The KUPMC Blog

By Katy Crow, City of Lenexa Community Engagement Coordinator

The City of Lenexa has created an easier way for residents to report everything from damaged road signs to potholes to improper signal timing to code requests, with the introduction of their new mobile app “Lenexa 311.” The system allows for real time status updates on requests and also allows citizens to view the status of requests sent by other residents.

The app, developed by Lenexa’s own staff, received the prestigious “ImpacT Award” from The Kansas City Business Journal in the client interface category. By developing the app in-house, rather than using an outside firm, service requests from citizens are directly transferred to an internal database – allowing for real time status updates. At this time, the app is available through the Apple iTunes store at www.itunes.com/apps/lenexa. Lenexa 311 will be available on other mobile devices next spring.

KU PMC Note: This is the first post in a new Tech Tools series where we’ll share information on ways public organizations are using technology to engage with their communities and/or tips about apps and/or tricks in common applications that can help technology work for us in our busy lives.

Rebecca Nesbit, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of nonprofit management in the School of Public Affairs and Administration at the University of Kansas. She researches volunteer management in public and nonprofit organizations. Feel free to contact her at beckynesbit@ku.edu with any questions about volunteer use.

One of the questions that I get most often from volunteer managers (or those who have been given the responsibility for coordinating volunteer efforts) is how they can get their supervisor or executive director to support their efforts at involving volunteers in the organization.

Many executive directors think that once they hire a volunteer manager they will no longer have to worry about the volunteer program. This is not true. Volunteer managers need specific, supportive actions from their supervisors or the head of their organization in order to make the organization’s volunteer program more effective.

Do you provide adequate resources for the volunteer program? Volunteers are not free. Beyond hiring a volunteer manager, the volunteer program will need a budget for supplies, communication, and recognition activities. At the very least, the action of giving a budget to the volunteer program indicates its importance in your organization.

Do you hold staff accountable for good working relationships with volunteers? Many executive directors believe that relationships between volunteers and staff at their organization are good, but the volunteer manager often knows differently. In many instances, especially when introducing a new volunteer program, staff might be reluctant or resistant to working with volunteers. (Look for a future blog article about employee reluctance to working with volunteers.) If the organization is truly committed to using volunteers, then working productively with volunteers should be part of employee job descriptions and performance evaluations.

Do you orient and train staff in ways to work effectively with volunteers? Executive directors often assume that volunteers can fit seamlessly into their organization, but working with volunteers requires a range of skill sets—interpersonal skills, communication skills, the ability to give feedback, managerial skills and time management skills. In addition, most employees do not understand what volunteers want and need in order to help them to be effective contributors to the organization. Staff members need training and orientation in these areas before being asked to work with volunteers.

What are the most frequent issues brought to you by the manager of volunteers at your organization?

We’re excited to share the fall 2012 issue of our School newsletter, now available at http://www.kupa.ku.edu/alumni/news/documents/Fall2012Newsletter.pdf. In it you’ll find news about:

• Our recent visit from ICMA president Bob O’Neill
• The 2012 Inspiring Women conference
• Recognition our faculty have received for their work
• Recent KUCIMAT gatherings
• The John & Carol Nalbandian Scholarship

and much more. And there’s a new way to stay connected—the School is now on Facebook! Visit www.facebook.com/kuspaa to like our page so that you can keep up with news about the School, our students, and your alumni colleagues.

By Katherine Carttar (KU MPA 2012) & Margaret Mahoney (KU MPA 2012)

The 36 year hiatus after the first women’s conference has almost been forgiven as the second “Inspiring Women in Public Administration Conference” in two years displayed real potential for the conference to become a nationally-recognized and attended annual event. Over 150 women and a handful of men attended the one day event hosted by the KU School of Public Affairs and Administration and KU Public Management Center on the K-State Olathe campus. Dynamic speakers, such as Treasurer of the United States Rosie Rios, inspired us to take every opportunity to empower the women around us. International attendees from Middle Eastern countries, at KU for a month taking classes with the KU Women’s Leadership Institute, helped us view our environment through a new lens. Their awestruck reaction to seeing a woman in a police uniform [Ellen Hanson, Chief of Police for the City of Lenexa, KS] illustrates how far we have come, but the fact that there was only one woman in uniform in attendance also shows how far we still have to go. As we participated in thought-provoking roundtable discussions and good conversation, common themes began to emerge as issues important to women in public administration.

