Fees

Half-day workshops: $3,600 for states with a signed affiliation agreement with ICMA for up to 50 participants. Non-affiliated states pay an additional fee. Reductions in the price of the workshop are possible when costs are shared by a state association.

Full-day workshops (available on request): $4,950 for states with a signed affiliation agreement with ICMA for up to 50 participants. Non-affiliated states pay an additional fee.

Contact workshops@icma.org for details.

Workshops

management

Managing in Difficult Political Environments

Through the use of interactive media, real-life situations, and group discussion, this workshop will explore the challenges faced by public sector managers when local politics reaches the breaking point and the manager becomes the focus of attacks from elected officials and citizens. Workshop participants will learn to recognize the warning signs of community unrest, gain insight into the manager’s unique role, examine personal and organizational costs, review the media’s role-for good and ill, and put the “fun” back in dysfunctional. (Practice Groups: 2 - Policy Facilitation and 16 - Media Relations) 

The “Performance Dividend” of Professional Management: How You Can Demonstrate It Using Performance Measurement

Reflecting a core belief of all ICMA members, Executive Director Bob O’Neill emphasizes that there is a “performance dividend” for professionally managed communities. But, is this just an article of faith or can you point to specifics in your community that demonstrate this? Are you measuring performance in your community? And, even if you are, are you using those measures to drive organizational effectiveness and improvement? Do you develop council agendas around performance outcomes? Are performance targets key components to your budget? Do you report the performance of your organization to your residents? Can you demonstrate the linkage between the performance of your departments, work teams, and employees and the overall performance goals for your community? This workshop will provide you with concrete steps you can take so that you can provide a confident “yes” to each of these questions, no matter what size your community or your level of financial resources. (Practice Groups: 1 - Staff Effectiveness; 2 - Policy Facilitation; 3 - Functional and Operational Expertise and Planning; 5 - Quality Assurance; 6 - Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity, and Innovation; 10 - Budgeting; 11 - Financial Analysis; and 12 - Human Resources Management) 

Essential Management Skills

In this thought-provoking and challenging workshop, the case-study method will be used to focus on relations between elected officials and managers, ethics, and the essential skills of problem analysis, decision-making, and persuasion. Each participant will receive copies of three cases from the textbook Managing Local Government: Cases in Decision Making and must read the cases prior to attending the workshop. (Practice Groups: 2 - Policy Facilitation; 15 - Presentation Skills; and 17 - Integrity 

bUILDING EFFECTIVE COUNCIL-STAFF RELATIONSHIPS: UNDERSTANDING, ESTABLISHING AND MAINTAINING THE PROPER ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Developing and maintaining effective relationships between the chief administrator, elected officials and staff is perhaps the most important and difficult task that faces local government executives.  The variety and ever changing nature of personal, political and organizational dynamics can challenge even the most experienced leader. Managers must have a sound personal foundation as well as effective organizational and governance systems in place to provide the best chance for the leadership team cohesiveness. This workshop will explore the challenges that face local government leadership teams, the importance of role definition, the use of governance models, and the approaches that managers can employ to address leadership team dysfunction.(Practice Groups 1 – Staff Effectiveness and 2- Policy Facilitation) 

high performing organizations

 MOVING YOUR ORGANIZATION TOWARD HIGHER PERFORMANCE 

Regardless of the size or location of our organizations, we are all challenged by the same types of issues—increased demands for services, reduced revenues, negative perceptions of government and disengaged workers.  This workshop will challenge you to think differently about how your organization can work!  Key concepts of the High Performance Organization Model to be discussed include “Developing the New Government Employee,” “Doing the Work of Leadership at all Levels of the Organization,”  Deciding your Leadership Philosophy,” “Focusing on both the Vision and the Culture of your Organization,”  and “Building Capacity through Employee Teams.” The program will afford participants opportunities for small group discussion and encourage thinking about “next steps” to move their organizations toward “higher performance.”  (Practice Groups: 1-Staff Effectiveness and 6- Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity, and Innovation)

