Career

I used to do a County Government 101 presentation to high-school seniors in our county, and asked all of them "what's next for you?" in terms of careers/workforce. I told them it would be hard to stump me with a field that did not have relevance/applicability to the county. And on they went and I answered - public safety (you can be a Sheriff); art therapist (come work for County Mental Health); I want to be a nurse (we have openings at the nursing home); heavy equipment (highway worker) and so on. One kid tried to be the cool guy and say "cannabis farmer" to some laughs from the class, to which I responded "well, we have economic development that assists small businesses and ag is the #1 industry in our county." Moral of the long story - especially with county governments due to their size and breadth of service provision - it's really easy to find rewarding career options in the public sector that align well with a multitude of passions and interests.

Default vs Design

I have written about intentionality recently, including getting past autopilot (cue Airplane) and also living life in a mindful manner. How many times do we go about decision-making vs default versus design? Ask yourself - are you regularly in a mode of automation and autopiloting your activities versus specifically and intentionally designing your actions your days, and so forth. Take even an average day — are you designing your day or going through the motions on cruise control? Take one step. Journal in the morning or map out each day, on the hour, the night before. Bonus/even better: do both.

Ecosystem

Recently, I’ve been thinking about the local government management and public administration “ecosystem.” By definition, an ecosystem is a community of people, organizations, and institutions that work together and depend on one another to thrive. A City Manager works in partnership with a City Council; a software solutions provider depends on local government clients; an intergovernmental partner connects organizations and makes referrals—and so on. Each plays a distinct role, but none operates entirely on its own.

Pracademic Partners fits neatly into this ecosystem. As a category of one, we provide essential consulting services, technical assistance, mentorship, coaching, teaching, recruitment, and training to the organizations and individuals we partner with.

The relationship is inherently reciprocal. Without our partners’ needs, challenges, and desire to engage with us, we don’t have a business. And without our subject-matter expertise, practical experience, and white-glove approach to service, many of those partners would be left searching for solutions to important problems and challenges.

That interdependence is what makes the ecosystem work—and it’s what makes our role within it both valuable and meaningful.

Suffering

I was discussing misfortune and bad news (on the work front) recently with a coaching client. They were upset and, frankly, not handling the news well. I reminded them that suffering is not punishment. It’s insightful. It builds armor and resilience. We need to develop what I call distress tolerance in these types of circumstances.

Grandparents

An article in this week’s WSJ, indicates that studies show active grandparenting has positive, tangible, spillover effects for the grandparent in areas like mental and physical health. News flash - “successful” aging (successful in the eye of the beholder, but in this case defined as having meaning, living longer and vibrant lives over 60), always comes back to a few things. Involvement in community or passions/interests. Friendships and kinship. And activities, like physical fitness and being outside and in nature and taking walks. Even for those of us not quite there on the age spectrum, these are also worthy and imitable character traits to possess as one ages. The gains for mental health and overall well-being are clear.

Contentment

I have written about this previously "but “bumping up” as the young’ns say, for this posting. A mentor of mine once said “don’t leave a good party in search of a great party.” He said this in relation to job moves. Sometimes, often times, the grass indeed is not greener. As someone who does recruitment as part of their regular work, it does seem that there is a lot of general contentment out there. People are not apt to move and disrupt what is a good family, career, and/or “lifestyle” situation, in search of something that “might” be better. That’s the risk of the unknown.

Sandwich

I have written before about sandwiches. No, I am not hungry all the time. The last instance was a blog post on the art of the response in an interview. First piece, meat of the matter, and second piece/closure. I thought recently about the sandwich generation. Those with younger but getting older kids (think college age) and parents who are aging and in need of more services care, and attention. In a recent coaching call with a client, I paused to reflect on a third sandwich reference, related to this second one, and that is those in the workplace with ~20 years. They see the younger crop of next-gen folks entering in and their norms, tendencies, etc. They see the retiring-soon co-workers riding off into the sunset. They’re worried about the loss of institutional knowledge on the retirements and a little worried about culture changes and evolving work-habits of the new employees. They’re the middle of this work generational challenge sandwich and often they struggle.

Back from a Hiatus

I guess I took a few week “blog-cation” from this page. Let’s get back to it!

Sometimes, a simple thank you goes a long way. If there is even a hesitation to express gratitude, and you are teetering on whether to bother, err on the side of taking action. So many times we assume others will thank the person, we don’t know how it will be received, we think we do not have the time, we do not know how exactly we might articulate the thankful message, and so forth. To that I say - who cares! While I am Brooks fan, follow Nike’s advice this time - and just do it!

Politeness

There was an article in this weekend’s WSJ regarding a company with razor-thin approval/acceptance rates of job applicants. Well, maybe thinner than a razor. Less than a tenth of 1 %. One thing caught my eye though - their screening assessment / will they stay and succeed down the road “test” = Are they polite? When I preach and teach customer service excellence I always mention this impact on staffing and service. It doesn’t cost much to be polite but it can be very costly if you are impolite.

On Birthdays and Reflections

The US of A just celebrated our nation’s 250th birthday. There were many a reflection and commentary on how far we have come as a country, and what still challenges us and confounds us. A grand experiment, in occasional need of refinement is what the pundits mostly say. Is that not what we all are? As we celebrate our own birthdays, such occasions represent a time of pause, of contemplation, of resets, of memories, etc.

