Yes and No

At a conference this week, and heard some great sayings around “no” (and yes) that are worth sharing in paraphrased fashion here.

The first is the one I always use - if it’s not a “hell yes” it has to be a no. For career and life decisions. H/T to Derek Sivers for introducing me to this one.

The second is “No is a complete sentence.” Really like this one!

Finally, “No resentful Yesses.” Make it a yes with authority, conviction, heart and “oomph.”

Next Gen

A few comments of instruction and guidance to the next generation of public administration leaders, in no order of importance. The first of what likely will be a series:

• Use your tech-oriented upbringing and smartphone know-how to your competitive advantage, but avoid the pitfalls of device, technology, and text “over-reliance” that is often a negative stereotype attribute of your generation.

• Take the time to know the community elements that are outside government. The parks, the 3rd places, the spots where the n’erdowells hang out, the bodegas and the fancy grocery store, the golf course, and the churches/places of worship. Social clubs, too.

• Avoid the urge to frame local decision-making in the context of some national, politically polarized context. Usually it is not.

Graduation Season

Inspired by the stories of viral commencement speeches, I offer a short commentary to those obtaining their BA/MPA degrees and contemplating life in local government. And, no, I am not expecting this to go viral.  Having taught hundreds of MPA students and coached many individual public administration leaders, here are some words of wisdom and advice:

-disregard a lot of the noise on social media lately, especially here on our beloved LinkedIn, and how bad the profession is these days. Local government management life often sits in a complex and often conflicting environment, full of contradictions.  In any given moment or week or set of circumstances, it is both challenging and rewarding;  heartbreaking and excitingly heart pounding; defeating and uplifting;  frustrating and amazing; political and apolitical; static and innovative.  However, it is indeed an incredible profession where the product of your work can leave indelible impressions, make life better for your communities and neighbors, and save and change lives. That’s weighty stuff. Weighty stuff is challenging. Know that going in, and deal with it. 

-go in eyes wide open and with a thirst for additional knowledge. Find and seek answers via objective research. Be worldly, think global and act local, and read “right” and “left” political opinions on civic and governmental matters. Find and seek mentors.  Stay curious.  Question “best” practices and see, if indeed, you can make them better. Soak up information from professional associations and contacts. Find your brethren and your work-friend peers who you can call anytime, anywhere, and talk and walk through a difficult professional situation. Those contacts are worth their weight in gold. And reciprocate. Grow to be someone’s “phone-a-friend” first-call. 

-treat the profession as a craft, as a craftsperson would in the sense of a carpenter, gaffer or potter. Be proud of your work. Hone your craft. Excel and be the best you can be in the elements (budgeting, communications, personnel relations, project management, and so forth) of your daily job responsibilities. Continue to develop yourself professionally and personally.

-lead with humility. People can spot a humblebrag and attention-seeker from a mile away. Deflect praise and take the arrows. Listen with intent. This listening part is a lost art, as I have written about in this medium previously. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. Talk to your staff and co-workers. Ask for - meaning purposely solicit - feedback on your performance and expectation-meeting. 

-strike the ubiquitously referenced, yet rarely successfully employed, balance of your professional obligations and life outside of work. Many a manager will perpetuate the stereotype of the woe-is-me CAO by and through their own actions, versus being more intentional and mindful of organizational, boundary, time, and calendar best practices. You have heard me ask this before - are you contributing to the very issues you’re complaining about? The best antidote I have found for this ailment is the development of hobbies, passions, interests and volunteer activities that are not-affiliated with the profession of local government management.

-and finally, and full-circle back to the profession’s challenges, stay grounded and mindful in your efforts to combat stressful situations via what I refer to as distress tolerance. If you are not a resilient person, it may not be the profession for you. Learn how to be comfortable in uncomfortable situations and actually embrace these circumstances as growth-developing, armor-building, strength-forming, and “powerbank” -charging experiences.

Get Over It

I was speaking with a longtime local government manager. He was lamenting the state of affairs of some of these social media minded managers and podcasters, who regularly discuss the trials and tribulations of the profession, in his words, like it’s “in the foxhole everyday.” I agreed, in part, noting that there are a lot of keyboard commentators referencing how bad things are in the profession of public administration and in local government management in particular. I have said this before - it’s a tough job. It’s a 24/7 job. It’s life in the public fish bowl. But there is more to life than work and there are difficult jobs, and tasks, across a multitude of professions. Get over yourselves!

Awe

The van with the County logo drove down the street and I gave it some thought - perhaps it was a meals on wheels delivery for one of our senior neighbors who was just back from a recent hospital stay. Another thought was that maybe it was a county staffer affiliated with social services or mental health, and – like any nosy or caring neighbor – I contemplated who on my street might be in need of those services and prayed that they would be OK.

But I was wrong.

The van was actually a nurse affiliated with our county’s department of health. The nurse was trained in palliative care and making home visits to a neighbor of ours, providing end–of-life care to one of our county residents through the county’s hospice program.

