May 4, 2012
  A hiring process designed with organizational culture in mind

You might find it surprising in this ever changing, job hopping economy that some businesses have little to no turnover in their workforce. I have been working with one such client over the last two years. As a large portion of the staff was nearing retirement, it was time to develop a succession plan. The big shocker to the management team was that they had no hiring processes in place to recruit new employees!

This leadership team wasn’t interested in a process that advertised a position and culled the warmest body from the pool of candidates to fill a box on the org chart. It was imperative for them to match the new hire to the organization’s culture and values.

The keys to understanding the organization’s culture were to assess the team member’s individual personality preferences, using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI©), and to assess the organization’s personality preference, using the Project Innovations’ Individual and Organizational Path to Discovery (IOPD©). The information derived from these assessments has proven quite valuable in not only bringing new people into the organization, but also in helping to resolve conflict before it becomes crippling (more about our conflict resolution processes in a future blog).

The following hiring process has proven to be very effective for the client. They follow it religiously and rely on it to squelch the anxiety that comes to the surface when they contemplate bringing in new people.

1. Create a detailed job profile with specific technical / professional requirements AND the interpersonal talents and skills necessary to be a good fit within the team.
2. Choose an interview team that will work closely with and ultimately support the new hire. One such team consisted of the Hiring Manager, Team Leader, a Peer, HR, and the General Manager.
3. Develop a series of core and behavioral interview questions that will delve into the candidate’s values, skills, and previous experiences.
4. Coordinate resume / job application review between HR, the Hiring Manager, and the Team Leader. Each will rank the resumes into A, B, and C categories with notations regarding why a candidate fits the category.
5. Conduct separate roundtable interviews between the interview team and the top three “A” candidates. Team member feedback is recorded on a form designed specifically for this position.
6. Perform a “gut check” review following each interview. Final decision is made by consensus.
7. Develop an on-boarding plan that includes assigning a mentor, 30/60/90 day evaluations, training, and cross-functional team immersion.

While this process requires heavier lifting in the front end, it pays off in the long run. It allows the new hire to ”on-board” with a feeling of being acquainted with staff members and the management team has insights to wisely choose a mentor. Most of all, the process provides a smooth and productive transition for the organization.

April 16, 2012

Facilitating Town Hall Meetings for Results

Recently, we helped the Bloomfield Hills School District design and conduct a series of twelve Town Hall Meetings. The District used the meetings to present their concepts for rebuilding Andover High School and to gather feedback from the community on the building design, the project’s cost, and timing for a bond election. In designing the agenda, we suggested the District break the meeting into two parts.

In the first part, Superintendent Rob Glass gave an extended PowerPoint presentation on the high school project. When he finished, I (the facilitator) took over and asked the audience to break out into small groups and create questions for the Superintendent. They had fifteen to twenty minutes to turn their chairs around and congregate. Then, I compiled their questions on flip charts. On many evenings, the participants asked more than thirty different questions. When I was through capturing the questions, Rob returned to podium and he and I worked through the questions until every single one was answered.

At the close of the series of meetings, the District officials were very pleased with the outcomes of the Town Hall Meetings, especially the Question and Answer portion of the meeting. In addition, an end of the meeting survey confirmed that the District had achieved its objectives – over 90% of the respondents said they would support the high school project, a stunning success in a district which has been embroiled over the high school for eight years. Based on feedback from the participants, the benefits of the Question and Answer session were many, including:

• People got to make new friends and acquaintances.
• Many questions were answered in the small groups, thus increasing the overall “download”.
• The introverts in the crowd (over 50% in most meetings) were much more comfortable in expressing their feelings and opinions in a small group.
• Many more questions were fielded by the Superintendent because the small groups often nominated recorders to present the questions.
• People left the meetings with a positive impression of the Superintendent and the District.

So, the next time you run a Town Hall Meeting don’t be afraid to let the people talk amongst themselves before you take questions. It may seem a bit “free-wheeling” but it will dramatically increase the satisfaction of the meeting participants. Bloomfield Schools liked the process so much that they are using it in their schools to present the next stage of the high school transition.

March 8, 2012

The first responsibility of a leader is to define reality. The last is to say thank you. In between, the leader is a servant~Max DePree
A new leader has emerged on the scene in Detroit.  Sue F. McCormick is the new Director of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department (DWSD), formerly the Public Services Area Administrator for the City of Ann Arbor.  In a recent meeting with DWSD’s suburban water customers, Sue proudly described herself as a Spartan, a Yooper, and last, but certainly not least, a Public Servant.  

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department is a provider of water and wastewater services to the City of Detroit and over 126 suburban communities. The department has 2,100 employees with an annual operating budget of approximately $840 million (in FY 2011/12).  As a branch of the City of Detroit government, DWSD has not been immune to the financial issues that have burdened the city and the region and has had several transitions in top leadership since 2008.

Sue’s leadership principles are Teamwork, Openness, Customer Focus, Value, and Integrity.  With these principles in hand, Sue has covered much ground in the first 45 days on the job.  She has visited many DWSD facilities and has personally met several hundred DWSD employees. Recently, at a Rates Roll Out meeting at SEMCOG, she observed that “DWSD leadership has largely been detached from the organization”.  From all appearances, it looks like Director McCormick intends to establish a strong connection between herself, her leadership team and DWSD’s employees. 

