National League of Cities Official Website

Leadership Training Institute Seminars
Congress of Cities Conference
November 11-15, 2008 — Orlando, Florida

L01 – Building a Culture of Service: Creating a Community of Excellence
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $175
Competency: Competent Practitioner
A moment of truth occurs any time someone comes into contact with any function of your city and then uses that experience to judge the quality of your community and its service. Explore vital tools that you can use as a leader and decision maker to evaluate the service culture of your community. Does your city view citizens and businesses as customers? At the same time, do citizens and businesses view your city providing a high level and culture of service? Learn from best practices. Examine how to afford city staff the vital training and tools necessary to implement a positive customer service culture. Discover how city employees, along with appointed and elected officials, at all levels, can create a culture of service and a community of excellence.
Instructor: Robert A. Zienkowski, City Manager, Brunswick, OH

L02 – Conducting Effective Public Meetings to Engage the Community in Dialogue
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $175
Competency: Collaborator
Deliberative democracy, public dialogue and collaborative governance are all terms used to describe a new movement that has changed how elected officials receive public input. How can officials better engage the public in decision making? Examine the drawbacks of the traditional public meeting format and learn alternative methods of involving the public in a meaningful dialogue about public policy issues. Learn the difference between positions vs. interests, how to effectively frame issues for solutions, and how to engage the public as “partners in problem solving.”
Instructors:
John L. Krauss, Director, Indiana University Public Policy Institute, Indianapolis and Bloomington, IN
Nan Stager, Senior Lecturer, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN

L03 – Mentoring: Local Government Leaders Share a Legacy of Excellence
(This seminar is co-sponsored by HELO, Hispanic Elected Local Officials Constituency Group and the League of California Cities - Latino Caucus)
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Cornerstone
Local governments often face the challenge of ensuring high quality leadership. Life-long learning and development is critical. Gain a better understanding of yourself, colleagues, and others by examining mentoring with a leadership context. Explore mentoring as a professional role, a set of competencies, and an indicator of Emotional Intelligence. Mentors continually demonstrate proficiency in understanding self and others, communicating effectively, and developing an effective partnership relationship with fellow staff and officials to build a legacy of excellence and enduring leadership for their communities.
Instructor: Dr. Neil Katz, Program Manager of Organizational Training & Development, Executive Education, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

L04 – In Praise of Democracy: When Controversy and Conversation Collide
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Catalyst / Collaborator
Creating and sustaining vibrant communities doesn’t just happen. Change occurs when courageous leaders engage citizens in the process and take intentional actions based upon a shared vision for the future. America’s democratic process is complicated. Citizens can be withdrawn from public life as we often forget how to talk to one another about complicated issues in a civil manner. How do city officials go about the balancing act of governing with 24-hour news, often laced with fear, partisan bickering and NIMBY attitudes? Recognize the need for cities and citizens to address controversial issues in a conversational manner. Learn how to engage citizens, literally inviting people to be part of the conversation. Discover how to overcome the fear and challenge of engaging citizens in order to build a more vibrant and exciting community.
Instructor: Sylvia L. Lovely, President, New Cities Institute, Lexington, KY

L05 – Community Branding: Actions Speak Louder than Words
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Catalyst
Many communities believe that once they have established a logo and a tagline that they have a brand. Some may have even taken it a little further and have put the logo and tag line on the city website and on signs throughout the community. While these efforts are an excellent start, it is not a brand. A true brand moves beyond its packaging to address politics, diplomacy, architecture, economic development, arts, and education, to name a few. In the words of Henry Ford, “You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do.” Learn how to avoid the pitfalls that can waylay a successful community brand and how to organize community wide support for the development and implementation of programs, events and initiatives that will support your brand.
Instructor: Don McEachern, CEO, North Star Destination Strategies, Nashville, TN

