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Transcript 

0:01
Glad to have all of you with us today. My name is Bill Stark. I'm with LeaderGov, along with Tim Fenbert with LeaderGov, and Justin Cutler, who's with LeaderGov, and who is also our special guest today. So welcome to everybody. Thank you for being here, and hope you all had a good Friday, good Fourth last weekend, and have a have a good weekend in store. So we're gonna gonna got a really good solid topic we wanted to share with everybody today that that applies not only to parks and rec and public works, but really to any department in your city or county. Could be interns, any sort of you know non full time classically full full time role. Some ideas on how to really create this culture of excellence for those folks in your organization. So yeah, go ahead and finish. If you haven't chatted, tell us where you're from. We'd love to love to know what agency you're with and where you come from. Today we got folks kind of coast to coast, and so again we're excited to have you all with us today. Just a quick to let you know who we are. Some of you are new to LeaderGov, so I'll make this kind of snappy, but we serve local government, hence the name leader and gov. And our sort of the sweet spot of what we do is provide leadership training. Although we do strategic planning, retreats, and teamwork training, and lots of other stuff, but we really love working with cities, counties, different types of agencies, taxing commissions, and the like. So we we only work with local government, and so we over time have grown very fond of the work that you do, and it's really an honor to to serve the the public servants out there who are helping our communities. So, as I mentioned, we do retreats and strategic planning, succession planning, culture, professional development. So those are some of the things that we get involved in with our city and county customers. And today, yeah, today we're going to jump into this topic of seasonal employees and turns, and and talk about this idea of how do we uniquely support them because they're a unique group of of employees. They're they're maybe not here full time yet. They're full time for a season, perhaps, and we need to do some things. We need to support them in some ways that are different, that are unique, and to bring them into our environment. Treat them well. Set good expectations, and then maybe some of the folks will come back as full-time employees someday. So we're really excited about this topic. Hope it's a value to you, and also we want to pick your brain on this topic as well. Maybe some things you have done to really develop and support your seasonal workers. So our our guest today is a dear friend, Justin Cutler. Justin's a senior VP of consulting here at LeaderGov. He was most recently the commissioner of Atlanta Parks and Recreation. He's got 20 years of experience in local government, Seattle, Washington, Westminster, Colorado, Oregon, and he's really known for blending continuous improvement and community-focused innovation, and we can attest to his his real dedication to continuous improvement in Atlanta. Justin and his team launched a really innovative idea. It's a parks and rec equity tool. It's a datum tool that helped ensure that residents in the city had a 10-minute walk to a high-quality park, and they also linked their parks to better health outcomes through some evidence-based chronic disease programs. So at the end of the day, yeah, like why do you build a park? Well, we're going to have fun in the park, take our kids to the park. That's great, but we can also affect the health of our community when we build a park and have a park that's attractive. So Justin's done a lot of work in that area to ensure that the outcome of the Parks and Rec Agency are really headed in a specific direction. At City of Atlanta, Justin started a program called Supervisor Prep to really help develop that next generation of leaders and supervisors.

4:30
If that's something that you're interested in for your supervisors in your Parks and Rec agency or any other department within a city government, county government, you know, let us know that's kind of the work we do. Lastly, Justin is certified parks and rec executive, and has a real dedication to equity and wellness, vibrancy, and and very well activated public spaces. So, thank you, Justin, for being here today. It's it's a. Great to, great to have you.

5:03
Yeah, well, thank you, Bill. Appreciate the introduction and welcome, friends. It's great to see each of you and and see your names. And feel free to come on camera or stay off camera if that's convenient for you. I see some former colleagues from the city of Atlanta. Paula, thanks for joining as well. And Brian, I know you helped us in Atlanta with some playground learning and helping the team grow. So thank you for being here, and to all of you that aren't in parks and recreation, maybe in public works or city government, HR, wherever you may be. Each of you just does an amazing job serving our neighbors, serving our communities, and so just really glad that you're here today, that you're taking some time to really fill your cup as a public official, you're oftentimes asked to empty yourself, right? Pour into other people, pour into your neighbors, pour into your staff, and so really proud of each of you for being here, showing up for yourself, and that's really what we want to do with these Friday workshops. This is an opportunity for us to share something insightful for with you, help you grow, develop, and and learn, so that you can care for those in your charge and and care for your communities in a real purposeful way. So, thank you for taking the time, and just glad to be here to help support each of you.

6:16
Yeah, yeah,

6:18
yeah. Go ahead, Bill.