It happens to be national county government month. I was not planning to write commentary like this, not expecting to see the van on the street and put two and two together. I give talks all over the country about the work of county governments - and this month there are stories galore of the excellent work and amazing services that county workers do each and every day - and then you experience something like this and think of about the scope, breadth and magnitude (and weight) of these types of services to our residents and about the nurse doing this dignified, caring, incredible work - sometimes you are just in awe. I am in awe.

Coaching Insights - The Past

I wish “we have always done it that way” wasn’t such an overused trope.  Everyone uses it in interviews and anecdotes and management stories and mishaps. No one likes “we have always done it that way,” of course, and it always elicits a “of course, we know what you mean” response. I was talking with a coaching client (City Manager), new to the role of CAO, and she mentioned this but stated an interesting situational scenario for me.  This municipality had a “tradition” that the retiring/outgoing department head was always involved (interview panel, selection process etc) for the process of naming their successor. “We have always done it this way,” they told him.  Well, he stopped that and I agreed.

Coaching Insights - Department Attention

Departments are like children, you know you have your favorites. I’m kidding people!  In all seriousness, there are bound to be certain departments that demand more time and attention from you as a CEO than others. On a recent coaching call with a client (a County Administrator) she was reporting that their county had a series of signature projects that were sort of quarterbacked by a single department, and department head, and thus that individual got a lot of notoriety (deserved) and that department a lot of attention (warranted).  That being said, I noted that you must be careful not to concentrate your efforts, attention, meeting time, and face to face opportunities and so forth, with the “needy” (in good and bad ways) departments, at the expense of the others.

Negative Nellies

I indeed respect these writers, pundits, commentators, managers, charlatans and everyone in between who feel compelled to write about how impactful the negative nellies are in their respective communities. You know the through line: keyboard warriors or nasty gadflies or outraged residents or council members that aren’t always nice - there’s a common denominator. And we (well not me, but some people in the profession of public administration) are sort of incessantly conversing on this subject as if its the only thing going. I get it, it makes people money — but get over it. Life in the public fish bowl isn’t perfect, it’s not always fun and yes, you have jerks. Just don't have your world revolve around talking about them all the time and how bad things are and how you and the staff have to overcome this non-stop. There are thousands of counterpoint experiences where life is swell, where challenges are addressed in a reasonable way and where government worklife is indeed more than manageable, it is — gasp — positively rewarding, fun and engaging. Negative experiences happen but one need not let their life be ruled by them.

Digital Detox

The great Cal Newport, a personal favorite of mine, writes in the NYT this past weekend of a call for digital detoxification. He advocates contemplation as an antidote, in the same way a cardiologist would recommend aerobic exercise and jogging. I am reminded of the analogy of the bicep curl and meditation (the below from our presentation on Mindful Public Management™). We need to work and train our brains as muscles — and meditation, mindfulness, "disconnecting to connect," and taking time to just think and contemplate are good workout routines to employ.

Diversity of Work

To me, a job like a city or county manager is so unique, in that, one has such an immense possibility of worklife “paths” to take, in the course of just hours let alone days and years. The generalist traits (and approach) to municipal management is often maligned, but indeed it is the most positive “calling card” of the profession, in this author’s opinion. Financial management? Yes. Human resource matters? Yes. Economic development projects? You bet. Project management? Minutia and process stuff? Yea, those too. And to know the work that is getting performed is indeed work grounded in public service and advancing the community and building better lives for people and caring for residents? Icing on the cake!

Viewpoints

Sometimes, simple life “happenings” cause you to pause to reflect and zoom out. I recently got a standup desk. After about a year of complaining about not having one, I finally got around to it. I now stand-up in my office while working when, heretofore, I was at the “chair level".” I now see and experience both viewpoints out of my two windows differently, as I am a few feet above where I normally was positioned. What’s the leadership lesson here? By simply changing your location, viewpoint, angle, or experiences — you can have see things anew. Maybe you were missing something, or not understanding another’s point of view. Try to change the lens of observation, even for a trial run, and see how it looks.

Meeting and Burnout

I hear from a lot of CEOs and CAOs complaining of being burned out by “death by meeting.” To which I respond/reply: “why are you having the meeting in the first place?” Leaders must be VERY strategic about time utilization and organizational (personal) management. Some meetings can be an email and some emails need to be a meeting. Be smart about this seemingly simple function. But be controlling about it, too. Be very guarded with your all-important time. And if you do have a meeting, do not presume it needs to be the calendar-entry-standardized block of time (whatever that happens to be). E.g., It needn’t be an hour. Maybe it needs to be slightly (but not much more) longer. Often/usually, it needs to be a little less. Have an agenda for all meetings. Do not auto-regularize meetings that needn’t be. Again, be controlling and vigilant about your meeting times. If they burn you out, look at your practices and tendencies. Are you yourself complicit due to lack of attention, intention, and failing to establish guardrails?

Budgeting Simplicity

When I came into a county government role in 2008, I had only to that point, managed a village government with a budget (depending on capital) that ranged from $6MM to $10MM. The county’s budget was, at the time, around $160MM. (It is now ~$225MM). My predecessor at the time was dismissive of concerns on the size differences — “it’s a few more zeroes, and a sh*t ton of more human services programs than you’re used to, but budgeting is budgeting.” Indeed, it’s not more more complex than that. Expense estimates, state/federal/misc revenues as offsets, and seeing what is left over. Property taxes plug the hole, along with judicious use of fund balance. Rinse and repeat annually.

