HomeMy WebLinkAbout2010-12-15 PACKET 04.J.REQUEST OF CITY COUNCIL ACTION COUNCIL AGENDA
MEETING ITEM # LJJ O f '
DATE 12/15/2010
INSWIN
• • N
701-TVISTWU 11" Lei 111:4 2.3 : I I I
COUNCIL ACTION REQUEST:
Consider approving the Leadership and Department Performance Project proposal from
Authentic Leadership Action.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the proposal.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS:
® MEMO/LETTER: Memo from Ryan Schroeder.
❑ RESOLUTION:
❑ ORDINANCE:
F ENGINEERING RECOMMENDATION:
❑ LEGAL RECOMMENDATION:
M OTHER: Attachments.
ADMINISTRATORS COMMENTS:
City Administrator Date
COUNCIL ACTION TAKEN: M / APPROVED ❑ DENIED E]OTHER
Document3
City •
Cottage Grove
Minnesota
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
From: Ryan R. Schroeder, City Administrator
Date: December 10, 2010
Subject: Leadership and Department Performance Project
Enclosed is a consultant proposal to provide a leadership and organizational performance
project for the City of Cottage Grove. It is proposed as a three-year project at the cost of
$2500/month. The project is proposed to work with every department within the organization
to conduct an organizational assessment, refine department mission and deliverables and
assist the departments to grow their leadership capacity (such as succession planning).
Additionally, the scope includes ensuring that departments and the City are operating in an
effective and efficient manner while ensuring a positive work culture.
It should be noted that deliverables include City staff product reporting which will absorb in-
house time availability. It is also notable that the process is structured from a bottom-up
perspective from a leadership service model instead of more typical top down dictums in many
of these processes.
Staff conducted a similar process about ten years ago using entirely in-house resources
(administrative staff) to conduct departmental assessments with some very positive results.
Those projects, however, were not as expansive as what is proposed here. The City of
Woodbury has been undertaking a very similar project over the past few years (which started
as an initiative of their Public Safety Director) and reportedly have had good success in
improving the work environment and service deliverables.
I am recommending positive consideration of this project. First year funding would be
available from the Council contingency.
Council Action: By motion approve the proposal from Authentic Leadership Action as note*'
above and per the enclosure
111111111 11 lI I III IN I
For
City of Cottage GrovR
I • a
RAN I I I ON H I tw WGRIT•MS IIIII jj • s •
1 13,50 Mississippi River Blvd. S.
St. Paul, MN 55116
Cell: 612.720.2561
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove
The City Administrator Ryan Schroeder of Cottage Grove has requested to receive a
proposal for leadership and organizational performance development for city
departments. These departments include General Government, Public Works, Finance,
Information Technology, Public Safety and the city Golf Course.
The following proposal describes a two -level set of Whole System Transformation
(WST) interventions designed to produce the desired results. The first level focuses on
the management team of each department and the second level focuses on transforming
the performance and work culture of the department. This is intended to be a multiyear
effort that will increasingly allow city personnel to facilitate this process in place of the
Consultant.
The City Administrator of Cottage Grove has expressed the desire to perform a
department —by- department organizational assessment, refine the mission and deliverables
of each department and assist the departments to grow their leadership capacity as well as
ensure that it is on the most effective and efficient path into the future. This work is to
also examine the work culture of each department to gain focus on what is mission
critical and has the highest level of impact for the City, examine ways to incorporate
performance and culture changes in its work functions to make it more efficient, to
prepare for the eventual succession of its leadership team and to do an in -depth study of
what the City will need from the department in the coming years and how it will need to
evolve to meet these needs.
This work will culminate in a final report prepared by city staff (assisted by the
consultant) that will serve as a guide for each department to integrate this long -term view
into its budget requests and planning.
C. Ultimate Outcomes of Leadership and Performance Development Program
The ultimate outcomes with this initiative are three -fold:
1. Each department will review and redefine its mission, deliverables, service
standards and develop performance measures based on the service standards.
2. Each department will have a strong, aligned, committed and focused senior
management team with bench strength that is ready to lead the department into
the next decade;
3. Each department will be prepared to develop budget requests that align to these
goals and objectives.
This development program focuses on two levels: The first level will focus on the
management team of the Department and the second level will focus on transforming the
culture throughout the department.