Professional Development

As many people in the profession of public administration make it a point to better themselves professionally, I ask - what is the best form?  In person?  Online?  Mix? Group?  1:1?  Self-paced? What about subject-matter - finance?  HR?  Leadership? Work-life stuff? Communication?  Amount - a little or a lot?   Blocked or periodically scheduled on the regular? The answer is -  it depends on the person as each individual tends to learn differently.

Time for a checkup?

In terms of 🚗 car care, we generally think of 3,000 or 5,000 miles (somewhere in that range) for an oil change. Perhaps 40,000 to 70,000 miles and we are contemplating brakes or tires or maybe at 50,000 we schedule for a multi-point inspection. (Note: When I had my 1987 Jeep Grand Wagoneer a while back (aka Woody, aka "large carbon footprint") perhaps the inspections and look-sees were a little more, ahem, frequent.)

We have pre-determined intervals for checking, scoping, and assessing an asset that is in our possession, so as to keep it in tip-top shape and, presumably, discover issues or problems early on and fix in a timely manner. 

Referring to the local government equivalent, as a 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤, this is an often overlooked assessment tool. Pick a department and do a top of bottom policy and compliance check for systems use and adherence. As an example: Outside of the audit, the financial department is a good candidate for a scope.  For finance, I would look at policies, updates, communication practices, "desk audits" of staff work roles/responsibilities, reporting timeframes, bond schedules, debt-refinancing opportunities, the CIP format, regulatory filings, GFOA best practice document comparisons, cash-flowing forecasting, investment strategies, and so forth. 

If you end up substantiating everything and not needing any updates or changes, that’s fine. It will still be a good exercise as a double-check and a verification process. 

Yes, You can Change

In my daily journaling, I write a daily affirmation. Along with three things I am grateful for and three things I am looking forward to that day, these entries set the tone for my day ahead. Looking back at one recently, I wrote (in handwriting only I can decipher) “You can change.” In this case, spoiler alert, I was attempting to eat a little better. :) But, that being said, I looked back at the entries some weeks before that, and what was on my mind, and what excited me, and what I was challenged by. Even in the that small look-back stretch, it was clear I had changed, and positively - proving, in retrospect, my future affirmation.

Coaching Insights: Career Capital

A theme from a recent executive coaching conversation: many professionals wait until they're ready for their next role before preparing for said role.

The strongest leaders are continuously building 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 by:

✔️ Taking on stretch assignments

✔️ Expanding their professional network

✔️ Closing skill / resume gaps mindfully

✔️ Developing a clear and compelling professional narrative and portfolio

✔️ Participating intentionally with professional associations

Your next career opportunity is often shaped by the experiences, relationships, networks, engagement work and reputation you're building today, not when you 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦 to start looking.

What's one thing you're doing right now to invest in your future self?

Just Roll With It

Yes, it would be ok and appropriate for you to start singing now in your best Steve Winwood voice. Just roll with it, baby! A fun song, yes. A solid statement of advice as well - yes! Resiliency and going with the flow and embracing negativity and bad days/circumstances as just situational “stuff” that happens. That’s rolling with it.

Coaching Insights: Good Days and Bad Days

I was working recently with a municipal manager coaching client. They were struggling with, and challenged by, the seemingly never-ending prioritization shifting, causing chaos in scheduling. The days were a grind lately. To help manage stress and improve focus, I suggested a simple two-week exercise: at the end of each day, I instructed them to identify and score experiences as a +1, 0, or -1. A +1 represents activities, interactions, or accomplishments that generated energy, momentum, or a sense of progress. A -1 reflects frustrations, recurring obstacles, unfinished loops, or tasks that drained energy and attention. A 0 captures neutral activities that were necessary but neither particularly positive nor negative.

Over the course of two weeks, patterns often emerge. By tracking and ranking these experiences, I noted that you can better understand what is creating value, what is consuming disproportionate time and energy, and where small adjustments could have an outsized impact. The objective is not to eliminate every challenge, but to become more intentional about where your attention goes, build resilience around inevitable disruptions, and create a clearer path toward a more sustainable workload and leadership approach. HT to Jim Collins for the system.

Sandwich

In responding to interview questions, common occurrences by applicants are not acknowledging the question, not providing a sufficient response/clarity in addressing the question, and not closing it sufficiently (running on, losing the audience, and so forth). So, we offer the simple sandwich concept:

• First piece (of bread): simply start off acknowledging the question.

• The meat/toppings/inside: literally answer the question, and be specific and concise and thread the needle of being "in between" too much and too little.

• Second piece (of bread): "close 'er down" by coming to a soft landing on the answer with closure and a clean finish.

What can you do…

Listening to a podcast recently, the host posed the question “what can I do most beautifully?” This question has a lot of applicability.

Today. In life. As a career. For a loved one. For a friend. For an enemy.

Mother Teresa

Whenever someone was a jerk or a blowhard, and they were married, my father would always say about that person’s spouse - “they have moved up past Mother Teresa on my list.” Alas, this story is not about my father’s Mother Teresa sayings. Mother Teresa is attributed with the quote: "Wash the plate not because it is dirty nor because you are told to wash it, but because you love the person who will use it next." Focus on these small, meaningful acts of service and you will naturally pay-it-forward for the next generation.

Planning

I am a big fan of planning. Comprehensive, strategic, action, legislative, capital - you name it! But if plans just ended there, nothing would happen. A great phrase to remember in local government planning is “be patient with results, and impatient with action.” Be planful, intentional and methodical in forecasting and thinking ahead. Develop a roadmap, of course. Be cognizant that stuff takes time, especially weighty endeavors. (BHAGS). But be partial to action. Have a bias for taking the lead and commencing an effort. Start. Do. Act.