What do you think defines a talented local government professional?

Clearly a talented local government professional is not just a subject matter expert, but someone who has passion for service.  These individuals, at the same time are willing to engage others including the public and other internal staff members to address issues that impact our community.

In Durham, we are developing a philosophy around a “Culture of Service.”  When I first came to Durham and spoke to the employees I realized we had seven sound value statements, and an extensive customer service program, but when we asked people how they related to the values, it appeared to me we had a disconnect.  The staff members had difficulty describing how the value statements related to them personally.  To me, the full commitment to public service is integral to being a local government professional.  Through our Culture of Service initiative, I am challenging the staff to think about the Culture of Service Triangle which calls service to self and co-workers the foundation for serving the public.    

Service of Self requires the development of individuals as responsible and accountable with an emphasis on personal ethics, attitude, a commitment to continuous learning, and a healthy work/life balance.  

In Service to our Co-Workers we want people to be cooperative, courteous, responsive, supportive, collaborative and empathetic.  

By building well rounded individuals who are committed to their colleagues, their Service to Community can more easily focus on stellar customer service and quality work, while they represent themselves as a trustee of community assets.  We also emphasize the need for volunteerism in our Culture of Service philosophy.

What measures/strategies have you used to grow the talent of your staff?

Fortunately in Durham we have a substantial organizational development program.  We recognize that the impact of retirements on leadership succession, rising expectations among employees for development opportunities, and fiscal constraints call for innovation in the way we develop employees.  By creating a blueprint for our “Leadership Pipeline” we are motivating employees to find their paths to leadership.

The blueprint helps us describe the opportunities available, connecting existing employees with development options, and mobilizing initiatives to close gaps and create new opportunities for leadership development at all levels of our organization.

We encourage employees to get involved in helping to build out incomplete pieces of the pipeline.  It is divided into seven major sections:

•  Engage leaders at all levels
•  Getting People in the right places
•  Development programs and training
•  Getting the right experience
•  Owning your own development
•  Supplementing the pipeline
•  Strategic talent management

Our approach is to focus on identifying and using the different strengths that employees bring to the workplace to promote high levels of engagement.  

According to research by the Gallup Organization, engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection to their organization.  By harnessing that passion, we feel we can drive innovation within the organization.  Potential for greatness comes from using their strengths.  We help employees develop a personal system to not get tripped up from weaknesses but rather focus on their greatest potential for success, their strengths.

To start a new employee out right and help a seasoned employee get better connected with the organization, we use City College which is a cross-departmental orientation program.  It is designed to familiarize employees with service to prepare them to be ambassadors for the city.  It is similar to the very popular Citizen Academies that educate citizens about the community.  We provide tours of water plants, demonstrations of equipment, and interactive activities as part of the training.

Another explicit goal of City College is to inform employees of career options in other departments.  In addition to preparing employees to represent the city, we are attempting to prevent talented people from leaving.  Our belief is that we can reduce turnover by providing them with information about new challenging opportunities in other departments – sometimes in surprising places.

Our goal is to promote from inside the organization whenever possible, so we work to prepare leaders to assume higher-level positions.  The Leadership Academy was built on a model developed by the Center for Creative Leadership with succession in mind.  

The Leadership Academy is designed to build relationships across departments.  There are twenty people in each program and they are broken into four teams of five.  The program lasts six or seven months and includes identifying their strengths, understanding their colleagues using the PeopleMap developed by clinical psychologist Dr. Michael Lillibridge, receiving training geared toward their desired skill set, and doing project work.  Project work is important because we feel applied learning is a contribution to the organization in a multitude of ways.

Do you think there are generational differences in developing talent for your organization?

There are definitely generational differences.  In many respects, in our organization it seems the passion is stronger with the younger employees that are coming into the organization.  There are a variety of factors that weigh into that.  While there is a lot of energy and passion from our younger employee, there are also issues centered on their sense that the organization views them as worthwhile.  It is like a quid pro quo, “If I am to make this commitment, then it needs to be valued.”  But work habits and career orientation in the younger staff are not quite as regimented or structured as you find with Baby Boomer employees.

What advice would you give to staff members who are looking to get noticed and become more integral to the organization?

Look for every opportunity to improve your skills and your ability to function in a team environment.  Stretch beyond your current assignment.  Tell your own personal story.

Through our Culture of Service initiative we have been getting into storytelling and it is something that has really engaged our younger employees.  I have a monthly City Manager’s Report that I share with about 500 subscribers.  Within the publication we provide links to employees service stories.  I am getting great feedback from our readers who are embracing this notion of service more broadly.

I encourage each of you to tell your service story.  Why have you taken the local government path and what it means to you.

Tom Bonfield is City Manager of Durham, NC.  Durham is a single city county of 218,000 people.  Durham is home to Duke University and is known as the City of Medicine, USA, with healthcare as a major industry including more than 300 medical and health-related companies and medical practices with a combined payroll that exceeds $1.5 billion annually.  Durham boasts the Research Triangle Park that is home to more than 140 major research companies employing more than 39,000 employees.  The City of Durham employees more than 2,200 employees.  Tom is also a long standing member of the Alliance and currently Vice Chair of the Alliance Board of Directors.