Confidential and Proprietary Page 2
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove
Introduction
The guiding philosophy behind the program being proposed includes:
• Interventions are delivered within the organization's operational cycle
• Annual assessment, planning and intervention process that we call "looping" —
with the recognition that major transformation may take 3 or more loops over
multiple years (this is described in the graphic below)
• Whole Systems Change or working with all elements of the department is
necessary to transform a culture
• Good to Great (Collins, 2001) and "Heart of Change" (Kotter, 2002) are core
curriculums for management and design teams
• Focus on developing both the management team and individual team members
The annual assessment - planning- action cycles or loops are designed to build a culture of
adeptness and implement continuous improvement. This is possible when the department
regularly assesses its progress internally and externally, creates plans for the next 9 -12
months and then diligently acts or implements the action plans.
The initial phase will include an assessment of all members of the management team and
their fit on the management team. The goal is to get the right people on the team, in the
best functional seats for each person and to identify any management talent gaps that may
be needed. Hiring profiles will be developed for each new position identified or needing
to be filled.
Management 'Team Development Program
Management Team Deliverables:
• Assessment of all current team members and their fit on the management team
• Develop common vision, objectives and goals for management team and
department
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove
Highly Facilitated Management Team Retreat:
➢ Retreat deliverables:
o Orientation to the vision of the management team and department
o Mission Statement development
o Development of a strong team culture, alignment and focus
o Map department's internal and external stakeholders:
• Draft of promises /deliverables for each stakeholder group
• Alignment of Senior Management Team's role to the
successful fulfillment of the promises
Strategic Plan Development Initiative (drafted during the management retreat and
finalized during department -wide retreat)
• Draft of 9 -18 month high -level strategic plan
o Ready for detailed action plan development
• Long -term strategic objectives developed for next 1000 -days (3- years)
• Integration of management team development objectives into 9 -18 month
strategic plan
• Preparations and plans for next cycle through strategic plan – 12 to 18 out
• Communications plan to staff and organization
Level 2: Development Program for Department's Culture
Planning the Department -wide WST - (Level 2: Department -wide Transformation)
The first step in the planning process is selecting the Design Team — a group of 10 -15
people, who represent a cross - section of the department and will be responsible for the
overall design of the Whole System Transformation (WST) Event. The Design Team
uses the purpose and outcomes from the Management Team Retreat to determine the
issues and content of the event.
Design Team will develop a detailed event agenda that includes instructions for
facilitators to give to participants as well as the logistical actions to support the work
going on in the room. The team will work through logistical preparations like location,
materials, speakers, dining, and the collection of all the information generated at the
event.
Potential deliverables for this event may include:
Department -wide Retreat:
Confidential and Proprietary Page 4
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove
Finalize Department Strategic Plan Development Initiative (developed during
the department retreat)
➢ Draft of 9-18 month high-level strategic plan
o Ready for detailed action plan development
• Long-term strategic objectives developed for next 1000 -days
(3-years)
• Preparations and plans for next cycle through strategic plan —
12 to 18 months out
• Communications plan to customers and key stakeholders
The specific deliverables for the department-wide WST event will be developed with the
design team, the goals drafted by the city administrator, the strategic initiative of this
proposal and will take into consideration the outcomes of the management team retreat.
The timeline for the department-wide WST event is that the event will accommodate
each department's typical seasonal upswing in work.
The timelines on the following pages present possible rollout scenario for these two
processes. Please note that this is an organic and iterative process and we will work with
the management team at the pace that they and the department can succeed in.
FEE SCHEDULE
The agreed upon fee schedule for the delivery of consulting, design, and facilitation
services is as follows:
The services of the consultant will begin upon client approval and will follow a
negotiated three-year schedule (see page 15 for sample timeline). This schedule will
allow each department to work through two department reviews or annual loops of
assessing their current status, creating action plans for change and implementing the
change in before the next loop begins (see Annual Assessment, Planning and Action
"Looping" diagram on pg. 3).
This schedule will be finalized between the consultant and the city administrator. The
consultant will be responsible for keeping this schedule up to date and will inform the
city administrator of any changes. This schedule will be designed to complete the
primary goals and the desired outcomes by December 31, 2013.