6:19
Yeah, I was just going to say when when you registered for this workshop, you we asked you to answer two questions, and so these this is the first question that you answered when you registered. Do you have core job competencies for hiring candidates? So how how clear are your job competencies outlined? And yeah, this is pretty interesting, right? Half half of them said absolutely, yeah. And then there were there were a few others again, almost half that said, well, yeah, not not really. I'm not quite sure that we've defined that really well. And I wonder if you would just speak to this for a minute, Justin. You know, for the folks that are not quite there. Like, what is it that we're talking about when we say core job competencies for hiring? What are you talking about?

7:07
Yeah, when we think about core job competencies for hiring, what we're thinking about is people's emotional intelligence, their ability to to to do various job functions. I think one of the things that with seasonal employees is you're asking them to to get up to speed fairly immediately, right? So there may not be a lot of you may have to do a substantial amount of training, but there also may be skills and competencies that you want them to have day one, so you know that they are are good to go, right? You wouldn't want to hire somebody that doesn't have any childcare experience necessarily, and have them be a camp counselor. So you're looking for like babysitting experience, or you're looking for these other things. And so having that listed out, having that integrated into your job postings, having that integrated into your staff training is really critical. As we'll talk a little bit later, because clarity is kindness, right? If you're asking somebody to do a job and they don't know about it, even seasonal employees. Then you have to be the one to fill that gap. So, but you have to be clear as to what is that gap, and what is that benchmark they're being measured against, and having core competencies like ability to handle difficult conversations with parents, ability to handle a weed whacker, or ability to handle a chainsaw, ability to handle file paperwork and understand, you know, filing systems, general general computer competencies, emails. Those are all things that is really critical. That and that you're explicit with that when you're hiring your candidates because then they understand what that benchmark

8:40
is. Yeah, yeah, that's good. I like that clarity is kindness, and and having these job competencies laid out very clearly, very simple language. Here's what we need from this particular role is is really it is a kind thing because you're setting setting expectations, which we're going to talk about in just a little bit, and this one was the other question: Are your core values integrated into your weekly meetings and tailgate meetings? And so, yeah, share share some of your perspective on this, Justin, in terms of integrating having these conversations, right, about our core values.

9:17
Yeah, and I think when I think about core values and weekly meetings and tailgates, right? So a tailgate may be your meeting behind the back of a trash truck. You may be meeting behind your parked vehicle. You may be meeting in the break room and just having a check-in meeting with your team, or you may be having a weekly team meeting. Those are really important that you one that you have those meetings because in those meetings, that's where you're able to communicate your core values, talk about the different competencies that are that you need to have as a team member, and I think it's interesting that we identified over 50% of cities or agencies had core competencies, but only 40-2% actually integrate them. So there's like that. 10% gap, you know, between using them in a meeting. You know, people not sure. Sometimes it happens, but this is really where the culture change happens: is integrating your core values, your core competencies into the weekly meetings, and consistently talking about it. As as we all know, you know, you have to say something seven times for it to really to sink into somebody's brain and really then be exhibited in their behavior, and so how often are we saying that? And when you're working with seasonal employees, you don't have that much time. Your whole season may be seven weeks, and if you aren't constantly repeating that through your messaging, through your text messages, to your team, through your emails, through your spoken word, then that gets lost, and that's an opportunity. That's a missed opportunity to to talk about your core values. So it's really important that you take those weekly meetings, but also even in the hiring process that you're talking about your core values.

10:53
Yeah, I know, Justin. We we talk a lot about team meetings and this. I don't know if it's a good habit or bad habit, but we we get into this rut, I guess, of spending all our time in our team meetings talking about tasks and projects, which are super important, right? I mean, we got to get stuff done and we got to talk about our tasks, but we really just don't spend much time, I think, in general, as people talking about those soft skills and how do we respond to a parent that's angry, and what are the values that we want to show the people that come into our facilities? And so, spending time on this in your meetings-five minutes, 10 minutes-great best practice as a leader.

11:37
And even just talking, you know, if let's say you know integrity is one of your core values. Well, what does integrity mean to you? And you, as a leader, can share that. But then asking your staff, what does integrity mean to them? You know, and making sure that you're aligned there, and and that's the opportunity is is both sharing what it means, sharing what a core value means to you, and and hearing then from your team what a core value means to them, and then reconciling the two in in real time, you know that's a great opportunity to just make sure everybody's on the same page.