Civility
One of the recurring themes throughout the day was the need for civility as professionals in public service. The topic was addressed in the morning panel and in both the morning and afternoon breakout groups. Julia Novak, President of The Novak Consulting Group, gave some great advice on the topic of how to handle incivility. She pointed out the need for more deliberation and less debate. Deliberation is a skill that we can all learn and practice, and it includes using negotiation and compromise. As a leader, you set the tone—so don’t allow incivility, don’t do it, and practice respect. This advice was echoed by Beth Linn, City Administrator with the City of Edgerton, who stated that we should lead by example and treat others with respect. Karen Davis, Senior Management Advisor with Management Partners Inc. and conference Chair, also noted the importance of diffusing incivility up front—do not assume it will get better as time goes by. Incivility is an unpleasant reality faced by many public service professionals, but with this advice it can be dealt with proactively and professionally.

Communication
The importance of honing the skill of good communication was referenced repeatedly throughout the day. In a morning breakout session, Sheryl Sculley, City Manager of Antonio, TX, described communication as a necessary skill to acquire in order to make the leap to the top. Women especially need a confident presence and the ability to speak assertively, while remaining willing to learn and be coached. Women have a tendency to wait for projects and promotions to be offered but we must become more comfortable with asking for what we want professionally. Mary Birch, Government Relations Coordinator at Lathrop & Gage LLP, took the necessity of good communication skills a step further. Collaboration and leadership are both achieved through communication. The best way to solve a complex issue is by taking the time to discuss it face-to-face but be sure to arm yourself with the objective facts, research, and data to achieve the best solution. In addition, the ability to convey a clear, concise, and compelling plan results in leadership that inspires and instills hope.

Professional Development
It is a good reminder to all of us to continue our professional development and education. For many of us, we have the great resources available through KU for continuing education and lifelong learning, but wherever you work, don’t be afraid to ask your employer to attend conferences and take classes. Moreover, encouraging education for your employees is critical. As Susan Stanton, Principal at SMS Consulting, points out, the public sector needs to act more like the private sector in recognizing that human capital is the most valuable asset. Sheryl Sculley also suggests doing a lot of different types of work early in your career to get a variety of experience and learn new skills. Jewell Scott, Executive Director of the Civic Council of Greater Kansas City, also suggests “going into orbit” every day—pick up a magazine, newspaper, watch the news, learn about something new—rather than “ossify” in our own narrow part of the world. Opening up to new experiences and paying attention to the world around us not only allows continual growth both personally and professionally, but it allows us to be more creative and innovative.

Innovation
Every business in every sector must find a way to innovate or eventually perish. Much of the success in the private sector is a result of fearless innovation. These businesses plan ahead for every scenario so that an unsuccessful innovative gamble will rarely bankrupt them but rather provide information to ensure the following variation is a success. The act of receiving tax payer money has turned the public sector into followers and late adopters of efficiency increasing trends. In the afternoon keynote, Susan Stanton challenged public sector administrators to get out of the comfort zone of following and start taking risks by becoming true innovators. Public administrators are notorious for automating the same old process and calling it innovation. The real innovation needed in government is a total shake-up of organizational design to function across jurisdictions and allow the government to act proactively instead of always reactively. Unfortunately, with true innovation comes failure, which is not accepted in the public sector. As citizens and in our professional capacity, we must be willing to accept some amount of failure as it is an important aspect of success and progress.