A second set of project schedules will also be developed. At the beginning of each
departmental review, the consultant will prepare a department project schedule with
appropriate department and administration staff. These project schedules will identifying
meetings, task completion dates, etc (e.g. Attachment A). The consultant will continually
update the project schedule throughout the course of the work.
Fees and payment schedule:
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove
B. The fee will be paid monthly with an amount of $2,500.00.
C. An initial down payment of a full month's fee will be paid once all parties
sign the contract.
D. Any additional supplies, materials and/or resources to be expensed to the City
of Cottage Grove at cost, to be agreed upon previous to purchasing and be
supported by receipts.
Confidential and Proprietary Page 6
Appendix A: Whole Systems Transformation
Introduction: Whole Systems Transformation
The following presents a narrative description of Whole Systems Transformation and is
presented here to add further detail to the process that will be used in the leadership and
department performance development program.
Narrative Description of Whole Systems Transformation
Whole System Transformation (WST) is an event technology and must be integrated into
the ongoing change and transformation process involving the entire organization. WST
has been applied in total company change efforts, strategic planning, creating shared
values, work redesign, integrating IT with the business, dialogue and decision - making,
global restructuring, quality improvement, customer service, culture and diversity,
business processes improvement, increasing profitability, merger integration and start-up.
Whole System Transformation Model
The following will describe in some detail the seven phases in the
WST model: 1) Getting Started; 2) Transforming the Executive
Team; 3) Planning the Conference; 4) Managing Logistical
Support; 5) Facilitating the Conference; 6) Implementing
Commitments and Actions; and 7) Measuring the Results.
Getting Started
This whole - system change effort begins with the leadership of an
organization and works outward to include major customers and
stakeholders. Initially the practitioner identifies the need and
presents the case for WST. The initial client is usually the top
management team of five to twelve individuals and the internal
OD consultant. After the initial meeting, the magnitude of the
opportunity available through WST becomes apparent. At this
point, it is critical to gain the client's commitment to the creation
of both a compelling purpose and a set of clear outcomes; and to
begin the transformation with the executive team.
G�Sttarted
Transforming the
Executive Team
Plai�mirr�tlie
rr nferenee
Managing
Logistical Support
Irnplemertiro-g
Commitments & Actions
Measuring the Rc-sulty
Appendix A: Whole Systems Transformation
Transforming the Executive Team (Level 1: Management Team Transformation)
Team building at this level is quite a plunge for most leadership groups because it
requires the team to disarm their interpersonal barriers and develop consensus and trust.
The crucial difference between this and traditional leadership team building is that the
group has foremost before it a process — the WST — that will propel the organization's
vision into reality.
The challenge during this phase is to plan how to engage all executives in developing a
workable vision of what needs to be changed in the organization. Leaders must
understand and know how to influence preparation and implementation portions of a
WST. The executive team must commit to leading the next step of sweeping change and
must exude confidence in members at all levels of the organization to embrace and
pursue the vision. Only after they have experienced their own paradigm shift can the
executive team truly perceive what changes they wish the organization to undertake.
In this phase the executive team will:
• Vent
• Build and strengthen relationships;
• Gain understanding of, and provide input to, the organization's
change focus;
• Unite leadership in its focus and direction;
• Create agreements on leadership behaviors for the organization;
and
• Determine what this level of the enterprise needs to do to become
smart about leading the rest of the organization.
Planning the Company -wide WST - (Level 2: Company -wide Transformation)
The first step in the planning process is selecting the Design Team — a group of 10 -15
people, selected by the client, who represent a cross- section of the organization and who
are responsible for the overall design of the WST. The Design Team uses the purpose
and outcomes from the executive team building session to determine the issues and
content of the conference. The Design Team plays a key role by keeping its collective
and figurative fingers on the pulse of the organization, readying the system for change,
and informing the outside consultants of what will and will not work in the organization.
Confidential and Proprietary Page 8
Appendix A: Whole Systems Transformation
Logistical Support
The success of the WST is dependent upon logistical preparation and the support staff for
it. The WST essentially is the facilitation participants working together in breakout
groups of 100 and interacting together as an entire organism. In spite of the large
numbers of participants, the WST is every bit as interactive as a team building or
planning session. Everyone must be fully engaged in the process to ensure its success.
