Kimball Payne, ICMA-CM
City Manager
Lynchburg, Virginia
The hardest thing that I have ever done as a manager was to go to the home of an employee, inform his wife that he had been in a serious accident, and escort her to the hospital.
Although I had been told to expect the worst, I held out hope for a different result.
At the hospital we met the chaplain and other staff members who confirmed the tragedy. The next few days were spent supporting the widow, other family members, and fellow employees.
Understanding and fulfilling your responsibilities in response to sudden tragedies or community crises can be one of the biggest challenges that managers face.
Carolyn Lehr
City Manager
Emeryville, California
The toughest thing that I as a manager must do is make the commitment to develop strong and well-functioning organizations. This inevitably involves the not-so-pleasant and time-consuming task of addressing employee performance issues.
Managers need to step away from our emotions and perform our duty no matter how difficult the task or level of resistance. Experience reinforces the fact that employees are our most critical investment, and I decided long ago that the effort required to activate performance improvement can pay off in dividends.
When I need inspiration, a quick review of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People sets the course for me:
1. Be proactive.
2. Begin with the end in mind.
3. Put first things first.
4. Think win/win.
5. Seek first to understand, then to be understood.
6. Synergize.
7. Sharpen the saw!
Grayson Path
City Administrator
Nebraska City, Nebraska
I’m only in my third year of local government administration since getting my graduate degree, so I can’t say I have experienced it all. Perhaps the hardest thing I have done, however, is simply learn how to be an administrator.
I started my career as the first administrator for a small-sized town in rural Kansas. I learned a lot in those two years, thanks largely to a great administrator network, but had to plow a feral field.
From depleted reserves to a 30-year-old personnel manual to an aging utility infrastructure to replacing a power plant, we tackled a lot of tough and locally important issues head on and got the town on a good track.
Ultimately, I believe we built an atmosphere of successful administration that will hopefully endure for that community.
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