Author: Sandra Miller

In any leadership position in local government, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by many different projects, meetings, and ever-changing urgent demands. To exert positive leadership in your new role, the key is to step back, carve out some time to be self-reflective, and figure out productive ways to manage yourself and leverage your leadership strengths.

By Dr. Frank Benest | August 3, 2024

I’m a first-time development services director in a suburban city. I was hired from outside theorganization. In this new role, I’m doing my best to be a positive influence. There are lots ofprojects and meetings and many urgent matters to which I must respond. It’s hectic and I’m a bitoverwhelmed.

With all of this activity, I wonder how I can have more of a positive impact. Sometimes my staff responds in a positive way to my leadership; sometimes not so much. As I further develop myself as I leader, I’d like to better stress who I am, what I value, and where I can best make a contribution.

How do I get started?

Ask These Questions to Foster Self-Awareness

The journey toward self-knowledge starts by carving out some quiet time and space to reflect and ask yourself some questions. I reflect when I now take a daily walk in the mid-afternoon as a break from work. When I worked as a city manager, I had a 9/80 schedule and used my alternative Fridays to go to a café, have breakfast, and reflect about the past week or two and think about challenges in the next several weeks. I have a colleague who gets up early on Saturdays before the rest of the
family and reflects upon the past week over coffee. Since we lead hectic lives, it is helpful if we create a ritual to have a quiet time to reflect.

To promote self-reflection, ask yourself some of these powerful questions:

• What strengths did I leverage in the last week?
• How did I show up to lead this week?
• In the last week, what surprised me and what can I learn from it?
• With whom did I really connect?
• What was my useful contribution?
• How did I allow others to flourish?
• How did I give? How did I receive help?
• How did I appropriately reveal myself to others?
• What is one thing I did for which I am thankful?
• What person or situation triggered a poor reaction on my part?
• What is one thing I want to stop doing as a leader?
• What can I do better in the coming week?
• Based on new data or experience, what opinion or belief may I need to change?

One ritual that is of value to some colleagues is to keep a journal. In response to some of the self reflection questions above, you write a few notes every day or once a week and then periodically go
back and review your entries.

In this digital age, we are more disconnected than ever. A lack of connection hurts organizational effectiveness. Micro-actions can boost workplace relationships and productivity.

By Dr. Frank Benest | May 01, 2024

“Belonging”—I like it. What is it?
Let me define what I mean by “belonging.” Belonging is when you feel that you matter to others; people care about you (not just what you produce); you feel supported; you have a “seat at the table;” and your opinion counts.
In her book Never Enough, Jennifer Wallace defines the closely related concept of “mattering.” Mattering means you are secure in your relationships with others and feel seen, cared for, and understood. People are interested in you and what you have to say; they share your successes and support you when you fail; and they rely on you for help.

Disconnection Hurts Business
“Belonging” may seem like a squishy and difficult-to-define term. Yet there is a very strong business case for all organizations, including local governments, that promoting belonging and work friendships matter. Gallup research indicates that having a “best friend at work” is strongly linked to higher levels of engagement, productivity, adaptability, and retention. (See Jon Clifton, “The Power of Work Friends,” hbr.org, Oct 7, 2022.)

Americans are now more likely to form friendships at work than at any other place, including at school, in their neighborhoods, or at their place of worship. Work friendships promote social connection and support, better communication, and collaboration, especially during times of change. In addition, the quality of relationships ranks first out
of 12 key factors in terms of determining job satisfaction. Unfortunately, only three out of ten employees report that they have a best friend at work. (See Jon Clifton, “The Power of Work Friends,” hbr.org, Oct 7, 2022.)

As we advance in our local government careers, we will all face public criticism— sometimes fairly, sometimes not.
How will we respond?

By Dr. Frank Benest
Jul 24, 2023

As a local government leader, you will face at some time or another public criticism. People expect that government will protect them and get angry when they suffer some damage (or in some cases even inconvenience). Given the growing lack of civility, people go beyond sharing their concerns and sometimes attack public officials and public employees. Since local government is the closest unit of government to the people, all of us working in the trenches of local government will experience the ire of dissatisfied residents, businesspeople, and other stakeholders, even if the criticism is not justified.

Understand that Criticism Comes with the Job

Most of us experience a certain amount of joy as local government professionals. We get the opportunity to build community and make a positive difference in the lives of people. However, with these joys comes the reality that people get to criticize their government, especially at the local level, and hold us accountable and demand better performance. It’s part of the job.

In addition, public criticism is one of the primary ways we correct things and make improvements. While it is human nature to react defensively to what we may consider an unfair attack, we leaders need to acknowledge criticism and consider corrective actions to improve performance.

Tips to Cope When You Are Under Fire

Before any Public Criticism:

In addition to acknowledging that public criticism is part of your messy world, you must anticipate the criticism whenever possible so you are not caught off-guard. In your case, you and the other senior leaders should have known there was going to be a lot of unhappy if not angry residents showing up at the council meeting. You could have prepared with colleagues on how you and other city officials were going to respond.

Assuming that you can anticipate the onslaught of criticism, it would also benefit you to get guidance from a few trusted advisors or coaches inside and outside the organization. Just talking through with a trusted colleague what you anticipate and how you plan to respond without defensiveness will give you a measure of confidence.

Finally, since you can count on public criticism at some point in your tenure, it is necessary to develop and have already in place positive relations with the city manager, councilmembers, and key stakeholders (such as neighborhood leaders). By performing well over time and developing positive relationships and rapport, you create a solid bank account of credibility and trust. If you’ve made a lot of deposits into your bank account, you can survive some withdrawals.

In the Heat of the Moment:

Even with a lot of preparation, it is natural to get defensive and respond emotionally to an attack. How you respond in the heat of the moment is critical. Here are some suggestions:

• Take a deep breath
  If a speaker at a council meeting or other public meeting criticizes you or even attacks you, take a deep breath or two or three. Deep breathing helps you slow down, gather your thoughts, and hopefully keep your emotions in check. In addition to a few deep breaths, unclench your fists. A leader under fire in a public meeting open his or her hands palms up under the table in order to minimize a desire to fight back.
• Listen to understand, demonstrate empathy
  While you may not agree with what the speaker is saying, listen intently to understand (not rebut). If you can empathize with the person and his or her concern or misfortune, you will be better able to respond effectively.
• Show some curiosity
  At a typical council or board meeting, you don’t want to get into a give-and-take with a complainant. However, in a more informal meeting or setting, it is wise to show some curiosity about the person’s situation and ask the person to “tell me more.”
• Acknowledge what you hear
  People want to have their say. Humans need to be heard before they listen. Even if you don’t agree with what a speaker is saying, acknowledge what you hear. For example, “I hear that you don’t think that the city protected your property during the flood.”
• Present the facts; avoid defensiveness
  When there is great contention, we should try to state what we know. For example, “Our public works crews worked long hours in responding to the damage. The city took some preemptive actions, such as clearing the creek of debris and providing some sandbag stations for residents; however, those actions were insufficient.”