The location also must be suitable, with a single meeting room of appropriate size, shape,
and acoustics. Dining, lodging and parking must be sufficient. Support staff must know
the group's needs. Each exercise on the script needs careful preparation, right down to
the printed instructions. Prior to the event a support-team leader choreographs each step
of the script with the needed materials and the movements of a floor support team, which
should have one member for every 25 participants in the full group. Information
processors deliver materials to tables and then type and copy data generated in the
exercises for subsequent table work.
Facilitating A WST Event
On the day of the event, a big meeting room is filled with round tables to accommodate
hundreds of people meeting in groups of six to ten. Exercises will link the work of
individuals to their table group, and from this small group to the whole group. The key is
to get participants talking and working with each other rather than listening to presenters.
Each table group is the result of carefully assigned seating that assures maximum mixture
of participants making each table a microcosm of the organization. Each table has a
mailbox, easels and other supplies at hand, ready for use in the coming few days. The
mailbox facilitates incoming and outgoing communication and links the table group with
the whole organization.
As few as two professional facilitators, one external and one internal, can effectively
manage groups up to 1,500 participants. If the planning team has written a good script
along with clear instructions for table-group work, the participants begin to facilitate
themselves. Unlike small group facilitation that can be flexible in the moment, large-
group design must be very thorough and require little or no redesign on the spot.
Each WST event has unique context and goals. Each has its own personality.
Participants engage in a process called "real-time change." That is, they grapple with
fundamental issues that they or the planning team have identified and that involve them
in customized interactive activities to resolve their challenges. Past challenges include
integrating different IT systems or cultures from an acquired company; creating
interdependencies after a corporate restructuring; coping with rapid growth; and doing
work right and fast.
Tables groups share information and the room becomes a human database.
Commitments emerge with involvement. The data generation and decision-making
elements of the process create commitment to behavior change on the spot. Participants
buy into action plans that they themselves help to develop. The intense work will leave
everyone exhausted by the end of the event.
Confidential and Proprietary Page 9
Appendix A: Whole Systems Transformation
Tacit activities occurring in a WST event may include some or all of the following:
♦ Discussing issues that bear on the event's outcomes;
♦ Determining what is possible;
♦ Establishing action plans for individuals, for functions and across functions;
♦ Clarifying relationships and expectations across functional divisions and
organizational levels;
♦ Risk - taking within the strategic direction of the event;
♦ Fostering candor to open communication;
♦ Innovating in thinking about, and doing, business differently;
® Discovering shared attitudes and feelings;
Articulating dissatisfaction with the status quo;
♦ Testing new work processes; and
♦ Tasting the new culture of trust and cooperation.
Depending on the size of the system, the event may be used once or many times to fit the
needs of the organization. The events can be serial or sequential. In serial events
members divide into groups and experience the same event at different points in time —
say the first group one week and the second group the next week. In sequential events,
planners define a broad set of tasks and all participants begin in one event and continue in
the next.
In large organizations, it is not possible to include all the organization's members in a
single event, so planners develop several events, scheduled close enough together to keep
the organization moving forward together and creating a critical mass for change.
Implementing Commitments & Actions
It's common for teams intimately connected with the initiation of a WST — the executive
and conference planning teams — to become deeply involved in the implementation
phase. They often have considerable assistance from enthusiastic participants and so find
themselves delegating tasks as well as working on particular substantive issues. These
substantive tasks are common in implementation phase.
Diffusion. Some organizations must telegraph new work processes to affiliates or
to remote parts of the organization. In still other instances, participants want to
use the techniques they sampled in the large event and embed the practice in their
units.
creation Pursue Action Plans. Most WSTs end with of w
first steps to real process change. Immediately following the event, cross-
functional working groups are primed to work on those action plans. Such
implementation teams can ensure coordination • s activities.
Reinforce Practice. It is one thing to articulate new cultural and o
Confidential and Proprietary Page 10
Appendix A: Whole Systems Transformation
them in an off -site environment. It is quite another to establish firm habits of
behavior that will maintain the paradigm shift and grow that culture. In particular,
leaders must model the new behavior.
Institutionalize Structures for Change. An organization will not come out of a
WST the same as when it went in. Transformation has happened and tremendous
energy has been released. The organization may need to modify or create new
processes while major processes will require integration. Leaders must grasp this
opportunity to build their capacity for change management into the organization's
daily operations, such as annual business planning.