Importance of Mentors
It is impossible to attend a conference today where the importance of mentors is not touted. While “mentor” may be a current conference buzzword, there is no disputing the validity of this advice. Karen Davis described mentors as a foundation for support and a person to approach for honest feedback. Mary Birch reminded mentors that they can get as much or more out of the relationship since it is only a matter of time before the mentor becomes the mentee. Treasurer Rios viewed the mentor relationship more broadly. She encouraged the women in the conference to establish informal foundation that supports women because it is our job is to inspire the next generation and create the conditions where women can succeed. It is important to view past and current challenges as women in public administration as an investment for future generations rather than a sacrifice. All forms of mentorship can result in profound and unexpected benefits for those on either side of the relationship.

Life Balance
As professionals, wives, mothers, friends, daughters, and the countless other roles that woman play, how do we stay balanced and live up to our own expectations and the expectations of others? Treasurer Rios suggests using a “pie of life” to describe what “having it all” means to a woman. Quite simply, you define what kind of pie you have and what goes in it. She advises us to let go of guilt and individually define what “having it all” means and also to remember that the pie will change. Susan Stanton suggested a similar approach—finding balance in your life by aiming for a balance in the totality of life. It may not be perfectly balanced at this moment, but it will be balanced overall.

Conclusion
Throughout the day of the conference a variety of topics were discussed, but one common theme to all of them is the importance and impact of women in public service today and into the future. The conference allowed us to take a moment in our busy lives to come to together to realize how far we, as women, have come, and how much further we have to go. Relationships with mentors and forming our own networks are critical to empowering each other, as well as utilizing effective communication and creativity. This conference is a great first step toward enacting these themes in our daily lives to improve our professional performance and personal wellness, and we encourage everyone to attend in the future.

Teresa Schwab, LMSW, is an Instructor with the KU PMC.  She is also a Trainer, Coach, and Facilitator.  She partners with individuals, organizations, and communities that are interested in making progress on issues that matter.  She lives in Lawrence with her husband and three young sons.  Teresa can be reached at teresa@arnavonstrategies.com.


My husband and I grew up in a very small town in rural Western Kansas.  The town has been slowly losing population for years, but after their school closed a few years ago, about all that remains now are a library, grocery store, one café/bar, and a post office.

This past weekend, we took our kids back there to spend Spring Break with their grandmothers who still live in the area.  While we were there, we took a walk around town to share memories from our childhood.  We started our walk through the alleys of downtown, which revealed something that we couldn’t have seen had we taken the sidewalk—almost all of the remaining buildings, emptied long ago of their businesses, were caving in.  I felt overwhelmingly sad realizing that in the not too distant future each of these buildings, remembered so fondly from our childhoods, would be reduced to rubble.

What does our small town have to do with your personal brand?  Basically, a brand is your identity, the way that you differentiate yourself from everyone else.  In order to create your brand, any brand really, you must first understand who you ARE and who you want to BE in a way that it influences what you DO and subsequently, how others see you.  Getting this kind of clarity gives you a blueprint for your future, informs the kind of tools you’ll need (skills, expertise, etc.), and allows you to make decisions about what kinds of materials you’d like to use (what you really need vs. what you can let go of).

Had our small community developed its identity consciously, perhaps defining that it wanted to always be a vibrant community, these buildings would never have been allowed to deteriorate and crumble.  Taking the time now to build your personal brand will prevent you from climbing a career ladder, only to find years down the road that your ladder has been propped up against the wrong wall.

Here are a few steps to get you started building your own personal brand:

Step 1
Understand who you are, especially your strengths. Make a list of what you perceive to be your strengths, then add any feedback you’ve received over the years from supervisors, colleagues, friends, family, and even strangers.  Pull out annual evaluations and/or any assessments you may have taken and re-read what they say about you.  This step helps set the context for the next few steps.  When you’ve got a pretty good combined list, you’re ready to move on.

