How To Get A Leadership Program In The City Of San James

Transcription

1 Eileen Beaudry HR Program Manager City of San Jose, CA 200 East Santa Clara San Jose, CA P: URL: City of San Jose Art and Practice of Public Leadership In the early 2000s, the City of San Jose, like many large municipalities across the country, realized a potential crisis in management turnover. The City identified the potential leadership drought through the analysis of retirement trends and workforce demographics. The data clearly pointed to the inevitable fact that key City leaders would soon be leaving the organization. It was obvious that the City s sustained success relied on its ability to actively prepare a pool of internal candidates to fill those vacancies. In response to the data, the City of San Jose, in conjunction with Marnie Green of the Management Education Group, Inc. created a comprehensive leadership development program that met the unique needs of future leaders within a municipal environment. Since 2004, the Art and Practice of Public Leadership (APL) has been San Jose s premier leadership development opportunity. Through an extensive period of budget reductions, organizational restructuring, and turnover at the executive level, the APL effort has continued to be a consistent part of the city s development culture. The purpose of this case study is to illustrate the program s unique features and to highlight key success factors. Many organizations have developed leadership academy-type programs to develop future leaders. The City of San Jose s APL program is not unlike these programs in that it features ten class sessions that focus on a variety of leadership topics. The program agenda follows this case study. Each year 25 participants are selected through an application process. Applicants must meet the following criteria: Have been with the City for a minimum of one year Work as a unit manager Provide day-to-day direction, feedback and coaching to employees Occupy a salaried (exempt) classification Plan a future with the City of San Jose Have expressed a desire to become a more effective leader at the City of San Jose

2 Can demonstrate an interest in their own professional development Applicants are expected to provide an essay that describes why they are a suitable candidate for the program and each applicant s manager and department head are required to indicate their support for the application. Since the program s inception in 2004, approximately 150 managers have successfully completed the program. Unique Program Elements The City of San Jose s Art and Practice of Public Leadership program includes classroom learning using a variety of popular leadership curriculum including references to The Leadership Challenge by Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. In addition to the classroom elements, APL features four unique learning approaches that foster cross-functional learning, in-depth problem solving, and self-reflection. Team Projects APL participants work in teams of five to analyze, research, and propose recommendations on a real-life City challenge. The project work is conducted outside of the classroom portion of the class and leads participants to not only learn about new City functions, as well as how to function successfully in a crossfunctional work environment. The end product of the team efforts includes a City Council Memo and a presentation of the team s findings at a mock City Council meeting, presided over by City executives and APL graduates. Team projects have addressed a variety of municipal challenges including Innovative uses of technology Enhanced relationships with external partners including the local university and social service agencies Creative approaches to human resource challenges including succession planning and employee wellness Teams are guided by an assigned executive sponsor and a mentor who is typically a program graduate. Multi-rater Feedback with Individual Development Planning and Coaching A critical feature of APL is the use of a 360-degree feedback tool produced by Personnel Decisions International called Profilor. The Profilor product is timetested and is designed to provide feedback that is used for development purposes only. The feedback received through this process belongs to the

3 participant and is used to create personalized individual development plans with each participant. The feedback process is designed to give participants extensive, in-depth feedback on their leadership skills. Once the feedback is received and analyzed, participants are encouraged to return to the workplace and seek additional and clarifying information from their respondents and their manager. By seeking additional feedback they can better interpret the data they have received. With their feedback data, participants are expected to draft a development plan and share it with their manager. Once the manager has contributed to the development plan, the participant meets with the consultant in a one-hour, face to face coaching meeting to finalize the plan. Peer Coaching A highlight of the Art and Practice of Public Leadership program is the opportunity to receive focused, structured coaching on a personal leadership challenge the participant is facing. are expected to prepare a written summary of their challenge and present that challenge in a very structured way to a group of three peers. Over the course of one hour, the participant receives insights and ideas from their peers, while the peers also learn to fully explore organizational issues without jumping to solutions without full analysis. The peer coaches learn to ask open ended, probing questions and the participant is exposed to challenging and sometimes difficult perspectives that they may not otherwise consider. Each APL participant is expected to make a brief, succinct, and educational presentation during an APL session that informs the group about the functions of their work unit/division. The purpose of is to: Practice effective public speaking skills Learn to craft a message that is succinct and clear Share meaningful information with peers in order for them to understand another work function and how it impacts their work Presentations are a maximum of four minutes, followed by one minute of questions. Each presentation must also include one or two pressing issues the participant s work unit/division is currently facing.

