The 10 Cs of Local Government Management

Managers in local government, in addition to doing their own work, have the tough job of overseeing that others do their work efficiently, well, and consistently. Use these 10 Cs as guidelines for how to achieve those goals.

Constant Presence Be available to help your employees and avoid unnecessary distractions. In addition to being there to manage, you’re there to mentor and be a resource.

Coherence The best way to guarantee that things don’t get done is to be unclear about what needs to be done and who needs to do it.

Make sure to frequently check that everyone is on the same page (but not so frequently that you’re distracting from work).

Clarification Make sure nothing ever goes unexplained.

Context Your employees have a desire and a right to know where their individual tasks fit into the overall goals of your local government.

Commentary Give feedback—both on where the employee needs to improve, and on areas where they’re doing well and should emphasize more in the future.

Additionally, paraphrasing and explaining things you’ve heard is a great way to make sure everyone knows what’s being said and how you (and the rest of your local government) feels about it.

Cohesiveness Make sure people are getting along; the worst thing for productivity is a group of people that can’t work together.

Consistency Show your workers that you have a set of expectations for their behavior and output that, while it may be necessary to adapt to changing goals, will remain largely the same. If you’re consistent, they will be too.

Camaraderie While it’s important to establish yourself as an authority figure, you also need to make sure your employees like you and you like them. Be sure that they see you as a coworker in addition to seeing you as their supervisor.

Common Goals Teamwork is critical to success for local governments, and the best way to ensure good teamwork is for people to understand that they’re working together to the same ends.

Complements Tell people when they’re doing well. The happier the work environment, the better results you’ll see.

Which of these Cs has been most effective for you?

For more info about best practices in local government management, take a look at the following resources:

For best results in Performance Management, read this PM Magazine article from 2008 about how to assess your readiness for performance measurement.

Learn about general best practices for local government in the aptly titled “Homeland Security: Best Practices for Local Government.” The book, available through the ICMA bookstore, includes over 40 articles about best practices from local governments worldwide.

In the Knowledge Network, we have a document that details a Michigan Public Policy Survey which focuses on the use of data in decision-making processes among Michigan local governments.

Elsewhere in the KN, check out Aspen, CO’s goals and measures for their City Manager’s Office.

The Newport News, VA fire department released the “Performance Evaluation and Developmental Instrument Guidebook” in April 2012, which is a guidebook for performance evaluation and career development of firefighters.

The Knowledge Network’s topic pages offer great insight into over 200 different subjects. For more information about local government management, browse through our Management topic page.

In addition to the resources listed above, the following resources were utilized in writing this blog post:

http://www.best-management-practice.com

http://coachingmojoformanagers.com/coaching-mojo/coaching-best-practices/

http://www.csb.gov.hk/hkgcsb/hrm/e-bookmark/e-index.htm