Step 2
Define who you want to be and what impact you would like to have. Ask yourself, what difference do I see myself making in this world?  By the end of my career, what impact would I like to have had?  You may not completely know the answer to this yet, but you should feel okay about making a “best guess” based on where you are in your career path.  For some people, this is an evolutionary process.

Step 3
Define what you want to be known for. Ask, what do I want people to see when they look at me?  What do I want others to say about me to other people?  Articulate the value that you uniquely offer to others.  This step is important because this is the outward expression of your brand, i.e. what others see and experience as your unique value.

Step 4
Define for yourself why what you want to be and what you want to be known for are important. Values drive behavior, so make a list of values that are important to you.  This step is important because it keeps you focused on the most important priorities when you meet the inevitable barriers along the way.

Step 5
Get clear about what you need to do and how you want to do it. It may be helpful to limit your timeframe to either the next 12 months, or perhaps a little longer, like 3 years.  Ask yourself, what do I really want or need to do in this next year (or next 3 years) that will set me on a path to making the difference I ultimately want to make?  What projects do I want to initiate or complete?  What new relationships do I need to establish?  What additional training do I need?  Think not just about what you yourself would like to do, but also about what your organization or other stakeholders need or want you to do—you may not be able to control every project you take on, but you can certainly control how you carry it out.

One final note, just as a building built in the 1950’s needs to be updated and remodeled, it is important to understand that developing your personal brand is a process–you’ll need to revisit it periodically.

After you’ve had a chance to develop your personal brand, I would love to hear how you’re using it to move forward in your life and career!

The following is reposted from the blog The Inspired Teacher. She offers some insights about the challenges of listening and speaking–even when we mean well.

I went to a conference recently. The first speaker was from the state department of education and I was ready to listen; in fact, I did listen, but I could not follow her remarks. Why? I simply could not understand what she was saying.

In her first sentence, she used two unfamiliar acronyms. While I paused to decode the first one, I missed several words which followed. The second acronym was completely new to me, so when she said it, I could not understand it all. Thus, in spite of a wide vocabulary, I could not grasp the meaning of her sentence.

The same problem continued throughout her remarks. I spent more time wondering if I had decoded the acronyms than I did absorbing her advice and information. As you can imagine, I was annoyed and frustrated. But suddenly I saw it as a learning experience: I was feeling the same sensations that students feel when they don’t understand the vocabulary or references that I use in the classroom.

In a related incident, I was the speaker at a staff meeting. After I presented an involved list of steps for meeting the goals in the school improvement plan, one of the teachers said, “I would really appreciate a list, so I could keep track of all these things.”

“She already told us we would get one!” said one of his colleagues impatiently, at the very moment that I held up the checklists I was ready to hand out. I paused to talk about his knowledge gap.

“You know, Justin’s comment brings up a common issue,” I said. “He has been here, and he looked pretty attentive, but he still missed, or didn’t remember, that detail. Everyone misses things. It’s human to miss things. Whenever our attention wanders for just a second, we lose a detail or an idea. It’s important to remember that when we talk to the young people in our classes. They will have the same gaps and not because of bad intentions.”

In both cases it was as if the listener was looking at a scene through a window with stickers all over it. He/she missed meaning because parts of the whole picture were obscured by blockages, whether of understanding or attention.

Add these two issues together and you get what I call the Swiss Cheese Syndrome.

Listeners are highly likely to have holes—big and small—in their comprehension of our words, just as Swiss cheese is normally full of holes. We are wise to expect gaps and do what we can to fix them, rather than let the situation make us angry or discouraged.

What can we do?

First, be aware. We have to stop assuming that if we know a given word ourselves, then everyone knows it. We can plan in advance to include simple words in explanations and descriptions. Generally, the more syllables the word has, the more likely for it to be unknown to someone. In addition, content vocabulary and scientific words must be explicitly taught, and then reviewed and used–up to a dozen times for full comprehension by all students.

