COUNCIL/STAFF RELATIONS. Gord Hume AUMA Oct. 5, 2016

Transcription

1 COUNCIL/STAFF RELATIONS Gord Hume AUMA Oct. 5, 2016

2 Municipal Cultural Planning Voters usually judge a Council before they judge a Councillor

3 Municipal Cultural Planning DYSfUncTionable

4 Municipal Cultural Planning Why do people run for office? Most people sincerely want to improve their community What happens is, reality sets in

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6 Leadership Qualities: Elected Most Important Biggest Challenge Ethics 46% 16% Vision Respect Honesty Communication Consensus Building Decisiveness Character 11 6 Confidence 5 10 Humility 4 14 Organization 3 13 Creativity 2 18 Charisma 1 5

7 Leadership Qualities: Administration Most Important Biggest Challenge Communication 63% 52% Respect Organization 30 8 Vision Ethics Honesty Open mindedness Decisiveness Consensus building Confidence Creativity Character 9 6 Humility 4 9 Charisma 1 8

8 Effectiveness of Council: Issue Avg. Rank The Council in my municipality perform their role effectively 6.08 I respect the Council in my municipality 6.59 I trust the Council in my municipality 6.11 The Council makes good decisions based on the information provided by senior municipal staff 6.25 The Council is my municipality clearly understands its role 5.44

9 Staff/Council working relationship: Clear understanding of roles 64 Mutual trust 64 Respect 37 Shared vision 36 Communication 34 Professionalism 31 Shared priorities 18 Cooperation 17

10 RESPONSIBILITIES COUNCIL: 1. VISION 2. POLICY AND STRATEGIC DIRECTION ADMINISTRATION: 1. SERVICE DELIVERY 2. MANAGE DAILY OPERATIONS

11 Getting in Trouble 1. Dysfunctional Council 2. Mayor off-centre 3. Lousy CAO 4. Mayor-CAO battling

12 Council s Characters Ego Personal problems Dumb Dislikable Leakers Weak mayor

13 Administration characters: Weak leadership Poor relationships Failing to build strong team CAO playing politics Lack of staff development Falling behind technologically

14 Building a Better Relationship: 1. Respect the roles 2. Play nice 3. Collective vision 4. Mayor-CAO in sync 5. Communications 6. Quidnuncs 7. Right question, right debate 8. Resolving conflict 9. Open government 10. Innovation and creativity

15 Municipal Cultural Planning 1. Respect the Roles: Clearly understand the role of Council and the role of Administration Share a common vision Don t cross the boundaries (eg. Staff don t report to Councillors ) Hire a great City Manager

16 Municipal Cultural Planning 2. Play Nice Earn each other s trust Share information Respect each other Praise in public, criticize in private

17 Municipal Cultural Planning 3. Collective Vision Council needs to set a strong vision Brief, clear, simple, achievable strategic plan Clarity of goals and objectives Staff in-put is valuable, but it is Council s decision

18 Municipal Cultural Planning 4. Mayor/CAO/City Manager Key relationship Must have effective, respectful working relationship A council s achievements can be scuttled by a bad relationship Staff are deeply impacted by this relationship

19 Municipal Cultural Planning 5. Communications Communication is a city hall priority Internal communications are the most critical staff concern Traditional and social media are two different animals (either can scar you!) Local media are being diminished Getting harder to get a message out

20 QUIDNUNCS Municipal Cultural Planning

21 Municipal Cultural Planning 7. Right Questions, debates Don t waste council or staff time Focus on the real issue Understand the larger questions and concerns Anticipate future developments Understand the context of your community and its place in the world Look ahead, not back

22 Municipal Cultural Planning 8. Handling Conflict Resolve it quickly Get past the personality conflicts Bring in outside educator/mediator if needed Mayor/CAO must show leadership, but Council must intervene if necessary Help Council to be successful A FREE PASS for the CAO twice

23 Municipal Cultural Planning 9. Open Government Public is demanding open government Staff and elected officials must understand and support this practice Share information, data Community engagement Cooperative policies and procedures

24 Municipal Cultural Planning 10. Innovation and Creativity Support innovation!!! Don t throw staff or an idea under the bus Increase risk tolerance at Council Expand training/education Adopt best practices Insist on creative solutions

25 Municipal Cultural Planning Courage Public service today is very hard Administration is under constant pressure Council is under constant scrutiny Need people with tenacity in gov t. Develop stronger Council/Staff relationships work at them!

26 Changing the Model: In Canada, provinces and territories need to change the traditional relationship with their municipalities: 1. Modern partnership between provinces and municipalities 2. New Revenue sharing, likely through consumption taxes 3. A change in local tax authority and then full accountability for local leaders 4. A broader governance mandate for municipalities 5. New protocols for each order of government to do what it can do best

27 Creative Communities Municipal Cultural Planning

28 Questions and Discussion: To order any of Gord s books: books.municipalworld.com