During my many years at ICMA, I’ve always admired how managers are so good at dealing with adversity, often taking a traumatic event like being fired at a moment’s notice as an opportunity to learn and then using what they’ve learned in a later, new management position. What they’ve learned has sometimes also become the genesis of great PM articles. In my opinion, these outcomes definitely reflect the character of individuals who are resilient.

Research has shown that resilience is a set of skills that people can be taught, and authors Pat Martel and Jan Perkins are ready to teach, as you’ll read in the March PM feature article “Building Career Resiliency.” Martel and Perkins offer seven steps that can be learned from management and life experiences and used to build resiliency, making people more determined and more positive leaders.

Here’s another form of adversity for which resiliency is in high demand: “Managers face more than fiscal liability when their law enforcement agencies are out of control; a broken trust with the public is even more damaging in the long term,” says Mary Eleanor Wickersham in the article “Spotlight on Police Culture.” Read about nine warning signs that indicate changes in organizational culture are needed, including failure to address ethical violations and an “us-vs.-them” mentality.

On a lighter note, economic development in Las Vegas, Nevada, means that creativity + residents + prize money are generating new ideas for development there. In “Unleashing Creativity,” by Betsy Fretwell, find out how the city decided that an incentive-based competition, along with all the risks and challenges, was worth it.

A new quarterly department titled Career Track, written by Patrick Ibarra, begins in the March issue with the purpose of providing tips, tools, and techniques on navigating careers. The first article, titled “Talent Development,” focuses on improving personal and workplace performance. Don’t hesitate to let Patrick know if there is a question on career development that you’d like him to answer.

Two authors with the Alliance for Innovation, Karen Thoreson and Nijah Fudge, write in “Attracting Talent” about the future workforce and answer the question: Is your organization capable of recruiting and retaining the workforce of the future? Think engaging employees, technology, and bench strength.

ICMA members Robert Hill, Jeffrey Earlywine, and Stephanie Mason answer the March On Point question: How Are You Addressing the Issue of Succession Planning?

You can find help with a different type of challenge in the council relations department and “Threats from Within” by Mike Conduff, which provides six things managers can do if faced with insubordination. Think organizational outcomes and maintaining professionalism.

There are more excellent articles in the March issue that I’ve not mentioned here, but I encourage you to seek them out, including three PM+ articles that can be found only at PM’s website. None of them will cause you trauma, but they just might make you a more determined and more positive leader.

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