LeaderGov conducted an informal poll of local government leaders on LinkedIN and asked them which of these four areas created the most pain for them: 

1. People issues slowing progress
2. People issues clogging HR
3. Unresolved people issues
4. People not succession-ready

By far, the two biggest pain topics were: 

• People issues slowing progress (38% )  and 
• Lack of succession ready people (38%)

The Pain Associated with People Slowing Progress

We all know that tension on teams, past challenges and poor attitudes or past lack of follow-through can damage progress as teams work together.   As a leader however, it’s your job to address people and process issues that get in the way of results.  Failure to do so, typically makes matters worse, not better.   In fact, not addressing people issues erodes your respect and often emboldens others to become less responsible in their work, since they know you are not likely to address substandard work. 

When you do address people issues on you...

Local government leaders know that it’s important to have a succession plan and a way to identify each person’s development needs related to future roles.  A terrific tool for cities and counties to use to identify gaps in readiness the 9-Box Grid.

Since local government base salary can sometimes sway employees to leave (and make it hard to attract quality talent) city and county leaders need to do all you can to groom and develop the talent you have in-house.

A 9-Box is a fairly simple approach to assessing your employees’ current potential and performance.

As the title describes, there are nine boxes in this assessment grid. Each box represents a type of employee that’s on your team and each type needs something different to grow and prosper.

 The vertical part of the grid has to do with potential.  

• Do your employees have the potential to grow and develop into a leader and into a future larger role, of say….Water Billing Manager?

 The horizontal axis is about performance.