Like any organization, local governments need to build strong teams to get important things accomplished.   Even the mundane tasks are done with greater ease when we operate like a team.  

We recently completed a LinkedIn poll and asked local government leaders what key topics they liked most in retreat. By large margin the top two most popular aspects of retreats were team building time and goal setting time.

Team-Building Exercises

Next time you plan an offsite retreat for your Department, City or County staff, City Council or County Commission, we encourage you to include exercises that bring the team together and grow the level of trust and understanding among individuals.

Here is a list of several exercises you can consider. Let us know if we can help you think through the rest of your offsite retreat needs. 

1. Two Truths and a Lie: Have each team member share three statements about themselves, two of which are true and one of which is a lie. The rest of the...

Ever wonder why you just don't get along with certain people? 

They rub you the wrong way or they aren't as responsive as you'd like?  

When these people are your employees it's especially important that you have tools to resolve team conflict.  Part of your role is to engage, approach, coach, inspire and lead all sorts of personality types.  But we need to value, understand and know how to support them.

LeaderGov now offers a new system to help you do just that. 

LeaderGov's Team Assessment System is a powerful way to compare personalities on your team and visually see how and where you are different.

Knowing how to modify your approach to others is a key to successful management.   LeaderGov's new system gives you a way to better relate, coach and work cooperatively with your team. 

Below is a sample of how Tim and I compare.  You can use the drop down to select any team member to compare yourself to.

The LeaderGov Team...

According to a study by the University of Scranton’s Journal of Clinical Psychology, roughly forty-five (45%) of Americans make New Year’s resolutions.  Seventy-five (75%) maintain them for a week and sixty-four (64%) maintain their resolutions for one month.  Only forty-six (46%) maintain their resolutions for more than 6 months. 

As a leader influencing your local government, it’s important to set strategic goals or resolutions for yourself each year – you might call them resolutions for your City, County or Department.  While you probably have a Council or Commission or Manager eager to set goals for you, it’s important to pursue a few goals you see as vital to your team’s success.

The first step is to document your resolutions in writing.   People are 50% more likely to achieve a goal if it’s written down.

A Look Back: Look back on the past year and consider what you did well and what you...

Having a high level of trust on City and County teams is paramount to the success of everything you do.  Trust between individuals and teams can either stifle success or multiply success.  Great sports teams who were under-rated in terms of skills often beat teams with much greater talent because they trusted each other and worked as a team.

Having a high level of trust on your team (whether it’s a department team, project team or city management team) has a range of positive benefits to those in local government.   Below are a few indicators to know if you have high trust on your team: 

• Is your team open to hearing honest feedback?
• Do your team members express their ideas in a transparent and honest way?
• Are your team members protective or careful in how they talk to each other?
• Do they know that the intentions of the people they work with are good?
• Does your team take input personally?

Your team may or may not have these attributes and it’s...