12:05
Yeah, yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah, I'd love to open up the chat here for you all. We won't put you on the spot too much to to speak unless unless you'd like to. But this is this topic is about interns and seasonal employees, and we'd love to hear what what was your first job in local government? Is there anybody on the on the call today that started out as an intern or as a seasonal worker, seasonal employee, and what what was that? So we would love to love to hear from a few of you, we we know that a lot of really superstar employees come up as seasonal employees. They they come on for a period of time and then they get they get hired full time, and sometimes they end up being our best our best folks. I know, Justin, were you was was seasonal employment one of your was that how you got connected to local government?

13:03
Yeah, you know, my very first job was as a dishwasher at a summer camp, which I really loved. Which then kind of led me into exploring, you know, local government and parks and recreation. But then my first kind of local government seasonal job, my first job in local government was a seasonal job with the city of Portland. My job was to kind of staff a playground area and make sure that kids were safe, having a good time. It was free to the community, and so I we did tennis, we did arts and crafts, we rolled out a big sheet of plastic and sprayed some dish soap on it and had a big slip and slide. So my job was just to create a fun environment for young people. You know, I've I've known several city managers though that started out as lifeguards or park maintenance workers, you know, directors in other departments. You know, said yeah, my first job was X Y Z working for a park agency or working at a city. You know, I was an HR intern. So the internships and seasonal employment are really are a great entry point to help connect people to local government, so it'd be great to hear from each of you, kind of what where where you got your start. Was it seasonal? Was it a first full time job? So, as Paula said, you know, I worked at a marina selling bait to fishermen and women. Worked the gas docket filling up boats too. So,

14:20
yeah, you know, I I think for me, I know in just a minute we're going to talk about mindset, and I think for me this is a reminder that even though these folks coming in are temporary and inexperienced, we really need to pay attention to them and serve them and equip them as best we can, because some of them are going to come back, and they might just be some of your best best folks. So it's a, it's really a, it is kind of a shift of mindset from, oh boy, here we go, you know, here all these interns and seasonal workers who are ill-equipped, to wow, maybe this is the beginning. Of someone's career, and that's just a different. That's a different way of looking at it. So yeah. So thank you for that. Yeah. So today we want to really just. I'm. I'm going to just ask Justin a few questions related to really five areas of I would say unique support, because all of these areas, you know, we need in our leadership with our teams all the time. But seasonal workers, really, for us as as leaders, there's something special here and something unique for us to take away as we put on this lens of seasonal workers and and interns. So we're going to talk about these five different areas, and then at the very end, we want you to participate. We'd love your you can chat some questions. You're welcome to chat questions along the way as well, but we will have a tim of kind of back and forth when we get finished going through these sort of five areas. So, yeah, I wanted to just ask. I guess first of all, I know purpose was kind of the the first thing. Just and connect to a purpose. So if you could just kind of tell me, you know, like when connecting to purpose, what, how does that work? How does that help? What what's the point there?

16:19
Yeah, great question. I think when I think about purpose, oftentimes you know seasonal employees are coming into this role or opportunity. You know, maybe their mom or their dad, or you know, maybe they they they're in college and they needed something to do this summer, or maybe they're retiring, they're looking for a way to give back. And a seasonal employment opportunity is sometimes just a paycheck for some of these employees. Sometimes it's a calling, and your job really is to tap into which one it is, and then understand and point forward towards that higher purpose. And I think oftentimes when we think about purpose, it's it's not about like a calling, but it's really about an opportunity to help families have a safe option for their children, right? If you're working at a summer camp, or you're a lifeguard, or you're a park worker, it's creating an environment that's safe and healthy. You know, if you're working in the HR office, being an HR intern, you may be doing a myriad of different tasks and activities. It may be screening candidates, it may be checking backgrounds, but it's a lot about safety. How are you helping people be safe. How are you creating a safe organization? Because in the middle of summer, like in Georgia right now, before students go back to school in August, you know now is kind of the doldrums, right? Where you're you're starting to run low of energy. Maybe you've been running hard in June, and and July is a great opportunity to point people back to the purpose. Why did they sign up for this job? What? Why does this job matter, and why is it important that they're still being diligent going through the files or going through their tasks? You know, also from a summer camp standpoint, it's sometimes this child's first week of summer camp. It may be your fifth week, but it's their first week, and so are you providing that first week experience. You know, you're preventing drownings, and so it's really important to tie that the actions that the that the staff member is taking back to that. Why is that action important? Because right now it can be really exhausting, and we recognize that. And that's why we want to have this session in July is just to remind ourselves, in a sense, right? As a supervisor and a director, you know, my team's feeling it right now, and and and we need to refresh and and kind of shake off the dust a little bit. But connecting yourself to that higher purpose, I think, is important too.