There are numerous important and timely issues that need to be addressed within DWSD.  The Director’s comments in a recent report to the DWSD Board of Water Commissioners provide us with a view into the agenda of the new DWSD leadership team: “Changing the way we do business is a given” and “a structured organizational assessment to gauge the financial opportunity that exists with significant changes in every facet of what we do”.

Welcome to Detroit, Sue!

February 23, 2012

Public participation hits the “A” list for almost every aspect of municipal work.  Opportunities for public participation range across a broad spectrum of options including serving on volunteer commissions and boards, volunteering for special steering committees, and participating in public workshops.  I suspect our country’s commitment to public involvement tracks back to our belief that government should be “by the people and for the people”.  Effective public participation requires leaders to understand that the end product must benefit the community and enable the participants to feel that their time and energy was well spent.

My work as a Public Participation Specialist right now cuts across the state – east and west. Recently in Tuscola County, I have had the pleasure of working with Don Richards, a Tuscola County Planning Commissioner.  Through our discussions of what I should cover in the upcoming Volunteer Committee Training, I learned that Don has a deep understanding of what is needed for effective public participation.  With Don’s permission, I am sharing some of his observations as “food for thought “for the next time you ask the public to participate in your municipal project.

Upside of Public Participation

• Volunteer committees can successfully provided direction, solve crisis situations, and prevent new crises from happening.
• Communities need effective committees to propose recommendations to the Boards and elected officials who are charged with leading the community.
• When people work together with respect and intelligently pursue a common objective, amazing things can be realized.
• Many people, who normally might not consider another’s differing opinion, can become positively challenged by good suggestions and concepts they had never before considered.
• People can grow in self-esteem when they realize their input inspires others.
• Clear process and structure help participants feel confident that they know how meetings will be conducted.
• Volunteer Committee Training can be an “eye opening” experience and provide a community with a consistent public participation process.
• When community members are offered an opportunity to learn about how best to successfully fulfill volunteer roles they feel more confident about the work.

Downside of Public Participation

• It is difficult to find people willing to serve on committees, and many who do so are overly involved as a result.
• Many people who accept the responsibility of serving on committees wonder why they were chosen and whether they have anything of value to give to the task.
• Some committees are deliberately formed by people with secret purposes with no intent of ever giving consideration to the committee’s recommendations.  This type of process results in futile efforts, deep frustration, and distrust.

Don’s words of wisdom transcend specific situations and goes right to the heart of what it takes for effective public participation.  He also raises the red flag on the one sure thing that can destroy people’s interest in serving on volunteer committees– hidden agendas. The next time you initiate a public participation process in your community, I encourage you to reflect on Don’s understandings.

For more information regarding Project Innovations people centered public participation processes, please contact JT at jt@projectinnovations.com.

February 23, 2012

For the past two weeks, I have been helping Bloomfield Hills School Superintendent Robert Glass conduct a series of Town Hall meetings. The objective of these meetings is to inform the community about the District’s proposal to build a hybrid high school. (Hybrid means 2/3 new and 1/3 old.) As the locals well know, this is the fourth high school proposal in the last ten years – the first was withdrawn after a community firestorm, and the second and third proposals were defeated at the ballot box. To say that the idea of building a new high school has divided the community would be the understatement of the year in Bloomfield Hills.

So into this fire steps Mr. Glass, who was hired in 2010 and maybe destined, through the strength of his leadership to not only create peace in our time in Bloomfield Hills, but also to replace two aging and obsolete high schools with a 21^st Century educational facility.

Night after night, I have watched Mr. Glass speak to crowds large and small about the hybrid high school. Most of the people walk into the room expecting to hear a sound and reasonable justification for spending up to $85 million dollars for a state of the art high school and they get that from Mr. Glass. He delivers with enthusiasm, patience and an empathetic heart, especially for those who have been most steadfast in their opposition to a new high school. But, what they also get is profound lessons in leadership. It is often said that good leadership is impossible to define but you will know it when you see it and that is what the Bloomfield Hills folks are getting from Mr. Glass at the town hall meetings. Some things that stand out for me are . . .

1)      Mr. Glass is relentlessly positive in the face of resistance. He starts the meeting with a smile and ends with a smile, regardless of the number of accusatorial questions.

2)      He can stand in the middle of the fire – a most difficult leadership task. For instance, he acknowledges the school district’s role in perpetuating the troubles in Bloomfield Hills, while simultaneously convincing folks that his number one goal is to end the community’s conflict – whether or not he gets a new high school.

3)      Finally, if good leadership takes a talent to “suffer with,” Mr. Glass has this talent in abundance. After talking for almost two hours straight, I have seen him remain behind in a semi-dark hall or even darker parking lot, to listen to a mother’s angst about her child’s schooling. He stays and listens for ten minutes, twenty minutes, or even a half hour if that is what it takes to be really helpful.

The Town Hall meetings will end soon and the Bloomfield Hills community will vote on a high school project. Although I hope the people vote “Yes,” what I hope even more strongly, is that they recognize their good fortune in having a leader like Rob Glass.

As Albert Schweitzer said: “Example is not the main thing in influencing others, it is the only thing.”