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Creating Vibrant Communities
Starting Vibrancy at the Top George Cuff October 1, 2013
Spirit in Service for Vibrant Communities
George Cuff Starting Vibrancy
at the Top
Creating Vibrant Communities
The Speaker Series: Urban Systems- Edmonton Office
George B. Cuff, FCMC
36 years of consulting experience; own firm since ’84
Consulting largely to senior levels in the public sector
12 years as Mayor of Spruce Grove, Alberta; former
President of Alberta Urban Municipalities Association
& Federation of Canadian Municipalities; received
Award of Distinction from both
Introduction to George B. Cuff, FCMC
Author: Magazine articles since 1979; two books
“Cuff’s Guide to Municipal Leaders, Volumes One and
Two; 2 books of articles “Off the Cuff, Volumes One
and Two
Reports for +500 organizations; +500 seminars in all
10 Provinces, 3 territories; some international
Introduction to George B. Cuff, FCMC
Leadership Impacts Creative Communities
Leadership is About Learning
In a study of 90 top leaders, leadership experts Warren Bennis and Burt Nanus made a discovery about the relationship between growth and leadership. They reported “It is the capacity to develop and improve their skills that distinguishes leaders from followers”. Successful leaders are learners.
What is Leadership All About?
Leadership is about Self-Awareness
The late English Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli
commented “To be conscious that you are
ignorant of the facts is a great step to
knowledge”.
What is Leadership All About?
Leadership is About Preparation Former heavyweight champion Joe Frazier stated
“You can map out a fight plan, but when the fight
starts you’re down to your reflexes. That’s where
the roadwork shows. If you cheated in the dark of
the morning, you’ll be found out under the bright
lights.”
What is Leadership All About?
Leadership is About Influence
Harry A. Overstreet, author of the Mature Mind, a required text for our university class 40 years ago, states "The very essence of all power to influence lies in getting the other person to participate". While you may be able to demand certain actions as a manager, you will only capture their hearts by effective persuasion and by example.
What is Leadership All About?
Leadership is All About Integrity
General Norman Schwartzkopf spoke of the issue
of integrity when he said, "Leadership is a potent
combination of strategy and character. But if you
must be without one, be without strategy".
What is Leadership All About?
Leaders
Understand the need for role clarity
See beyond; possess the necessary vision
Recognize it is they who are accountable
Focus on their primary client
Are resilient; they bend on issues; not on principles
Sense the need for maturity in decision-making style
and comments
The Essence of Governance: The Cotter Pin of Communities
The Queen of Oak Bay understood the importance of
the cotter pin on June 30th 2005 when its absence
caused the ship to collide into the docking facility
resulting in damage or destruction of 28 smaller
crafts.
The cotter pin is the linkage between fuel control
and engine speed. Its loss meant that the ship’s speed
could not be controlled.
Governance is a poorly understood concept given that
it affects all of our lives from birth to death. It
underlies what our decision-makers do and how they
do it. It is at the heart of issues and their resolution
by those we elect to govern us. In effect, it is
critical to our well-being and central to how we treat
others. George B. Cuff, FCMC September, 2012
What is Governance?
The process of exercising corporate leadership:
by the governing body
on behalf of its members (the citizens)
to the community & organization as a whole
in terms of purpose, control and future
while providing oversight to ensure that the
mandate of the municipality is achieved.
How is it Achieved?
Effective decision-making by Council; clear
processes
Good administrative advice/reports
Reasonable avenues of input for the public
Thoughtful reflection on the key issues/priorities
Council makes its decisions and management
carries these out as effectively and promptly as
possible
Good Governance Stems From…
“I presume the public interest to be
what people would choose if they
saw clearly, thought rationally and
acted benevolently.”
Walter Lippmann
Key Roles (of a Mayor & Councillors)
Leadership: Set direction & priorities; advocate
Governance: Pass resolutions/bylaws/policies
Oversight: Ensure fiscal fidelity; relate to auditor
Assess: Evaluate City Manager, results of Plan(s)
Connect: Listen to citizens & delegations
Correct: Resolve issues; make tough decisions
Bridge-Building: Reaching out to others
Monitoring: The eyes of the community
A Vibrant Community will be Connected to its Council
Who is the public?