4 Key Factors in the Program s Success Many public agencies offer similar leadership academy-type experiences. The City of San Jose s APL program has found great success due to at least four key success factors. Top level support and involvement The APL program has been successful because it receives extensive support from the City s highest level leaders. The City Manager and City management staff have consistently been involved in the program s content development and presentation. In addition, one class session features a presentation from and dialogue with the Mayor or a City Councilmember. This intimate conversation allows APL participants to better understand the perspective of elected officials in contrast to the perspective of City administration. These program features encourage a focus on the unique public sector challenges faced including the inevitable gap between administrative feasibility and political acceptability. Advisory team input and guidance APL was initially created with input from an advisory team made up of representatives of the City Manager, Department Heads, and other key learning leaders from throughout the organization. In the first few years of the program, the advisory team reviewed curriculum, selected the participants, and participated as team project advisors. They also served as the mock City Council for the team project presentations. Over time the role of the APL Advisory Team has evolved to serving as internal champions for the program. The APL Advisory Team has been instrumental in shaping the program so that it is specific to the organization and to the community. They help identify appropriate topics and speakers and encourage support for the program amongst their peers. Without an active, supportive advisory team, this training effort would not have the credibility and prestige that it currently enjoys. Direct supervisor involvement and accountability While top level and cross-functional support is critical to the success of a program such as APL, the participant s direct supervisors also play a critical role in supporting the participant s full involvement and ensuring that the learning can be transferred back to the work site. Several tools have been used to ensure supervisory support for each participant.

5 First, the program application clearly outlines the expectations of the participant and their supervisor. are expected to meet with their manager every two weeks to discuss APL content and what they are personally learning. In addition, supervisors must agree to: Honor the time that the employee is investing APL and free up their workload to allow them the development time Meet bi-weekly with the employee to discuss APL content and what s/he is learning Attend the project presentations and graduation ceremony at the completion of the program Complete an on-line, post-apl, supervisor s evaluation Attend, with their APL participant, several citywide learning events featuring key leadership-related speakers Expectation of Tangible Outcomes A final key element in the program s success is the strong expectation that the participants will produce a tangible outcome that will benefit the City through the team project. The projects are presented to a large group of organizational leaders, including the City Manager and Department Heads. As the culminating effort of the program, participants are expected to show all they ve learned in the presentations. Individual performance in the presentations is considered highly important and as an opportunity to enhance each participant s visibility within the very large organization. Because a great deal of importance is placed on the projects, as well as in full program participation, there is a high level of accountability to the program. feel accountable to complete the course requirements and to excel in their application of the course concepts. The supervisors of the participants feel accountable to support each participant so that they can be successful. Over the years, the City of San Jose has continued to link the importance of the program to its organizational strength and this focus has translated into behaviors that create a powerful learning environment. The Art and Practice of Public Leadership program has provided tangible and measurable results for the City of San Jose. Of the 150 graduates, 95% have been retained for at least two years after graduation from the program. Many have been promoted to higher levels of responsibility within the organization and many of these are serving as Deputy Directors and are preparing to assume Department Head responsibilities. Beyond the quantitative results, the program has yielded impactful results including:

6 Extensive cross-functional coordination and communication Thoughtful, meaningful team projects that focus on improved City services A pool of confident, competent leaders ready to take on higher levels of leadership responsibility City of San Jose Art and Practice of Public Leadership SAMPLE AGENDA SESSION NUMBER APL Program Welcome Profiler Kickoff TOPIC Peer Coaching Round One The Challenge of Leadership based on Five Practices of Exemplary Leadership, Kouzes and Posner Peer Coaching Round Two Talent Development and Succession Planning Strategies for Talent Development at the City of San Jose from Those Who Know Team Project Kickoff - Formulation of Team Charter - Project Workplan Ethics, Innovation and Risk Taking in a Council/Manager Form of Government Elected Official s View of Leadership and Risk Taking The Culture is in the Conversation Changing Forces, Changing City APL Participant Visions Peer Coaching Round Three Profilor 360-Degree Feedback Successful Managers Handbook APL Networking and Happy Hour PRESENTER Human Resources Director Program Manager Human Resources Program Managers Panel of APL Graduates Elected Official City Manager City of San Jose s Chief Strategist All APL Graduates Current APL APL Faculty

7 SESSION NUMBER TOPIC One-on-One 360º Profiler feedback meetings Leadership Conversations Conducting Powerful Performance Conversations Project Sponsors and Mentors Check-in Collaborative Communication Writing City Council Memos Paradigm Shift: Examining Personal and Organizational Bias Peer Coaching Round Four Media Relations at the City of San Jose Public Presentations and Engagement Skills Corner of the City Navigating the City Council Chambers Team Project Presentation Practice Synthesis and Review of Course Material Verbal Course Evaluation Presentation of Team Projects in City Council Chambers Group Lunch Graduation Ceremony PRESENTER Team Project Sponsors & Mentors Program Manager Public Works Director Workforce Development Manager Communications Manager Communications Manager