Baldrige: A Model for Excellence and High Performance in Local Government

Every day, managers are confronted with the challenges of high performance: satisfying citizen demands, improving quality, maintaining a desirable organizational culture, and delivering results. Often the response to these demands is to address a specific problem area or a set of issues. The highest-performing organizations, however, approach these challenges with a systematic and comprehensive response. The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program offers a time-tested and successful model for leaders who are interested in taking such an approach. This session will introduce participants to the Baldrige framework and criteria; educate them on the application of the model; describe the model in the context of other approaches, such as Balanced Scorecard, Six Sigma, Lean Thinking, and ISO; and provide case examples of organizations that are using Baldrige.(Practice Groups: 5 - Performance Measurement/Management and Quality Assurance and 6 - Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity, and Innovation)

EMERGENETICS: MEETING OF THE MINDS

Emergenetics is a multifaceted approach focused on building knowledge, fostering understanding and bolstering organizational capacity. This program focuses on facilitating increased understanding through personal knowledge of how thinking and behavior affect the work environment—including productivity, team effectiveness and creativity.  With this session organizations immediately see a new way to group individuals as teams that has been scientifically proven to provide better results.  With the critical focus for the Meeting of the Minds session on uncovering greater self-awareness and translating that knowledge into a more effective approach to communicating with others, we’ve discovered, in the more than 20 years of conducting this program, that there are clear personal and organizational benefits. (Practice Group 6 - Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity and Innovation)

Lean Thinking and Local Government: An Oxymoron?

Improving the performance of office and service processes will be the key to increased competitiveness and rising living standards in the next decade. Many pioneers in a wide range of service industries have already begun this journey, learning from the progress made by leading manufacturers in streamlining their factories and supply chains.

The most successful approach to the industrialization of office and service processes is lean thinking, originally pioneered by Toyota. This lean service workshop brings together leading-edge examples of lean management in practice and offers a unique opportunity to begin the lean transformation of your organization.

Objectives:

• To learn to see the new opportunities for creating value for customers, for removing waste from every process, and for creating more rewarding jobs for employees opened up by lean thinking.
• To show how lean management can be applied in every kind of office and service activity in both the private and public sector.
• To learn how to choose the lean pathway that is right for you and to create your own action plan for implementing lean in your organization.
• To give you an opportunity to question the leading experts and get practical advice from those well down the lean path.
• To create an ongoing movement of lean practitioners sharing experiences in lean service management in Europe and around the world. 

(Practice Groups: 5 - Quality Assurance and 6 - Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity and Innovation) 

Civic Engagement

Local Government customer service PROGRAM

Providing residents with an excellent customer service experience can generate improved community support and greater citizen engagement.  ICMA has developed a local government service program that can be customized based on the needs of the individual community.  Among the units offered are:

•        Defining Customer Service

•        Differences between Customer Service in Local Government and Private Sector

•        Customer Service as an Experience

•        Key Skill Sets for Customer Service

•        Dealing with Difficult or Angry Customers

•        Leadership for Customer Service

•        Internal Customer Service 

•        Technology for Better Customer Service

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT: The Vital Leadership Skill in Difficult Times

As cities, regions, and school districts face unprecedented decisions on issues ranging from budgets to land use, a growing number of public leaders are finding new ways at arriving at policy solutions—more participatory and transparent. Previously, these conclusions were reached through bargaining at the “stakeholder” level, but the size and scope of today’s budget deficits and longstanding planning battles, are pushing some leaders to “look out” to their residents rather than “look in” to their own capabilities. This can be a nervous undertaking, but managed effectively, public involvement on important decisions can lead to more creative, acceptable solutions. In this practical and participatory three hour seminar, you will learn:

• The “Civic Engagement Spectrum”: From “informing” to “involving” your residents
• When your city, region, or school district is ready to engage the public
• The five main criteria for judging an effective civic engagement process

ethics

All Ethics offerings address Practice Group 17 - Integrity.