Results
One organization spent hundreds of thousands of dollars using outside research firms to
conduct pre- and post -test measurements around culture change and customer
satisfaction. The findings were that significant positive improvement occurred. In one
instance, the client, a financial institution, added an additional 30 million dollars in profit
in less than five months.
In a successful event, change occurs in how participants interact. For example, a change
that is barely perceptible at first may become resoundingly clear as the conference draws
to a close. People start to believe in each other and gain ways of understanding and
working together. Confidence emerges that participants themselves can resolve their own
problems. Rational, linear planning is a manifest, but less important, outcome than that
of tearing down barriers and putting in their place a rich web that weaves the organization
together in a profound and fundamental way. Successful events effect a paradigm shift of
the first magnitude. These special skills and learnings — from new ways of interacting
with co- workers to conducting better meetings— become part of the organization's new
culture.
Reproduced with permission from: Sullivan, K., Giacobassi, J., Miner, L., Sullivan, R.,
Symons, J., Turner, T., Weiser, K., Wind, L., and Wrede, E. (1996). The Essential
Handbook: Behind the Scenes of Large Group Interactive Events. Minneapolis, MN
Confidential and Proprietary Page I I
Appendix B: John Kotter's Leading Bold Change
8-Step Process of Successful Change
Adapted From: Leading Bold Change (Kotter, 2007)
Set the Stage
1. Create a Sense of Urgency.
Help others see the need for change and the importance of acting immediately.
2. Pull Together the (Design Team.
Make sure there is a powerful group guiding the change — one with leadership
skills, credibility, communications ability, authority, analytical skills, and a
sense of urgency.
Decide What to Do
3. Develop the Change Vision and Strategy.
Clarify how the future will be different from the past, and how you can make
that future a reality.
Make it Happen
4. Communicate for Understanding and Buy In.
Make sure as many others as possible understand and accept the vision and the
strategy.
5. Empower Others to Act.
Remove as many barriers as possible so that those who want to make the vision a
reality can do so.
6. Produce Short-Tenn Wins.
Create some visible, unambiguous successes as soon as possible.
7. Don't Let Up.
Press harder and faster after the first successes. Be relentless with initiating
change after change until the vision is reality.
Make it Stick
8. Create a New Culture.
Hold on to the new ways of behaving, and make sure they succeed, until they
become strong enough to replace old traditions.
Confidential and Proprietary Page 12
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Attachment D - City of Cottage Grove Proposal
I1%filaM71 m , 3 a in
President
Authentic Leadership Action Inca
Mobile & Office: (61.2) 720 -2561
1350 Mississippi River Blvd. S.
St. Paul, MN 55116
mo @authenticleadershipaction.com
www .authenticleadershipaction.com
Mo is the leadership architect of Authentic Leadership Action Inc (ALA). He works directly
with each of our long -term client leadership teams and the ALA consulting team to guide, create
and implement interventions that launch organizations into robust successful futures.
Mo has 25 years of experience as a master human systems architect in for - profit, non - profit and
governmental organizations. He has spent much of his career engaged in research in human
systems design and implementation and uses this extensive background with client organizations.
He has developed and is certified in a wide range of organizational and leadership development
tools. Mo's organizational development work in creating human service delivery systems has
been recognized as best practice on state and national levels.
Mo's strength is helping colleagues and clients step into their greatest possibilities through
discovering "what is really going on" within the organization and its leadership and governance
teams. Mo uses a method of focused inquiry that generates deep trust and risk - taking in our
clients. Stepping up to the edge is scary and guiding individuals, teams and organizations to take
the leap into the future is what energizes him the most. He has the ability to step into difficult
situations within customer environments and design interventions and training programs from
the client's point- of-view. Mo enjoys the challenge of building authentic relational networks
between teams, labor and management and throughout all levels of organizational leadership.
Mo is known for his humorous, insightful and dynamic speaking style and for creating fun,
engaging and meaningful training programs. He is often described by participants as having the
ability to clarify and effectively communicate complex ideas, constructs and processes, to
translate polarities into manageable scenarios and as being able to assist others to work
comfortably in the paradoxes of today's time. Mo's passion is to engage participants and
organizations in authentic growth and development through deep listening, thoughtful dialogue
and wise personal, professional and organizational leadership development programs.
Education:
Bachelor of Science, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
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Confidential and Proprietary Page 16