Generally viewed as the totality of residents
and businesses lodged in your municipality
Who does a Council see on a regular basis?
Those who appear as delegations or who come
to audit the meetings
Are these folks the “public”?
Maybe not…but they should be heard and
respected
Council’s Linkage to the Public (1)
How should Council communicate?
As best as it can within the resources/time that it has
How is that done well?
Depends on each community…who is at home during the
day? Who attends meetings? When are agenda packages
made available? What newspaper coverage is available?
Does every Council use electronic means? Most if not all
do; does it work? Sometimes
Can a Council improve its connection?
Council’s Linkage to the Public (2)
Today’s local governments are served by those with much better academic training & relevant experience than previously
Good managers are still very scarce; we have not developed solid training programs which are requirements
Communities that dismiss top managers readily are still too prevalent; their track record at attracting future quality people is not positive
What I See as Trends (1)
Council members generally younger than heretofore; being elected no guarantee of being elected!
More Councils are not meddlers; better at resisting the temptation to manage
Considerably more pressure on Governments to engage in longer term budget and business planning for local governments
What I See as Trends (2)
Pressure building on Governments to re-think the
survival of very small communities
Electoral apathy still a very significant factor in most
elections; low turnout rates at local level still a
troubling factor; how to build relevance
Connecting with the new, young generation is a major
challenge; staffing of volunteer bodies like fire
departments & service clubs a huge challenge
What I See as Trends (3)
The publics increasing need for everything now, not in
a week! (consequence of social media, internet etc)
Real need to be facilitators in the process as opposed
to being subject experts (public has huge access to
information)
Growing the capacity of employees to be successful in
a multi-disciplinary environment
What I See as Trends (4)
Tendency towards the doom and gloom based on a
smaller world
Taxpayers do not want to pay any more for services
despite the value they get from City services
Baby boomers retiring albeit slowly; a lot of good
positions will come open over next few years
We need young people ready to step up
What I See as Trends (5)
Your Role in a Vibrant Community?
Vibrant Communities Need (1)
1. Quality thinkers and planners
a. Who are not constrained by history
b. Who are respectful to those who led the way
c. Who make up for lack of experience through
creativity, perseverance, connections
Vibrant Communities Need (2)
2. Staff who function as team players
a. Understand need for integration of resources
b. Silo mentality dysfunctional
3. Managers who are human
a. Remember that you are dealing with people
b. People not as impressed by how much you know,
as how much you care
Vibrant Communities Need (1)
4. Managers who function at the head and heart level
a. Understand your need to be human
b. You have your own frailties
c. Apology is good for the soul
5. Defeats perceived as opportunities
a. Roadblocks not final
b. Creative people look for solutions not kleenex
Keys to Success at a Young Age (1)
1. See that you are their champion
a. You admit to mistakes & deal with theirs
2. Commit to your own ongoing development
a. We all are a work in progress; do not stop learning
3. Maximize the potential of those around you
a. Focus on their career development
Keys to Success at a Young Age (3)
4. Be ethical in your own behavior
a. Tone at the top begins with you
5. Be open to the ideas of others
a. Encourage others by commending their ideas
6. Don’t pussy-foot around problems; tackle them
before they derail you
a. Problems are cancers (they grow); be decisive
Keys to Success at a Young Age (4)
7. Own up to failings; take responsibility for those
reporting to you
a. If you are a champion, be accountable
8. Celebrate successes, particularly of others
The capacity to see beyond their position
responsibilities
The desire to integrate functions, departments
The understanding of how to manage up
Willingness to embrace change as a constant
Recognition that delegation and mentoring essential
Capacity to stay focused on the basics
Willingness to manage themselves
What Distinguishes the Very Good from Average
Vision and Creativity
In order to discern the reason most progress is
painfully slow look to the leaders we elect
Most focused on the “here and now” because their
constituents do
Making a Vibrant Community: The Need for Vision (1)
Many lack the tools or support of colleagues to see
beyond, to be dreamers of big dreams
Our focus in local government has been on planning
Not bad, unless what you need is vision
Making a Vibrant Community: The Need for Vision (2)
Proverbs states that without vision the people perish
Time for elected officials to recognize we have
good planners and administrators; the public needs
thinkers
Elected officials need time to reflect
Making a Vibrant Community: The Need for Vision (3)
Most of us are caught in what we know; the older you
get the more that contents you
Young people are trapped in “nothing of today is good
enough!” which may well be true except…
Care needs to be taken with what you throw out; with
what will you replace it? Is it better or just different?