Building a Culture of Ethical Behavior in Your Organization

Building a culture of ethical behavior in the organization is one of a leader’s most challenging yet essential jobs. The local government environment is complicated: government employees come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, often without strong knowledge of good government practices, and citizens have long held a basic distrust of government and its employees. We are all faced with ethical dilemmas in our jobs, and knowing the right thing to do is not always easy or clear. This workshop will offer a framework, complete with practical strategies and tools, through which you, as a leader, can foster an ethical workplace and effectively deal with the difficult situations that arise. (Practice Group 17 - Integrity) 

Ethics At Work!

Practical Ethics Tools and Strategies Suitable for All Staff to Improve Conduct in the Workplace [with Real-Life Examples] 

One way of helping protect the integrity of your organization is to keep ethics in the forefront with your employees. Ethics At Work Workshop is about helping your staff identify and resolve ethical issues and establishing a foundation for a strong and successful workplace and life.

As we've all seen in the news, it seems that ethical choices are more complex when people are under pressure. In the public sector, we need to understand that while something might be legal, it doesn't mean it's ethical. In these challenging times, everyone could use a refresher to help build skills and learn practical strategies for making ethical choices. Ethics At Work Workshop is based on the values of public service, and will provide a framework for addressing everyday ethical issues and serve as a platform for participant discussion about many common ethical concerns, such as:

• balancing what’s legal versus what’s ethical
• addressing perceived and/or real conflicts of interest
• accepting gifts / favors
• ethics and the Internet: Facebook, Twitter, and texting in the workplace
• how your actions affect the ethics climate in your organization

You will tackle real-world case studies to give you and your staff an eye-opening perspective on a topic that sometimes gets taken for granted. You’ll be surprised at how difficult a seemingly simple ethical choice can be—especially in local government, where your choices need to build trust and confidence with the public you serve.

You and your staff will:

• Build awareness of the core values of public service
• Enhance ethical decision-making skills
• Learn practical strategies to strengthen work environments
• Build ethical habits.

(Practice Group 17 - Integrity)

Planning, Budgeting, and Finance

LEADING YOUR ORGANIZATION (AND ELECTED OFFICIALS) TO "FISCAL HEALTH AND WELLNESS THROUGH PRIORITY BASED BUDGETING"

In 2012, ICMA established Fiscal Health and Wellness through Priority Based Budgeting as a leading practice for local governments. This session will provide you with the most in-depth assessment of what 40 organizations have achieved through this comprehensive body of work. From large organizations  (the cities of Cincinnati, Ohio, Sacramento, California and Edmonton, Alberta ) to small (the City of Victor, CO population r 300 people)these processes and tools have proven effective scalable, and best of all, repeatable.

Local governments continue to face previously unknown financial and political pressures as they struggle to develop meaningful and fiscally prudent budgets.  Priority Based Budgeting is a unique and innovative approach being used across the Country to match available resources with community priorities, provide information to elected officials that lead to better informed decisions, meaningfully engage citizens in the budgeting process and, finally, escape the traditional routine of basing “new” budgets on revisions to the “old” budget.   This holistic approach helps to provide elected officials and other decision-makers with a “new lens” through which to frame better-informed financial and budgeting decisions and helps ensure that a community is able to identify and preserve those programs and services that are most highly valued.  The process also guides staff and elected officials to see their picture of “fiscal health” clearly and be able to achieve short-term fiscal relief and long-term sustainability.

