An invigorated effort is underway to set the leadership standard for professional local government management and make leadership and ethics co-equal overarching priorities of ICMA. Through this multiyear initiative, and under the guidance of a Leadership Advisory Board, ICMA will develop clear learning paths to help members at any career stage gain easy access to professional and leadership development offerings that address the core competencies and skills essential to effectively running a local government.

Progress to Date

In response to the 2014 Leadership Task Force recommendations, staff developed, and the ICMA Executive Board approved, a multiyear work plan and appointed a standing Leadership Advisory Board. Work plan items completed so far include:

• Updated the ICMA Practices for Effective Local Government Leadership in November 2017, an effort led by the Leadership Advisory Board, in consultation with the Credentialing Advisory Board.
• Met with members at the 2017 ICMA Annual Conference and following to discuss the revisions to the ICMA Practices.
• Determined which core skills and best practices are most important as well as which leadership skills and training people should have for each ICMA Practice at each career stage.
• Launched the Local Government 101 and Local Government 201 online certificate programs.
• Created a new career stage guide and calendar, distributed in print and online.
• Completed a gap assessment of ICMA’s existing leadership development programs.
• Created two leadership e-books, which can be found here and here.
• Committed to creating and distributing leadership content on a regular basis through the ICMA Blog.
• Overhauled the ICMA website to make it easier to find appropriate leadership and professional development offerings.

FY19 Plan

The Leadership Advisory Board and staff are following a detailed work plan. Highlights include: 

• Continue to make short- and long-term plans to address any gaps through curriculum development and new programs or content from ICMA and partners.
• Revise the ICMA Applied Knowledge Assessment (now Management Assessment) and create a Leadership Assessment to reflect the new ICMA Practices. (Completed June 2019.)
• Launch additional modules for the Local Government 101 online certificate program.
• Continue to update the career stage guide/calendar.
• Continue to develop partners.

Learn More or Get Involved

Stay tuned for more information on this effort and e-mailed requests for your participation.

In the meantime, if you have questions, e-mail Rick Aronhalt, interim Professional Development Team leader, at raronhalt@icma.org