L06 – Building Inclusive Communities
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Collaborator
Explore the various strategies involved in building inclusive communities. Examine the examples of cities that have used the Inclusive Communities model to enhance community participation and provide support to local officials in focused efforts around affordable housing, race and ethnic relations. Learn from successful collaborations between community, schools and university groups as you share valuable insights and experiences as well as hear of lessons learned from those who have participated in the NLC Inclusive Community Partnership.
Instructor: James C. Hunt, NLC Immediate Past President and Councilmember, Clarksburg, WV

L07 – Performance Budgeting in Government
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Competent Practitioner
When faced with budget gaps, the most common solution is to focus on how to cut 10 or 15 percent from an already “tight” budget. Across-the-board cuts are a too frequent occurrence that doesn’t distinguish what is working from what is not. Learn how to start with a set of results that matter to citizens and to allocate available dollars to each of those results. In eras of budget constraint or surplus, there are new strategies that have proven to be an effective tool for local leaders.
Instructor: Lloyd Blanchard, Director, Public Performance Management, IEM, Huntsville, AL

L08 – Managing Communication Style Differences
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Communicator
Individuals have different predispositions and preferences in communication styles, particularly in stressful conditions. Instead of causing conflict and avoidance, these differences can be utilized as a positive force. Assess your own preferred communication style by examining different styles under both ‘calm’ and ‘storm’ conditions. Identify different communication styles, appreciate their unique contributions and challenges, and become more adept in working with them to manage interactions with others in a constructive manner. Explore ways to manage your own style “excess” to keep you and others in style "strength."
Instructor: Dr. Neil Katz, Program Manager of Organizational Training & Development, Executive Education, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY

L09 – Parliamentary Procedure II: Ten Mistakes Chairs Make and How to Avoid Them
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Cornerstone
Common mistakes cause common problems. Avoiding a few traps and using a few tips can mean the difference between a great meeting and a grating meeting. Preside over your next council or committee meeting with greater confidence and skill. Promote productive deliberation in the decision-making process and discover the pitfalls of getting off track, having unbalanced discussions, and ending up with another long unproductive meeting. Uncover your action plan of what to practice to improve your presiding skills and make all of your meetings productive, democratic and on time.
Instructor: Colette Collier Trohan, CPP-T, PRP, Parliamentarian and Trainer, Silver Spring, MD

L10 – Going Green, What Does That Mean?
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Catalyst
It seems that everyone is talking about “going green,” but how exactly do you do that? How can a community design an action plan that is feasible for their community and develop the key partnerships needed to implement said plan? Instead of continuing the ongoing debate of environmental policies, focus on the programs that will meet the needs of your community. Learn how to develop a consensus on what is feasible for your community, create the action plan needed to implement the change, and identify the key partners needed to successfully implement the changes once you return home.
Instructor: Sharon Anderson, Principal, Anderson & Associates, LLC, Washington, DC

L11 – Foreclosures, Vacant Buildings, and Effective Strategies for Strengthening the Ladder for Sustainable Homeownership
(This seminar is co-sponsored by WIMG, Women in Municipal Government Constituency Group)
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Competent Practitioner
The other shoe of the American Dream has dropped and many communities are wrestling with a new wave of housing issues: preventing foreclosures, helping displaced renters and owners, and being fraught with rising inventories of foreclosed properties. Learn how to address the crisis that cities face with rising foreclosed and vacant properties, along with the impacted residents and city budget. Examine best practices of both large and small cities to work with banks, mortgage companies, displaced residents, absentee property owners, and financially strapped home owners. Explore the range of complimentary strategies that are needed to strengthen the ladder to sustainable homeownership for working families. Learn about the roles of a balanced housing policy, a strong foundation of financial education, the creation of community land trusts, and how a steady emphasis on homeownership retention strategies can create a more secure route to home ownership. Build your understanding, skills and abilities to address the housing challenges that face your community.
Instructors:
James C. Hunt, NLC Immediate Past, President and Councilmember, Clarksburg, WV
Jeffery M. Lubell, Executive Director, Center for Housing Policy, Washington, DC

