Half-Day Workshops

The following workshops have been presented at NCCCMA winter and summer conferences over the years.

ICMA is committed to providing workshops that are affordable, accessible, and designed to meet the specific needs of local government professionals.  Each workshop is based on the Practices for Effective Local Government Management identified by ICMA members.  By partnering with localities, state associations and universities in the delivery of these programs, we are able to reduce travel costs and provide high-quality workshops.

Employee Discipline: Managers Under Fire – (February 2005)

When confronting employee discipline and termination issues, local government managers are often faced with the dilemma of how to balance the need for swift, effective, remedial measures with the vast array of laws that protect employee rights.  During this workshop, participants will learn how to approach all discipline situations methodically and navigate their way to a successful resolution.  Addresses Practice Group 12: Human Resources Management

Expand Your Leadership Style—Increase Your Effectiveness – February 2004

Every manager has a primary style of leadership and is able to use several styles to provide the kind of leadership that is required in different situations and with different people; however, an effective manager understands the needs of his or her people. This workshop will allow you to identify your primary and secondary leadership styles and teach you to diagnose the leadership needs of your followers.

The workshop, which is based on the work of Ken Blanchard, uses the Leader Behavior Analysis II Survey to identify leadership style. Addresses Practice Groups 1 and 14: Staff Effectiveness; Advocacy and Interpersonal Communication

Leadership: An Art of Possibility (New) – June 2007

Learn new leadership skills that will promote the development and performance of staff and senior management throughout the organization and will increase your effectiveness as a manager.  This upbeat session will focus on the principles and practices of Ben and Rosamund Zander, authors of the book, The Art of Possibility. The ideas and exercises in this workshop will increase your skill in personal coaching and mentoring, team leadership, and empowerment.

Special emphasis will be given to facilitating teamwork and creating a work environment that encourages responsibility and decision making at all organizational levels and that requires skill in sharing authority and removing barriers to creativity. This workshop will help participants apply these ideas to local government management. The result will be better interpersonal interactions with your management team, staff, council and everyone you deal with. It is recommended that participants read The Art of Possibility prior to the session. Addresses Practice Group 1: Staff Effectiveness

Lean Thinking – Just What Government Needs – February 2006

Improving the performance of office and service processes will be the key to increased competitiveness and rising living standards in the next decade. Many pioneers in a wide range of service industries have already begun this journey, learning from the progress made by leading manufacturers in streamlining their factories and supply chains.

The most successful approach to the industrialization of office and service processes is Lean Thinking, originally pioneered by Toyota. This Lean Service workshop brings together leading-edge examples of Lean Management in practice and offers a unique opportunity to begin the lean transformation of your organization.

Objectives:

• To learn to see the new opportunities for creating value for customers, for removing waste from every process and for creating more rewarding jobs for employees opened up by Lean Thinking.
• To show how Lean Management can be applied in every kind of office and service activity in both the private and public sector.
• To learn how to choose the lean pathway that is right for you and to create your own action plan for implementing Lean in your organization.
• To give you the chance to question the leading experts and get practical advice from those well down the lean path.
• To create an ongoing movement of lean practitioners sharing experiences in Lean Service Management in Europe and across the world.

Addresses Practice Groups 5 and 6: Quality Assurance; Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity and Innovation

Local Government Capital Planning, Budgeting, and Finance – (February 2007)

This workshop examines policies, approaches, and practices for effective planning and financing of capital projects in smaller communities. The workshop will present a local government capital budgeting model and examine specific tools used in planning and financing capital projects. The topics that will be covered include:

• Capital budgeting and its relation to the operating budget
• Capital improvement programming
• Role of long-term comprehensive planning and needs assessment in capital planning; prioritizing capital projects
• Issues in authorizing, appropriating money for, and implementing capital projects
• Local capital financing strategy
• Financial policies
• Pay-as-go sources of capital financing including capital reserves and impact fees
• Debt financing--G.O. bonds, certificates of participation, special assessment debt, and tax-increscent bonds
• Issue in planning, structuring, and selling debt
• Multi-year financial forecasting, and
• Maintaining or improving a local government's bond ratings.

Key concepts in each of these areas will be discussed and illustrated using examples from local government capital improvement programs and budgets.  A case study, called the “Parkrose Exercise,” will be used.  In the exercise, workshop participants will be divided into small groups and asked to establish priorities among project requests, prepare a capital plan, identify capital financing policies, select financing for specific projects, and determine how much debt Parkrose should issue to help finance capital needs.  Addresses Practice Groups 10 and 11: Budgeting; Financial Analysis

Managing in Difficult Political Environments – (February 2007

Through the use of interactive media, real-life situations, and group discussion, this workshop will explore the challenges faced by public sector managers when local politics reaches the breaking point and the manager becomes the focus of attacks from elected officials and citizens.   Workshop participants will learn to recognize the warning signs of community unrest gain insight into the manager’s unique role, examine personal and organizational costs, review the media’s role-for good and ill, and put the “fun” back in dysfunctional.  Addresses Practice Groups 2 and 16: Policy Facilitation and Media Relations

The “Performance Dividend” of Professional Management:  How You Can Demonstrate It Using Performance Measurement  (NEW)– (January 2005/February 2006)

Reflecting a core belief of all ICMA members, Executive Director Bob O’Neill emphasizes that there is a “performance dividend” for professionally managed communities.   But, is this just an article of faith …or can you point to specifics in your community that demonstrate this?  Are you measuring performance in your community?  And, even if you are, are you using those measures to drive organizational effectiveness and improvement?  Do you develop council agendas around performance outcomes?  Are performance targets key components to your budget?  Do you report the performance of your organization to your residents?  Can you demonstrate the linkage between the performance of your departments, work teams, and employees and the overall performance goals for your community?  This workshop will provide you with concrete steps you can take so that you can provide a confident “yes” to each of these questions, no matter what size your community or your level of financial resources.  Addresses Practice Groups 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 10, 11 and 12: Staff Effectiveness; Policy Facilitation; Functional and Operational Expertise and Planning; Quality Assurance; Initiative, Risk Taking, Vision, Creativity and Innovation; Budgeting; Financial Analysis; Human Resources Management

North Carolina Workshop History