What a City Manager wants in their Public Works Director and how to be the best!

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WHAT EVERY CITY MANAGER
WANTS IN A
PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
“TO BE OUTSTANDING – GET COMFORTABLE
WITH BEING UNCOMFORTABLE.” – ALRIK
KOUDENBURG
Extraordinary
Public Works
Director
Highly
Strategic
Technically
Competent
Strong
Leader

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Extraordinary
Public Works
Director
Highly
Strategic
Technically
Competent
Strong
Leader

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Extraordinary
Public Works
Director
Highly
Strategic
Technically
Competent
Strong
Leader
LEADERSHIP IS TOUGH

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LEADERSHIP PERSPECTIVE
 Leadership is NOT equivalent to managing
well
 Public works professionals have always been
great managers – they need to be great leaders
 Tendency towards technical solutions
 Refocus on adaptive solutions
 Embrace the role of community leader
LEADERS
 Know their strengths and develop them
 “I’ve never met an effective leader who wasn’t
aware of his talents and working to sharpen
them.” – Former NATO Supreme Allied
Commander Wesley Clark, in the New York
Times Magazine
Source: Strengths Based Leadership; Rath and Conchie;
Gallup Press, 2008
LEAD YOUR TEAM
 Be willing to do what
you are asking your
team to do
 Be available and
helpful
 Make the difficult
decisions
 Hold staff accountable
 Develop talents on
your team
 Get out of the way

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REALITY-BASED LEADERSHIP
CY WAKEMAN
 Suffering is optional
 Joy or misery is a choice
 People spend 2 hours per day in BMW
mode
 Happiness is based on amount of
accountability you take for your
circumstances
 Don’t allow stepping down instead of
stepping up – “What did you do to help?”
THE HAPPINESS ADVANTAGE
SHAWN ANCHOR
 Research indicates that happiness
precedes important outcomes and
indicators of thriving
 You choose whether you have a good day
or a bad day or whether you view your day
as successful or not

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LEADING TO ENGAGEMENT
 Trust
 Engagement 1 in 2 vs. 1 in 12
 Compassion
 Caring is noticed
 Stability
 9 x more engagement with confidence in
financial future
 Hope
 69% vs. 1% engagement – feeling
enthusiastic about the future
Source: Strengths Based Leadership; Rath and Conchie;
Gallup Press, 2008
WHERE DO YOU START?
 Allocate time to “get off the dance floor and
onto the balcony”
 See your environment from different
perspectives
 Build relationships everywhere
 Relearn managerial habits
 Stop solving everyone else’s problems
 Guide and coach – but don’t DO
 Practice empowering behavior
 Learn to tolerate some failure
 Ask “why?” as often as you can
TRAITS OF LEADERSHIP
 Confidence
 Approachable
 Integrity
 Decisive
 Good listener
 Removes barriers
Charles Joyner, President –
Survival Sciences, LLC

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CHARLES JOYNER
 Focus on mission; Focus on people
 Never make it personal; Never take it
personally
 If at any point you start thinking about
you, then you are not being a great leader
 When bad things happen in your career –
ask “What role did I have in this and how
do I get better?”
THE EXTRAORDINARY PUBLIC
WORKS LEADER
 Strategic thinker
 Media savvy
 At the policy table
 In touch with the community
 Politically astute
 Embraces change – “the new normal”
 Facilitator, not regulator
 Builds relationships
 Technical skills are the beginning –
not the end
“LEADERSHIP IS NOT MAKING A LIST OF
WHAT SOMEONE ELSE SHOULD DO.” – SUE

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Extraordinary
Public Works
Director
Highly
Strategic
Technically
Competent
Strong
Leader
POLITICS DEFINED
 Poly = Many
 Tics = Small Biting Insects
HOW DOES POLITICS AFFECT YOU?
 Priorities shift
constantly
 Loyalties shift
constantly
 You are exposed to crazy
people

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HOW DOES POLITICS AFFECT YOU?
 Citizens don’t
understand
logic and don’t
want to
 Public good vs.
individual harm
HOW DOES POLITICS AFFECT YOU?
 You get lots of advice from “experts”
CONSIDER THE CONSEQUENCES OF
YOUR ACTION OR INACTION
 Will the customer
go over your head ?
 Will you get
overruled anyway ?
 How important is
this issue in the big
picture ?