18:29
Yeah, and I it kind of goes back to the core values. This is a topic we don't talk about a lot in our leadership. Typically, it's it doesn't seem natural to talk about it every day. I remember we had a Tim. We had a community development director on one of our workshops some time ago, and their purpose in community development, kind of to your point, Justin, is to make people's dreams come true.

18:54
Yeah,

18:55
I thought, wow, what a great purpose statement. You know, there I am shuffling paperwork all day for zoning requests, but what I'm really doing is helping people's dreams come true. Kind of like what you said, opportunities help families have a safe, healthy summer, and that's just there is a higher calling in this work. And I think you're right. Reminding people of the higher purpose is really, really important. You know, you also mentioned about expectations. That was the second topic, Justin. And

19:26
I just, you know, why is setting clear expectations maybe especially important for interns or seasonal workers? What what's unique about their situation that might make that more more urgent or more important?

19:40
Yeah, I think when I think about seasonal and and interns, you know, I often think about an individual where this may be their first work experience, and so it's really important that you that when you engage with this employee, that you understand, you know, that they may have limited job knowledge, limited skill sets. It's important to break tasks and break kind of assignments down into really easily digestible information. You know, assume don't assume anything, right? We know what happens when you assume, but Binet Brown I think says it best. You know, clarity is kindness. You know, thinking about how are you being clear so this person can be most successful. You know how what what level of direction are you giving? Are you confirming with that person that they understand the expectation, the outcomes you need them to achieve, and why they need to achieve it? The work project being assigned and why is that work being assigned to this individual? It may get exhausting, especially in July, but it's really important that you take that extra step because it's really important that that person feels successful. If they feel successful, if they feel that they are achieving the result that you've set before them, they're going to be they're going to come back, right? If they feel that they're making that impact, people want to feel that their time is valuable or feel that their time is worth something, and by creating that clarity, you know, connecting it back to that purpose and then connecting it to the result, that is really helpful. And I think that goes a long way to helping staff feel empowered and feel confident in the work that they're doing, and then encouraging them along the way, which we'll get to here in a second too. So

21:18
yeah, yeah, I think it's it's one thing to set expectations for tenured employees who have been on the job for a few years, and you know it's a little easier. The directions don't need to be as detailed, right? But for for these seasonal workers, we really need to pay attention to ensure that we're giving them everything they need to be successful. This this third topic, mindset shifting mindset, and you know, I mentioned this earlier about you know what what does it what what does that mean to you? Like, is that is that the mindset of the participant, the employee, or is it my mindset to look at them in a in a different way?

21:56
Yeah, I really think it's my mindset. You know, as a director, as as a leader in my organization, you know, oftentimes it can be easy with professional staff where you know you you've worked with this individual for a long time, you know, and and there may there's an error that occurs, and you know it, you know even in that moment, right, assuming that that it was that person's personal failure that led to that that failure that misaction, I think that can be detrimental to that person, right? And so even more so with seasonal employees. You know, instead of going from what is wrong with this employee, it's really, you know, what haven't I taught them yet? You know, did I cover all of my bases when I was giving them direction? Was I clear? Was I um specific? Was I that I asked them if they understood, or were they on their cell phone while I was giving them direction? You know, and and did I ask them to put their cell phone down? Did I share explicitly enough with them? And so I think it's always about assuming positive intent. And I think one way to frame that is instead of you know what did this employee do wrong, you know, taking a step back and saying, "Was I completely clear? Was I being kind with this employee? Was I being transparent? You know, have they been trained? Have they practiced? You know, I think a good example of this sometimes is is working with young people, right? And I think sometimes when I'm moving fast as as a person, like I, I can get into a mindset. Well, they should just know what I'm talking about, right? Like I've I've been spending time with them. I've been showing them what to do. But again, you know, it takes numerous times for somebody to they have to repeat that behavior in order for it to become you know second nature. And so, have I allowed them enough time to repeat that behavior? Have I given them enough clarity in those instructions, and oftentimes what I find is that I haven't, you know. And I think when I personally reflect in that moment, I find that I haven't been clear. I haven't been explicit. I haven't, you know, gone over the specific technique that I have found to be successful for me in my in in my pursuit of excellence, and maybe and sharing that with them, and then reminding them that you know this isn't you know feedback isn't bad feedback because I think a lot of people take feedback personally nowadays. You know, but but reminding people to catch the feedback out here, and ask and asking them to you know consider what you know what you're sharing with them, you know, and it's not in a demeaning way, but helping helping people to understand that hey, I want you to be successful as a supervisor. I want you to be successful as a director. You know, my job is for you to be successful, and I know that one of those points of success is being able to accept and receive feedback. And but also, you know, as that leader, you have to shift your mindset. It's not about them personally or what they what they failed at, but have you really given them enough opportunity? And then, honestly, if you have, you know, that's a different step, and and that's kind of the next