Priority Based Budgeting provides a transparent path through which to guide elected officials, staff and the community as they address the unique challenges they face while striving to realize the results they wish to achieve.  Drawing on case studies from the 40 organizations that have implemented this process, this session will address new ways of:

• Understanding and communicating your organization’s “picture of fiscal health”
• Allocating resources through the budget process to those programs that are most highly valued by the community
• Engaging elected officials in more meaningful discussions about finances and their vision of budget priorities
• Demonstrating how the role of the elected official can be focused on policy rather than “line-items” – on strategic vision rather than day-to-day operations
• Engaging citizens to help clarify what is important to them
• Utilizing the tools and techniques of “Fiscal Health” and “Priority Based Budgeting”

Public Safety Management

Asking Your Police and Fire Chief the Right Questions to Get the Right Answers

How many police and firefighters do you really need? How well are your public safety departments performing? Are "officers per 1,000" and "number of calls" really meaningful measures? As a local government manager, you have to make policy decisions based on information you get from the different departments. The toughest departments from which to get accurate, measurable information are the police and fire departments. Police and fire chiefs have their own jargon—and few city managers have training in emergency services management. The key is asking the right questions so that you get the right answers.

In this workshop, you will learn how to: establish goals and priorities and know what you need to analyze; quantify what the workloads are in the police and fire departments—and identify whether personnel are allocated correctly to meet the workload demands; get your police department to be able to tell you what percentage of its officers’ time is tied up on actual calls; identify the number of firefighters and amount of equipment that is really necessary; deal with low use of firefighters; and set measurable goals, identify performance problems, and apply strategies to follow the path of continuous improvement.(Practice Group 3 - Functional and Operational Expertise and Planning)

UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLIC SAFETY CONCEPT: FORECASTING THE OUTCOME OF POLICE-FIRE MERGERS  

Many local government managers have considered the possibility of consolidating police and fire services. The public safety concept, where some or all personnel are dual trained and respond to both police and fire calls although attractive from an efficiency standpoint, is one of the most politically controversial ideas a manager can champion.

Many local governments are spending over 60% of their operating budgets on police and fire services. Facing the “new normal” with little likelihood  that revenues will increase in the foreseeable future, local government are revisiting the idea of merging police and fire services into one department and training public safety officers who can provide patrol and respond to fires.

This workshop will provide attendees with tools for gauging the benefits of a police/fire merger

Attendees will learn;

• The history of the public safety concept
• What the issues are surrounding a merger
• The key decisions to be made
• How to assess and overcome environmental barriers to a consolidation.
• What opposition to expect from a proposal to consolidate and the consequences to the manager.
• The impact on costs and performance of a merger.
• Case studies of successful and unsuccessful merger efforts.
• How long it takes and what techniques to use to implement a merger.

After the session, the instructors will be available to meet with attendees to provide a review of the specific issues in their communities.

After completion of this workshop attendees will have a better understanding of risks and benefits of a merger.  (Practice Groups:1- Staff Effectiveness, 5- Performance Measurement/Management and Quality Assurance, 6- Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity, and Innovation and 12- Human Resources Management)

staff development

Developing Successful Orientations and Retreats (small communities)

New council members: Do these three words strike fear in you? What about being asked to put on a retreat? This three-hour workshop will focus on the manager’s role in developing and delivering successful orientations for elected officials, and in holding retreats for councils, commissions, and citizen groups. Participants will work in small teams to develop effective models and check lists of do’s and don’ts for each event.  The workshop leader, Lynn Tipton, is a faculty member of the Florida Association of County’s Certified County Commissioner program, and a faculty member of the Florida League of Cities’ Institute for Elected Municipal Officials. She also provides training for municipal clerks and other government staff through the Florida Institute of Government. Her graduate and undergraduate degrees are in public administration. (Practice Group 2 - Policy Facilitation) 

MEETING OF THE MINDS-USING THE WHOLE BRAIN

Meeting of the Minds is a  highly interactive workshop that meshes Emergenetics insights with your organizational needs.

What is Emergenetics? Technically Emergenetics is brain-based psychometric assessment that highlights thinking and behavior. In practice…its clarity.