Second, check constantly. Ask for a student to restate a point. Be sure to call on those average learners, not just those whose hands are usually waving. It is too easy to assume that if one person in the class knows something, then the whole class knows it. Direct your learners to summarize for an “elbow partner.”
Have each student write a summary as a “ticket out the door.” The methods are numerous once we recognize the importance of using them.

Most of all, remember that when you feel like moaning “but I TOLD them that,” it is pretty likely that some of the students are thinking, “I never heard her say THAT.” Just take a deep breath, know that it is the Swiss Cheese Syndrome in action, and try again.

The Green Tape Doctor

The Green Tape Doctor is Leisha DeHart-Davis, an associate professor in the University of Kansas School of Public Affairs and Administration. She conducts research on effective organizational rules, which she refers to as “green tape.” Feel free to email her with your questions on creating effective rules for public sector organizations (lddavis@ku.edu).

Is It Time To Write a Rule?

I once interviewed a public manager who told me, “I decide to write a rule when I’m becoming stressed from people coming into my office with the same issue or problem.”

The manager’s comment suggests that rules can solve workplace problems. But when to write a rule is sometimes unclear: on the one hand, managers need administrative capacity to empower action. On the other hand, they do not want excessive bureaucracy in their workplaces.

How do you know when a written rule is needed? Here are three questions to ask:

** What is the worst that will happen if you do not write a rule? Answering this question is a good way to figure out whether a workplace issue is important enough to write a rule. If the worst-case scenario is likely and imposes unacceptable costs on organizational integrity or operational effectiveness, then a written rule may be in order.

** Are you clear on rule objectives? Written rules are well-suited to clear objectives. Even general objectives – reduced personal Internet usage or increased employee professionalism – greatly simplify rule-writing and help focus the rule on what you are trying to accomplish.

** What is causing the issue? Written rules are like the practice of medicine: prescribing the remedy requires diagnosing the ailment. Take time to investigate the causes of a workplace issue before formulating the rule. If the issue pertains to depleted sick leave, talk to employees to find out what’s going on. Written rules are more effective when designed with root causes in mind.

If the worst-case scenario is unacceptable and if you have clear rule objectives and a good grasp on root causes, then your workplace problem is a good candidate for a written rule.

Is there a workplace issue that you solved using a written rule?  What was it?

When the Green Tape Doctor returns to our blog, look for advice on creating logical rules.

In an interview in the New York Times, Peggy Klaus, author of The Hard Truth About Soft Skills, was asked “What exactly are soft skills and why should we be worried about them?”

She replied that “the hard skills are the technical expertise you need to get the job done. The soft skills are really everything else — competencies that go from self-awareness to one’s attitude to managing one’s career to handling critics, not taking things personally, taking risks, getting along with people and many, many more.”

Basically, soft skills are those that enable you to put your technical skills productively to work.

Can you resolve a conflict with a co-worker about a work plan or about cubicle distractions? Can you sell the value of your approach to your boss and teammates? Can you write an email that gets the results you need? Can you challenge someone’s idea in a productive rather than destructive way?

Then celebrate and thank your soft skills. And as you mentally make note of everyone you work with whose lack of soft skills makes them unpleasant–or even unbearable–to work with, the pivotal role of soft skills in the workplace becomes very visible. Without the soft skills to support the technical abilities of a staff, projects simply don’t get very far. Even the US Department of Labor sees soft skills as “the competitive edge.”

This is a hugely important lesson that most of us have learned the hard way as we struggle to work with those who make everyone around them miserable. But having learned this lesson, make it work for you: make sure your hiring processes are designed to measure soft skills as well as hard skills.

There are some terrific web resources to help you do this. The Soft Skills blog offers questions divided by skill area to ask about. And if you’ve ever heard of or used behavioral-based interviewing, the focus is on soft skills. Here’s one good explanation and resource. And here’s another.

