organizations let problems fester until there is no other option but to lance them like boils. As I write this, Wikileaks has announced that in January 2011 it will release documents disclosing a pile of “problems” in a major US bank. Of course, every “major” bank is worrying that their “problems” will see the light of day and are scrambling to either hide these problems more deeply or fix the problems as soon as possible. The irony is that, whatever organization is going to get their knuckles soundly rapped by Wikileaks, all organizations knew of these issues before Wikileaks, decided to take action. Organizations ignore problems that obviously need fixing until they are forced to act. Not all problems fall into the category that Wikileaks exposes. Most of the organizational problems that readers of MW might encounter are more mundane, with less serious consequences. They fall more in the line of: our projects are always delivered July 2016

late; it takes an inordinate amount of time to get things approved; our meetings are a waste of time; our customer service needs improvement, etc. Yet, even these can become so much a part of the work environment that we become blind to them – hence my fondness of Chesterton’s quote. We are typically blind to most of the problems around us. We need some way to heighten our awareness of the invisible problems so that we can then, if we choose, correct them. If only we could place a bounty on problems, and in so doing, get everyone looking high and low for them! Many organizations have some type of suggestion program where they encourage, and then sometimes reward – employees for bringing new ideas (usually in the form of

PETER DE JAGER speaks on Change Management – and prefers a really good problem over a fine bottle of wine any day of the week. You can reach Peter at <pdejager@technobility.com> and read his Management Zone column every month in Municipal World.

This article was originally published in the March 2011 issue of Municipal World. Municipal World

“solutions”) to management’s attention. It’s a step in the right direction of constant improvement, but this strategy contains a hidden flaw. It usually, not always, requires that an individual identifies a problem and then comes up with a viable solution – often on their own. That’s a lot of work for someone who’s already overworked in these “tough economic times.” Here’s another idea – instead of requiring a solution, how about just identifying a prominent problem? The individual tagging the problem doesn’t have to solve it, just recognize that it’s worthy of solution. The problem is then passed along to a group of people who love solving problems – people like myself, who see all problems as a personal challenge, even as an affront to our sense of order in the universe. The challenge is still the fact that many problems just hide deep inside the “we’ve always done it that way!” bushes. It takes either a new set of eyes to see these opportunities, or a quickly annoying habit of constantly, incessantly, persistently asking “Why?” about every business process until inefficiencies (if they exist) are exposed. Borrowing a new set of eyes isn’t too difficult to arrange; just make it part of the organizational culture to have people from one department work in other departments for short periods of time and report back what they see. The hurdle is for everyone to grasp that the observations, while they will sound like “criticisms,” are intended – from the very outset – as a way to get better at whatever it is we do for a living. As to the “Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?” strategy, that requires someone with a peculiar personality. They must have both an analytical mind and a very very good sense of humour. The Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? approach – especially about things that everyone takes for granted, takes some getting used to – a sense of humour can take the edge off just a little bit. MW

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