Simply, Emergenetics is a clearer understanding of how people live, work, communicate and interact.

This program focuses on facilitating increased understanding through personal knowledge of how thinking and behavior affect the work environment—including productivity, team effectiveness and creativity. 

With this session organizations immediately see a new way to group individuals as teams that has been scientifically proven to provide better results.

Emergenetics is used by cities and organizations to improve effectiveness and is a centerpiece of the Rocky Mountain Leadership Program.

Individuals within the session experience:

• Insight into how they think and behave
• Understanding and knowledge of their colleagues
• Hands-on team-building exercises on communication, motivation, efficiency, and more.
• Brain science and research that ties learning into real, measurable scientific data

As an organization, you’ll experience:

• A foundation for working more effectively and productively.
• A new viewpoint to understand business challenges
• Communication strategies
• More creative teams
• Reduced conflict

The Meeting of the Minds session also underscores the ability for organizations to harness cognitive diversity to come up with new solutions to the same old challenges.  It’s a revolutionary approach—working through your people—to gain incredible results…and on a business level it means ROI. 

Workshop Presenters: Kathie Novak, Director, Rocky Mountain Leadership Program, Denver, CO and former President of NLC and Felicia Logan, ICMA Leadership Development Director

(Practice Groups: 1 - Staff Effectiveness and 14 - Advocacy and Interpersonal Communication)

Put Me In, Coach!

Are you using your coaching skills to improve performance and enhance organizational effectiveness? During this highly interactive workshop, you will learn to speak the language of possibility. While coaching is widely recognized as one of the key skills for developing leaders, it is also a critical tool when working with teams, and helping staff at every level achieve their personal and professional best. Highly motivated staff produce high performance results. Coaching skills may be used to help a senior manager or someone young to the profession find balance in work and life. Coaching may reinforce or correct behavior, increase a high performers ability to stretch beyond good into great, and transform organizational culture so that each individual is recognized as naturally creative, resourceful, and whole. This workshop provides practice in the skill of coaching, of trusting intuition, of learning to ask the right questions, and of mining strengths of individuals and organizations. (Practice Groups: 1 - Staff Effectiveness and 18 - Personal Development) 

understanding and Appreciating Differences Using Myers-Briggs Type Indicator

This workshop is designed to explore differences of learning styles, preferences, culture, age, and race from the view that a better understanding of differences leads to better leadership, fellowship, management, and builds stronger communities. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator and other methods of feedback will be used. Participants will learn to identify differences and appreciate the strength of diversity. (Practice Groups: 1 - Staff Effectiveness; 9 - Diversity; and 14 - Advocacy and Interpersonal Communication)

leadership and innovation 

Living great by choice

Participants will work to identify practical applications of the core concepts from the Great by Choice book of

• 10X Leadership: characteristics of companies, organizations and people that have shown exceptional performance
• The 20 Mile March: the fanatic discipline that allows you to reach your goals
• Fire Bullets, Then Cannonballs: innovation based on the combination of creativity , discipline and data
• Leading above the Death Line or Productive Paranoia: practices of preparation and creating reserves to enable you to achieve more
• SMaC or principles that are Specific, Methodical and Consistent: teaches the power of common vision, direction and culture
• ROL or Return on Luck: teaches us that it’s not what happens but what we do with it that makes the difference

During the workshop participants will engage in a series of exercises and discussions designed to strengthen your ability to lead from wherever you are in you organization. You will build a personal plan of action based on the core concepts of Great by Choice that are outlined above.  (Practice Group: 6-Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity and Innovation)

FATAL FLAWS OF A COUNCIL-MANAGEMENT RELATIONSHIP

Presented by George B. Cuff, FCMC a management consultant, author and former Mayor and a former municipal administrator who has received consistently high marks in the evaluations of his sessions for ICMA. George will examine this “hot” topic from a series of perspectives and will address:

• The Challenges/Pitfalls of Executive Leadership
• Key Distinctions: Council/Mayor Roles
• Importance of “Tone at the Top”
• Sources of Landmines
• Why/How Managers Create Own Problems
• Council Expectations of their City Manager
• Where Role Clarity Should Begin
• Signals the Relationship is Not Working
• Survival Strategies
• Assessing the Results of a Healthy Relationship: A Council-City Manager Covenant.