Meanwhile, don’t pass up any opportunities to improve your own soft skills. They’ll be key to moving into the next job you desire, and in the interim your co-workers will thank you for it.

I noticed a trend in the course materials I’ve been creating and revising lately. No matter what the main topic, I found that somewhere in the handouts I noted that the skill wasn’t just about improving or mastering a series of tasks or honing a new ability. Rather, it was also about building and maintaining relationships.

So in the business writing handouts, for example, I highlighted that it’s worth taking the time to compose clear emails with a relevant subject line, that stick to a single message and note what, if anything, is needed from the reader in return and by when. The most immediate reason for this is that it wastes less of everyone’s time: the recipient doesn’t have to wade through unnecessary information and/or you don’t have to send a follow up asking for information that you didn’t give a due date for, for example.

But the more important issue is that business communication is about relationships. It’s worth paying attention to who, in your inbox, always starts their messages with a salutation and returning the favor–even if this isn’t your standard practice. Creating documents and writing presentations that acknowledge the humanity of those who will receive them reaffirms that we are more than the sum of what’s on our task lists.

And the business etiquette handouts likewise center the issue of relationships, building on a comment by Emily Post about the profound misunderstanding most of us have about what etiquette is. It’s not about putting on airs: it’s about how our behavior touches one another whenever our paths cross–that is, relationships.

Valuing what’s human in each other certainly has a payoff in productivity. If we’ve built relationships with our co-workers and colleagues we know who to turn to for guidance on particular issues or who to call to make sure an important piece of paperwork makes it to the top of the pile.

But I hope it’s more than that. It’s also about enhancing the time we spend at work and about making sure we get and give the encouragement we all need to have days filled with as many activities as possible that speak to our hearts as well as our minds.

So be efficient, but not to the point of being brusque and negatively impacting a relationship (thanks to Paul for commenting on this in a recent post!).

And be chatty and personable, but not to the point of frustrating your partner in the conversation who may have some important work to do.

Does remembering that it’s about the relationship as much as accomplishing the task at hand cause you to rethink you’re approach to anyone or anything in your work environment?

In planning the curriculum for the business writing class I teach, I reviewed George Searles’s text, Workplace Communication: The Basics, a book that I found to be very readable and very helpful.

Searles offers many terrific lessons and a great deal of succinct advice. But there was one “aha!” tidbit in particular that I found to be profoundly important for those who represent the public sector in their communication. That tidbit was the idea of reader-centered phrasing in one’s writing–that is, phrasing that focuses on the reader’s interests and knowledge rather than the writer’s.

For example, a listing of office policies and contact information may indicate that “We don’t take phone calls after 3pm on Wednesdays.” With reader-centered rephrasing, this becomes “You may reach us by phone until 3pm on Wednesdays.”

Where the first statement is likely to elicit a frustrated sigh and perhaps a knowing statement made to a friend about the expected work ethic in a government office, the second is unlikely to even give the reader pause.

It’s amazing the difference a few words can make, isn’t it?

Compare: “We cannot process your claim because you did not submit the required forms,” with “We will process your claim as soon as we receive the required forms.”

If this latter statement also includes a second sentence listing what those required forms are, so much the better. Perhaps this information was shared in a previous communication, but when it takes only 20 seconds of your time to list itagain, you gain that much additional goodwill from the reader. Just imagine yourself as the recipient and you can see the difference it makes.

Heaven knows that goodwill from citizens toward government offices is something it would behoove us to cultivate any chance we get.

Now, it’s one thing to resolve to use this sort of reader-centered phrasing as we go forward responding to inquiries, applications, and the like. But what about all those templates you use to streamline your communications: the files you open, change the name of the recipient, update the date, and send to print? What about all those form letters used by your colleagues?

I invite you to pull out one of the letter or email templates you’ll be using in the next week and review it for any opportunities to revamp the sentences to be more reader-centered. Then share any changes you made in the comments below!