24:49
one. Yeah, yeah. This shift your mindset, though, really, I like what you're saying. What what what resonates with me and in your your your thoughts there is this. It's kind of a servant leader, servant leader mentality of where did I not do my job as a leader well enough to support this individual, and and also the mindset. It's a reminder these folks don't know all the ins and outs of local government, and I need to shift, get into a different mode of thinking to support them in a different way and kind of slow down. I think, as you said, and seeing them as a valuable part of the team, not as a commodity, those are all kind of mindset shifts that I think are really important. So, yeah, and this this next one, Justin, this fourth idea is the phrase is "coach" instead of "correct. I really like that phrase. Tell me more about that, and and how is that again? How does that really apply? Maybe more so to seasonal workers instead of our full time staff folks.

26:00
Yeah, no, that's great, and I think when I think about seasonal employees and interns, you know, they're really looking for that opportunity to grow as a person, right? They're looking for that opportunity to gain necessary skills, and so, you know, coaching. I think when I think of a coach, right? We've all you may have played a sport growing up, or and you know, your coach is there to help you be successful, to be your guide, to not play the game for you, but to help point you in the right direction, give you critiques on your stance, give you critiques on how you're, you know, doing gymnastics or how you're holding the bat or the the throwing the softball, you know how you're doing different things within the sport that you're pursuing, and your coach is there again, not to play the sport, but to give you that feedback. And so, you know, your job as a supervisor and a director and a leader in this moment isn't to do the job for that individual; otherwise, you wouldn't need that person. But it's to ask questions, right? And so, some of the questions, some of my favorite questions that I've come across over the years is, you know, what do you think contributed to this outcome? You know, you aren't a value, you aren't placing judgment on that specific outcome, but you're asking the question, you're helping that person kind of reach reach into their brain and then go that higher level thinking of what What do you think contributed to this outcome? Was it maybe an email you sent? Was it the the tone of voice you used? Was it your physical presence and how you did you have your arms crossed? You know, helping them kind of think through what what could have been that contributed to this. And you're going to have to be more explicit. You know, even asking this question. You know, kind of coaxing things out of of a seasonal employee potentially. But a good a good follow up one is how would you approach this differently next time, you know. Helping them again, kind of engage that that second level thinking of, you know, what would I, what could I have done differently, and and and spending some time talking through it with them. You know, I think seasonal employees and interns, you know, they they may take more time than your your professional staff, but it's worth it. The time you invest in a seasonal employee will often pay dividends if they become a full time employee. So you know there are some employees that I've worked with that that started off as seasonal employees, and and it's really at that point where they learned good, bad, or otherwise behavior, right? And if we think about that as an organizational leader, and we're trying to create a positive culture. And somebody comes in your organization, and they day one, you know, maybe week month one or year one, they have a bad experience, or they or they they do something that that isn't you know in line with your culture, and you don't correct it at that point. That can that'll have that could continue to to brew or to fester for the next 510 15 years and and it's it compounds in a sense just like interest compounds and so I think that's why in my opinion you know setting up seasonals really well is is the long game in improving your culture because how you treat your seasonal employees is oftentimes and how they're treated you know do you have a culture of hazing seasonal employees well they do the they do the grunt work or they do the dirty work, right? And how does that impact their experience and and whether or not they want to come back to your organization? So, you know, helping them to coaching those and correcting that behavior will will pay dividends in the long run. Then also asking, you know, what support or resources do you need from me to succeed in this area moving forward?

29:24
You know, again, making it you know kind of depersonalizing it, helping that employee, that that that person that you're engaging with understand that you're in this together. You know that you recognize as their supervisor, as their manager, director. You know that you need to do something too, right? In order to support this person's success. So, what support or resources do you need from me to succeed in this area moving forward? Really brings that together and makes it a we experience as opposed to a you experience, which I think is critical.