(Practice Groups: 1 - Staff Effectiveness, 2- Policy Facilitation, 4- Citizen Service, 8- Democratic Advocacy and Citizen Participation, 9- Diversity, 13- Strategic Planning, 17- Integrity and 18- Personal Development).

Your LEADERSHIP PLAYBOOK 

As catalysts for continuous improvement, government leaders are facing significant challenges during these uncertain times and are searching for a simple, powerful and productive approach to leadership in the 21st Century.  In this workshop, you’ll get the unique perspective of Patrick Ibarra, a former city manager and founder of the consulting practice, The Mejorando Group, who will use football as a platform to outline a series of forward-thinking leadership practices guaranteed to help you achieve improved performance.

Attend “Your Leadership Playbook” and discover how you can:

• Develop principles of a forward-thinking strategy (Game Plan);
• Identify and use the Five Practices of Great Leaders (Offense);
• Use proven approaches to leading change (Defense);
• Implement leading edge practices for effective execution of services (Xs and Os);
• Successfully use methods of managing employee performance (Play Calling);
• Utilize techniques to develop future leaders (Team Players);
• Foster a leadership culture (the Field);
• Pursue a leadership competency (Touchdown);
• Digitally engage the public (Fans);
• Celebrate success (Tailgating).

  (Practice Groups: 1- Staff Effectiveness, 6- Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity and Innovation, and 18- Personal Development)

FACILITATION-A SKILL TO RUN A MEETING OR THE PLATFORM FOR LEADERSHIP?

Discover how to become a facilitator of learning rather than merely a presenter of information and how to foster effective decision making in work teams.

In today's workplace, leaders need to align people around common outcomes, achieve results in record time, engage employees, coach work teams and help the organization to learn quickly.  At the core of these roles is a series of skills that is best described as facilitative leadership.  This workshop features multiple opportunities for each participant to practice new tools and receive feedback.  Participants leave with invaluable core skills and implementation strategies for use in the workplace. (PracticeGroups: 1 - Staff Effectiveness  and 2 - Policy Facilitation) 

Navigating successful working relationships with your elected officials

How to best navigate success with your elected officials? The formula for success=Three parts Savvy Peer Advice + two parts Leadership Results + one part Neuroscience Findings + one part Good Humor.

It is far harder to sail through rough waters than to walk on dry ground- that is the tough reality today for Council-Manager relationships.  Your "New Normal" environment is like a rough sea-unrelenting demands, rising conflict, tough controversies, complex issues, incivility, surprises, scarce resources, and more contentious relationships with you and among your elected officials.

This lively, interactive session will sharpen your skills for knowing yourself, governing yourself, increasing your astuteness and influencing others.  Take away hundreds of practical tips collected from your peers for dealing with your elected officials like 'Sit down on ego, Stand up on principle'.  (Practice Group: 2 - Policy Facilitation)

INTERPERSONAL LEADERSHIP AND "THE NEW ORDER OF THINGS" 

Leaders today are immersed in moments of disruptive change. We have entered a "New Order of Things".  Leaders and the organizations they lead are constantly placed in difficult, awkward and conflict-laden situations.  What are the leadership fundamentals that we need to work on to thrive in "The New Order of Things"? This session will explore in depth the following topics: 1) An array of "poison darts" that exist in today's leadership environment that we must be aware of because they can easily derail our success; 2) "Interpersonal Leadership" as the antidote for the "poison darts" concentrating on the most important fundamentals for leading people during challenging times such as formal and informal authority, judgment, conflict, understanding emotions and the need for work/life balance. The session will be interactive including the use of case studies to amplify the leadership concepts explored. Practice Groups: 2- Policy Facilitation, 6- Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity, and Innovation; 14- Advocacy and Interpersonal Communication, 17- Integrity and 18- Personal Development).