Generations

A recent article pegged Gen Z as a lost generation unprepared for the workforce as it’s currently constructed.  The concerns expressed were related to this generation and office jobs, work environs, organizational topics and issues such as: Social cues, old-school networking, shoe-leather office politics, water-cooler conversations, phone-less and low-tech environments, and so forth.  It was written by a Gen Z person, too, I think. 

A few observations myself:

• This is the first time we have had as many generations as we have in the current workplace.  Potentially greatest generation folks all the way to Gen Alpha. 

• All generations are unfortunately typecast.  I know a young person, quite well, who is an “old soul.”  I call him Boomer actually. He’s 20.  As employers and organizations, we mustn’t assume anything about one’s tendencies or proclivities. I am, no surprise, not a big fan of tapestries.

• Part of workplace culture is indeed assimilation and blending in and being part of a team. 

That all being said, I do believe there are certain habits, tendencies, work-styles, and office tact elements of some generations (not just Z) that definitely do not jive with conventional norms, nor work well with assimilation and teamwork/teambuilding, nor lend themselves well to employment success. Socialization is part of the mix.  Attentive listening is needed. Banter and fun is essential.  Boredom, embraced and not thwarted by scrolling, is necessary. Networking and phone calls and in-person conversations are the lifeblood still of professional life. Time off from your phone is a must-do. Both stretch assignments and work life imbalance will indeed occur and one needs to just accept those facts.

This is in part why I believe strongly in the power of mentorship and coaching and being a voice and an ear for people as they navigate work, organizational, professional and other such challenges.

Attitude

My wife is a teacher and there is the season of sickness. The elementary age classroom is the “petri dish” of whatever is going around, virus, strep throat, the most-dreaded-of-all — the stomach bug. Kids are carriers and everything is contagious! What is also contagious is attitude. In the school classroom, business, profession, and organizational context your attitude is so very important. How you show up, how you present yourself, and so forth. Have you been in that situation where a bad attitude from one team member is just a downer? Conversely, how maintaining a positive, upbeat mentality can lift others up? Own your attitude and realize and appreciate that it’s contagious.

What Yes means and What No means

People often forget the other side to a decision to do something, anything. Take on something? You are saying yes to that action, objective or issue. But you are also saying no to something else that would have had access to your time and attention that is now tied up with this thing you said yes to. Likewise, on the flip side, when you shed some things from your routine or say no to an ask, offer or engagement opportunity, you are saying yes to the possibility of other things entering that space, at least yes that you are open to other things and not the thing you declined. Particularly the “everything you say yes to, you’re saying no to other things” is the more challenging of the two prompts.

Patches on the Pants

Reading a book on non-profit management and the great Peter Drucker comments on job descriptions. He writes: there comes a point when one has to look at what the job requires and design for that job, rather than saying this is how we have always done it. This is one of those critical decisions. It is one of the crucial tasks of the executive to know when to say “Enough is enough. Let’s stop improving. There are too many patches on those pants.” Taking a look at your organization - are there a lot of patchy pants?

The Muddled Middle

The great Franciscan author Richard Rohr writes and speaks regularly of the three phases of the life journey. Rohr often describes a human journey in three broad movements:

• Early stage (order): You see the world in clear, simple terms—right vs. wrong, good vs. bad. You rely on rules, structure, and certainty.

• The muddled middle (disorder): Your previous certainties stop working. Life gets complicated. You experience doubt, failure, paradox, or suffering.

• Later stage (reorder): You come into a deeper, more compassionate, and integrated understanding of life.

I think there is relevance here to the work of the public administrator. The job is initially clear, simple, described, and structured. Certainly upon hire it is! And then as things progress and time goes by, you experience this period akin to the muddled middle. Complications ensue, you experience distress, there are items popping left and right that are “not on the job description,” there are gray lines and not just black and white, and so forth. Working through this — to get to Rohr’s “reorder” phase — takes time, personal growth and evolutionary practices, and focused, mindful development at the personal/professional/organizational level.

Being versus Doing

I know a lot of people that say they want to be something. In this specific case, it is a City Manager / County Administrator. “I want to be a City Manager!” they say. To which I reply, “are you prepared to do the work of the Manager?” There is a big difference between aspiring to be, and being, and then doing the work, on a day to day basis. The work is in the slop, the trenches, the bad days, the frustrations — one has to be ok with and reconcile those realities with the oft-pleasant aspirational aspects of simply holding the position itself.

Real-time Work

A coaching client of mine was recently due to experience a major weather event. This would be his first time managing such an event, and operating the Emergency Operations Center. It was a snow event, with lots of lead time and therefore, they could plan ahead and plan accordingly. I gave him one simple piece of advice - have a notebook (actual pen and paper) besides you all of the time.  In real time, as things progress, use this notebook for one singular purpose – notetaking on processes, policies, people, programs, actions, and so forth that need to be addressed post-event. This could be the way some press communication was handled or how parking issues were resolved with the local municipality.