29:52
Oh yeah, that's good, Coach. Coach, instead of correcting this last topic is about recognition and. And the idea that recognition to this seasonal employee intern affects the culture; it drives culture, and so we want to talk about that just for a second. Get your thoughts on that, Justin, and then we're going to share a few ideas for next steps for folks, and then open up for some questions. But speak for a minute about this-the need for recognition in this seasonal environment.

30:26
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I think recognition, you know, oftentimes drive culture too. You know, you get what you support, and so you know, coming up with a way to recognize behavior. And I think there's kind of three different forms of recognition, right? There's recognition that says, you know, I see you, I'm with you, right? And maybe that's, you know, bringing the tim an incentive, you know, saying thank you, you know, hey, hey, here's a popsicle, or doing a food truck event, and you're recognizing their contributions. You're saying, I see you, I see a need that you have, and I'm helping to fulfill that, right? Then there's I think the next level, which is I hear you right, and you maybe take feedback from that employee and you deliver it and you celebrate that. So you may recognize, hey, you know, Sue, she came up with this great idea. I want to give her you know some recognition. Thank you, Sue, for for always showing up on time. Thank you for helping us get this done, and you know, congratulations, Sue, for a job well done. Here's you know a token of our appreciation, and then I think there's also kind of that third level of you know I'm with you, you know, and this concept that you know you're in this together, and so you know, is there time in your schedule? Does it allow, or are you taking time because this is an important thing that you do? You want to change your culture, where you're working alongside individuals. You know, you're doing an event together. You know, you're helping to to to do some filing together, and that gives you an opportunity to talk with that person and build that rapport. Are you you know working in a park? Are you picking up litter together and being really intentional about talking with each of the employees, you know. When you're going to the the lifeguard or the summer camp, are you engaging with the young people, asking them what's on their mind, asking what you can do to support their success, giving your you know your cell phone number, offering a letter of of reference? How are you empowering that next next generation of leader through your you know experience and through your skill sets, and I think that's people see that as as we're in this together. And so, you know, one of the things that I always like to to remind staff is, you know, I'm here to support your success. If there's anything I can do to support your success, please let me know. And I think sometimes that that people take advantage of that, which is great. Like I want not and not not advantage in a bad way, but they actually pick up the phone and they'll call. And I'm surprised sometimes how how how often that doesn't happen. But I think continually showing up and and letting people know that you're there to support their success, I think, is critical, especially when these seasonal opportunities where people they may work for you for a season and then they need to go to a different opportunity due to pay or benefits or whatever, or they may stay with you and and how are you helping to support their efforts through either you know executive sponsorship or support and helping them find the right fit within your organization. So, but that recognition at those three levels I think is really key, and trying to identify how you're doing that across the summer and across the seasonal experience is really important because each one heads a different need. So,

33:29
yeah, yeah. Tim and I, in some of our training, talk about recognition, and there's a actually a study that has been done on the influence that recognition has on productivity, and it actually increases productivity. Both both recognition and appreciation has a direct correlation to someone's output, and so pretty pretty important thing. You know, as we wrap up of your your piece before we get into some questions from the group, I just wanted to share this list of. We kind of wanted to give you some ideas and things you could you could do. Simple, maybe some simple things. Just reminders to encourage and support these seasonal employees, interns. What what what what kind of resonates with you, Justin, on this? What are some things you've done before that have been kind of fun or different? Maybe that have really made a difference. You think?