getting the most out of teams: facilitation skills for managers 

If you are the leader of a team, a department or an entire organization, ask your people to describe the meetings they attend – you often are likely to hear the words “unproductive,” “ineffective” and “unnecessary.” Seasoned managers and emerging leaders alike will gain specific, applicable tools in this comprehensive program that focuses on proven facilitation skills and techniques.  Meetings and the team approach to operating an organization are more prevalent than ever, which makes effective facilitation a must-have skill for today’s managers. Discover how to become a facilitator of learning rather than merely a presenter of information, and engage in an interactive session that addresses how to create and manage effective group dynamics that foster true collaboration and results. (Practice Group 2 - Policy Facilitation)

Leadership: An Art of Possibility

Learn new leadership skills that will promote the development and performance of staff and senior management throughout the organization and will increase your effectiveness as a manager. This upbeat session will focus on the principles and practices of Ben and Rosamund Zander, authors of the book, The Art of Possibility. The ideas and exercises in this workshop will increase your skill in personal coaching and mentoring, team leadership, and empowerment.
Special emphasis will be given to facilitating teamwork and creating a work environment that encourages responsibility and decision making at all organizational levels and that requires skill in sharing authority and removing barriers to creativity. This workshop will help participants apply these ideas to local government management. The result will be better interpersonal interactions with your management team, staff, council, and everyone you deal with. It is recommended that participants read The Art of Possibility prior to the session.(Practice Group 1 - Staff Effectiveness)

Rapid Innovation

“Innovation” seems to be the buzzword in today’s economic crisis. Many local government leaders, while aware that we need innovative solutions, are also waiting for things to get better so that we can all go back to normal. But this is the “new normal.” And this fiscal crisis offers you the opportunity to hit the organization’s reset button. That is, you can use the instability of the present to build on and create an organization capable of continuous self-renewal in the absence of a crisis.

Join us for this highly interactive workshop in which Patrick Ibarra, cofounder and partner of the Mejorando Group, and a former city manager, hands you practical strategies to instill innovation into the day-to-day operations of your organization and into the fabric of its culture. You’ll find out how to get past the “we’ve always done it that way” mentality, and discover new ways to inject passion and innovation into the organization’s mindset.

Discover: 

• How to overcome “bureaucratic gravity,” that prevents your organization’s leaders from using a more innovative approach to problem solving
• How to use the five-step approach of Rapid Innovation
• The three areas in your organization that should be the target of innovative solutions
• Techniques that many local governments aren’t using – but should—to foster an innovative culture
• Ways to change the organization’s vocabulary that tends to put a straitjacket on introducing new ideas
• How to get leaders to start accepting new ideas and discard past solutions 
• Steps you can take immediately to strengthen your own innovation muscles that will benefit you both personally and professionally
• And much, much more!

(Practice Group 1 - Staff Effectiveness, 6 - Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity, and Innovation; and 18 - Personal Development)

The art and science of signature leadership

Do you know what your signature leadership style is and how it impacts those around you? This workshop is designed to explore core leadership values and how they show up in the workplace and in the board room. We will study the leadership style of a famous symphony conductor as a case study of the art of leadership and the differences that a clear leadership style and philosophy can make to an organization. During the seminar we will explore 6 principles key to developing a signature leadership style and discuss how they may apply to your organization and to you as a leader. We will also explore differences in how we see the world based on the latest neuro science research and how these preferences shape your leadership style. Come ready to engage in learning with others who share your values of service, your willingness to making a difference, and your commitment to building stronger communities.  (Practice Group 6 Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity and Innovation)