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DON’T BURN YOUR BRIDGES
 You don’t know
what the future
holds
 Relationships and
loyalties change
over time
ALWAYS BE PROFESSIONAL
 Elected officials
have long memories
 You never know
who might be an
elected official in
the future
TAKE RESPONSIBILITY!
 Especially if you or
your staff makes a
mistake
 Resist the urge to
blame who is really
at fault

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PICK YOUR BATTLES CAREFULLY
BE PLEASANT
STRATEGIC THINKING
 Think about what you put
in writing
 You may read it in the
newspaper tomorrow !
 Think about what you are
bringing up during
election season
 Think ahead

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SOCIAL MEDIA
ALWAYS BE ALERT AND PAYING
ATTENTION
 Change is a constant
 Be aware of
relationships,
loyalties, issues
 Anticipate what will
go wrong – get ahead
of issues
Extraordinary
Public Works
Director
Highly
Strategic
Technically
Competent
Strong
Leader

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WHAT IS A CITY MANAGER WORRIED
ABOUT?
 Elected officials are well-perceived in the
community
 Employees believe they are treated fairly
and trust their Leadership Team
 Residents have trust, faith and hope in
our performance as city leaders
 High quality execution of projects and
programs commensurate with resources
THE EXTRAORDINARY DIRECTOR
 Handles the stuff they can handle –
increasing their capacity with time
 Anticipates train wrecks and provides
timely warnings
 Has a strong awareness of the things a
city manager must worry about
 Avoids delegating up
 Is highly strategic – thinking and actions

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WORK-IN-PROGRESS DIRECTOR
 Only looks at the view from their
department
 Encourages their problems to become the
city manager’s problems
 Is the focal point of media storm, political
controversy, highly unhappy residents
 Is surprised by train wrecks
HOW TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE
 Can the city manager delegate media
relations to you?
 How much time does the city manager
spend on your personnel issues?
 How often are citizens unhappy with your
department and go around you to the city
manager or the Mayor/Council?
 Do other departments want to work with
you or go around you?
HOW TO GET BETTER
 Read and Learn
 Emotional Intelligence
 Strengths Based Leadership
 Reality Based Leadership
Some great YouTube videos
 The Happiness Advantage
 Self-monitor your behavior and results
 Find good mentors
 Especially those that will challenge and not just
validate your behavior
 THINK before you open your mouth

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EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Knowing your emotions
Managing your own emotions
Motivating yourself
Recognizing and understanding other people's
emotions
Managing relationships, i.e., managing the
emotions of others
Source: Daniel Goleman
“In my 1998 book Working with Emotional
Intelligence, I proposed that EI-based
abilities more often than IQ-type abilities
or technical skills are the discriminating
competencies that predict who among a
group of very smart people will lead most
ably.” – Daniel Goleman
EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
USE YOUR SENSES
Listen MUCH more than
you talk
Watch what’s going on
around you
Observe body language
Observe relationships
Use common sense
Think before you speak

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THINK BEFORE YOU TALK
 Media Relations
 Customer Service
 When I open my mouth
- how can I make the
organization look good?
KNOW WHEN TO SHUT UP
If you are in a hole, stop digging
LOOK AT POLITICS DIFFERENTLY
 It is the best system in the world
 So what if it can be annoying?
 Elected officials are also just trying to do
their jobs to the best of their abilities
 They have to respond to constituents

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DO YOU DRIVE THE BMW?
KNOW YOUR CITY MANAGER
 Left brain or right brain?
 Personality type?
 What makes that person proud, angry,
annoyed, happy?
 Big picture thinker, operational expert?
 How do you fit?

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KNOW YOU
 Left brain or right brain?
 Personality type?
 Understand how best to relate
 Big picture thinker, operational expert?
 How do you fit?
 Ask…
 Am I helping or making situations more
difficult?
 How can I fit better?
 How can I be more effective?
 Be receptive to modifying your behavior to get
better results