The Challenge of Creativity (1)
Opposition is guaranteed regardless of how good the
idea; most new inventions, ways of thinking even
music encounter resistance
Most problems faced today with new development or
over-crowded conditions or difficult to place
infrastructure result from poor vision
Projections of what’s coming in terms of travel,
space, work, home life, climate merely that…
The Challenge of Creativity (2)
“Success is to be measured not so much by the
position that one has reached in life as by the
obstacles which he has overcome”.
Booker T. Washington, American educator, author and political leader
The Challenge of Creativity (3)
“Small things maketh perfection and perfection is no
trifle”.
Michelangelo
The Impact of Creativity (1)
Each of the following were labeled as slow learners,
not likely to amount to much, idle, or bizarre
Albert Einstein: told his cousin re their impending
close relationship “I’m your relativity relative”
Charles Dickens: liked to hang out at the morgue
Ludwig von Beethoven: wore dirty clothes; left
food out to rot; never married!
The Impact of Creativity (2)
Thomas Edison: slept with marbles under his arms so when he slept and thought of a great idea, his body would jerk & the marbles would fall
Creative ideas will inevitably be resisted
Many of these might alarm political leaders
Worthwhile ventures will succeed
The Impact of Creativity (3)
Municipal leaders looking to make a difference
Easier to get on the local agenda than federal or provincial radar
If it looks supportable, it likely will be
If you can mobilize others, your idea gets a hearing
If you can connect it to a local agenda priority, your possibilities are endless
Dynamic Leaders: Dynamic Communities
What Results
A community that believes in itself
A community that celebrates achievement
A community where the talents of everyone are utilized and appreciated
A community with a clear sense of priorities
A community that reaches out to its neighbours
A community where young children can age, go to school, find work, raise families, contribute, retire
I’m Almost Done!
Easy to point out the foibles of others
Communities will stagnate without an infusion of new ideas
Vibrant communities only happen when good people take charge; when the notion of being a pedestrian in life fades; when doing for others is paramount
Where Do You Fit?
Sir Wilfed Grenfell (1865-1940) a medical missionary to Newfoundland and Labrador once said:
"The service we render to others is really the rent
we pay for our room on this earth. It is obvious
that man is himself a traveler; that the purpose of
this world is not 'to have and to hold‘ but 'to give
and serve.' There can be no other meaning.”
Where Do You Fit?
I want to live my life so that my nights are not full of regrets.“ -- D.H. Lawrence, British novelist "If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, you are a leader.“---John Quincy Adams
So You Want to be Successful
The Change Imperative
The only man I know who behaves sensibly is my
tailor; he takes my measurements anew each time
he sees me. ... The rest go on with their old
measurements and expect me to fit them. --George Bernard Shaw, Irish playwright
The Adage of the Sparrow A farmer comes upon a sparrow lying in
the middle of a road. He asks the sparrow
“Mr. Sparrow, what are you doing?” The
sparrow replies “Why, can’t you see? I am
holding up the sky.” The farmer says “But
you are so small. Look at your spindly
legs. You can’t hold up the sky! The
sparrow replies “One does what one can!”
Achieve What?? If Columbus had turned back, no one would have blamed him. No one would have remembered him either. (Anon)
“How wonderful that no one need wait a
single moment to improve the world.”
Anne Frank (1929-1945)
Creating Vibrant Communities
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