34:24
Yeah, you know, these are things. Each one of these things is something that I've done. You know, I think my favorite is oftentimes just buying a box of popsicles on a hot summer day and going out and talking with staff. You know, and it's a real easy way just to to break the ice, pun intended, and and just talk about, you know, what is the what's their experience been like this summer? What are some of the challenges that they're facing? You know, what are some of the things I can do as their as their commissioner of parks and rec in that moment, or as a director of recreation? But really, you know, it's hot out right now. You know, people are experiencing the heat, especially your seasonal workers, your park workers. Or your public works people that are outside, Department of Transportation, water sewer, all of them are experiencing the heat. And so, taking a moment to to identify something that can be really meaningful. So, buying a box of popsicles one of my favorite ones. But I think what I wanted to do with this list is really, you know, drive home the fact that this doesn't have to be big or splashy. You know that enforcing reinforcing core values can be as simple as, you know, going online, looking at YouTube, identifying a video that both inspires you and then sharing that with your team. I've done that a number of times, and and the comments that I've gotten from my team have been, you know, have been surprising. You know, people. It's been life changing for some. It's been encouraging for others, but it it helps to reinforce those core values. You know, and you can do this at a at a meeting. You know, hey everybody, I want y'all to share this video with your team, and then talk about it for five minutes. Sending a text message, just you know, right now, each of you can send a text message to a supervisor. Say, hey, you know, Javier, I really appreciate the work you're doing in our and as an intern. I just want you to know that I just I'm glad you're here and I'm glad to be working with you. You know, please let me know if there's anything I can do to support your success. That's going to take you a couple minutes, and y'all can do that right now, right? You know, reinforce a core value in your next email. So as you're writing an email, you know you could just say, "Hey, you know, I'm I'm sending this email. I'm really excited about everything that's going on. Or you're talking with somebody else about you know a situation that you're dealing with, you know, and you can say, as a reminder, our core value is customer service, and that is why I wanted to reinforce this with you. And and here's what that means to me, and this is what it looks like in this in this action that we're taking with this employer with this person in the public, so you know these are the ways that we can one be authentic in our leadership by by reinforcing our core values. Two, it it's simple, it's it's easy to do, and you know it can it can go a long way and helping somebody to feel seen and and you know connect with your organization. So you know create a plan for next week. You know what do you want to do? That's another step you can take. Is what what where what parks do you want to go visit? What staff member do you want to have a conversation with? Just take some time you know today to to reflect on that and create a plan and schedule it on your calendar is what I found to be successful. I want to block out specific time and protect that time, but it's easy and you can take those steps today.

37:29
Yeah, yeah. This idea of of connecting a message, a reminder to the core value is a is a great idea. I'm I'm not just sending this because it's important in and of itself. It connects to a higher value of our organization, and making that connection back to purpose or back to core values, I think, is a really great a great idea. Yeah, I like these. This they're simple. There are things that we can do as as as leaders, really any any day with anyone, and so would love to open up the chat here to you all that are in the audience. And you're welcome just to go to the use the chat button at the bottom of your Zoom link there at the bottom of the page. It says chat, and tell us how you've supported your seasonal employees, your interns, in whatever department. We'd love to to hear how you've kind of uniquely, you know, invested in them to equip them and support them during their time with your agency, and or if you want to share, you got a story. You're welcome to chat and or just unmute, and we'd love to love to hear from a couple of you if you've got some questions. Let's see who would care to share for a minute.

39:13
Paula in the chat made a comment.

39:17
Yeah, Paula, go ahead. You want to unmute and just share for a second.

39:23
Sure, I'm finding more and more that I'm of the more experienced slash older group of folks, and so as I do that, I'm young at heart, and so I always take the time to ask them what I should know about them, what inspires them, what they would want me to do and learn about them that I can then use and pay it forward to the next person of their generation that I interact with. So I do spend some time engaging with them in that regard. Oftentimes it's around technology, to be frank, and so I haven't figured out how to formalize any of that, but it's an. Intriguing thought. I make sure that I they know that I'm also a learner, and I'm going to be learning my entire life.

40:09
Yeah, yeah. Again, kind of a humble attitude. I don't know everything, so help me. I like the idea. the The title you said there in the chat, reverse mentorship. What a what a neat idea of being mentored by someone with less experience, less tenure. Yeah, that's great. Habersham County Elections Department. So talk about part-time, seasonal employees, right? We do a yearly, a yearly, and we do a year-end and a yearly celebration lunch for all of our workers with food, door prizes and games. Wow, that's a great idea, and that's for elections. Is that is that right, Habersham? Are you? Can you hear us? I don't know if you can unmute or not, but what a great what a great idea to kind of honor their work, particularly for with elections. We know how grueling that can be. Yeah, and it's

41:01
been a sorry. It's been a big hit with all workers. They really enjoy it a lot. It's just a great camaraderie thing where everybody can get together and kind of talk about what we went through that year, things that we can do better. And we usually open it at the end for people to write down things that they think we can improve on going into the next year. And it's just a fun way for us to celebrate them and really just kind of get together and have a big send off and thank them for all their hard work that they did during the year.

41:28
Yeah. Let's see, Melissa treat interns and temps as if they were permanent employees. Yeah, I like that idea, Melissa. We want to try to treat our interns and tim's as if they were permanent employees. Some true found some true gems who eventually became permanent employees. Yeah, yeah. I think Melissa, I agree with that comment. It's like we we do need to kind of shift our mindset that these are this is this is a potential really great thing for our organization. We could find some. There could be some people here that are going to be the next department head, and to invest in them and think of them as as permanent, I think is a really great idea. Melissa, thank you, thank you for that.

42:17
Justin, do you do you ever have a mindset of it being like an extended interview, even I mean, as a as a manager, and and try to almost encourage your employees along the lines of we want you to be applying for a full time position. Is that a way to position a seasonal employee?

42:35
Yeah, no, I think you're absolutely right. You know, and I think as Melissa pointed out, you know, I think at the end of the day, we want to just we want to treat all people as people, right? And I think having that high bar of of permanent employees is a is a great spot to position all employees. And I think it's also important to, you know, like you're saying, you know, remind staff and and not in a threatening way because I think it, you can go too far with that statement, right? Where, you know, hey, this is a job interview, but I think what you're trying to do is you're saying, you know, is yes, you know, this is an opportunity for for you to show us what you got, you know. And I know we had oftentimes there were some park workers that were like, yeah, I want to get on full time, and then they wouldn't show up for a couple days, or they'd call in sick, or they would be inconsistent in their workforce, and you would have that conversation of, "Hey, you know, I'm not seeing the performance. You know, at the beginning of this of the season, you mentioned to me that you'd like to be that you'd like to come on full time, but I'm not seeing the performance that would that would lead us to you know engage you in that opportunity. You know, here's what I need to see different. You know the the next half of this year, the next half of this this season is. I need you to show up on time. I need you to be consistent. I need you to be a good team member. Being a good team member looks like X Y Z, and so it is an opportunity to to point to the future. I think the challenge there sometimes could be is is sometimes people might see that as punitive, you know, and I think it's it's being explicit and being clear is is how you avoid that. So,

44:07
yeah, I like Brian. Brian mentioned in the chat. Seasonal employees taught me a lesson to slow down. Don't know the back background there, Brian, but you know, I can imagine if they're not as informed as to the, you know, the work, you might have to slow down as a leader to give a little bit more detail. And coach, would you care to elaborate, Brian, on that?

44:36
Yeah, I, yeah, absolutely. And it turned out that. the same time, I learned the lesson. The executive director hired this young man's mother some time ago, and I saw a job ad in the first place. I called. Her after work, and I said, "You really should apply for this job. You're one of my best employees. I would hate to lose you. Know that that's a goal of yours because I I got to know her as as a as a an employee and as a person. She went for the job. She got the job. She it was opportunity, more money, and then she called me up and she said, "Absolutely, I'll hire him. He's got a big box of donuts, and I'm like, "Well, who bought the donuts? "Well, I bought the donuts. What do you mean, you? And I felt like I sang the donuts, I like a box of popsicles, but I was so busy doing everything else, running everywhere else, that I had to slow down to actually take a minute to stop and do a kind gesture like that. And then the the director did the same thing. So don't you know, the next week the director bought the donuts, and yeah. So anyway. anyway,

46:03
yeah, that's good. We we did back to that reverse mentorship. You know, we do get some good lessons from folks that are, you know, not as experienced, and they they can teach us a lot of valuable things. What a great, what a great story. Yeah, as we as we wrap up, we just wanted to share a couple other things as we wrap up. You all are welcome to stay on. If you all have any needs in teamwork training, leadership training, planning, retreats, whatever, just just let us know. We are would love to to connect with your organization, talk about some of the things we've done with other cities and counties around the country. You're welcome to email Justin. It's pretty simple. It's Justin at leadergov.com. You can chat in in the Zoom chat if you want to connect. Happy just to talk if you have a question or a thought. But if you want some training or anything that might make your team more productive, you know we definitely would love to talk to you about that as well. Our next workshop will be in a month or two. It's going to be on this topic of how do we get strategic planning results, like not how to create a strategic plan, but how do we execute on the strategic plan, and how do we do that well with intentionality, and what tools do we need to be sure we actually execute on our strategic plan? So yeah, you're welcome to to stay a few minutes after our time today if you want to talk or if you have a question, and we would be happy to to spend some time. And if you there's something that you want to talk about together. We can do that. So,

47:47
once again, thank you everybody for your time today. Thank you for your service and your the support that you provide to each other and to your teams. I'm just really grateful for the conversation. So, y'all have a great week and have a safe summer.

48:01
Yeah, thank you all.