L12 – Local Economic Development: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Competent Practitioner
Officials lead with their vision of city renewal. However, they often find themselves in a conundrum over whether the public benefits promoted are worth the long-term tax breaks that the private development partners demand. What’s a city official to do? Know how to address the technical problem by learning the tools to discern the good from bad proposals. Understand the economic dynamics in three urban markets – housing, labor, and education. Learn how these are inextricably linked, creating the ugly blighted conditions that are targeted by good economic development policy.
Instructor: Lloyd Blanchard, Director, Public Performance Management, IEM, Huntsville, AL

L13 – Collaborative Leadership: Build-ing Coalitions to Support Your City
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $175
Competency: Cornerstone/Collaborator
Based on a comprehensive initiative put into action by the Municipal Association of South Carolina (MASC), you will broaden your understanding how and why collaborative leadership works as you learn the pragmatic strategies, tactics and skills necessary to successfully engage and mobilize citizens. Understand the attributes of collaborative leaders and why today’s citizenry responds confidently to this style of leadership. Learn how to conduct effective hometown engage-ment events; learn how to proactively engage the media in the community conversations. Discover how to prepare a game plan for engaging and mobilizing your community. Examine best practices and valuable examples of collaborative leadership put into place by other local city officials and successful communities.
Instructors:
Jane Peebles, Senor Public Relations Counselor, Carolina Public Relations/ Marketing, Charlotte, NC
Reba H. Campbell, Director of Advocacy and Communications, Municipal Association of South Carolina, Columbia, SC

L14 – System IntegrationTM - Board Policy, Strategic Planning, and Performance Management
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $175
Competency: Catalyst
System Integration™ is governing in a box. It’s easy to understand! It’s easy to implement! And, it works! System Integration™ (SI) is built on the premise that three important functions in city administration must be integrated to achieve the level of service and results cities seek. SI builds governing capability… the ability to understand and utilize strengths, set goals and establish accountability, listen to, respond to, and incorporate diverse opinions, along with the capacity to produce measurable results while working effectively with citizens, professional staff, and other community leaders and groups. Build your understanding of strategic municipal planning, effective objective implementation, accountability at all levels, and setting progress measures and outcome indicators. Learn how to set clear expectations for roles and responsibilities for both the governing body and professional staff. Learn various frameworks and tools to utilize as you engage in System Integration™ in an effort to strengthen your city to achieve desired goals and outcomes.
Instructor: Caryn Tilton, President and CEO, My Place to Learn, Welches, OR

L15 – Capital Budgeting and Planning: Balancing Pay As You Go vs. Debt Financing
9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $175
Competency: Competent Practitioner
Learn strategies and techniques to increase your proficiency and comfort in dealing with financial decision-making and oversight responsibilities. Know capital budgeting and improvement planning, prioritization, and project evaluation and decision-making. Learn to develop strategies for capital financing, including the use of operating fund balances, capital reserves, and various debt or lease options for capital projects. Become familiar with methods for financing of economic development and public-private projects. Consider the role of bond ratings and policies for financing projects economically and preserving a jurisdiction’s long-term financial health.
Instructor: Dr. A. John ‘Jack’ Vogt, Professor of Public Management & Government, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC

L16 – Dealing with Difficult Personalities
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Collaborator
Being proactive in your conversations by modifying your communication style can create positive long-term results. Learn to facilitate difficult conversations that promote understanding and build coalitions. Examine what your hot buttons are and why we often avoid confrontation. Learn to deal with difficult personalities as you develop a mastery of new tools and learn new ways to enhance group collaboration by letting people know that their needs matter. Gain life skills that you can use in your work as a city official as well as in your personal life.
Instructor: Lisa Carver, President, Moxie Consulting, Inc., Little Rock, AR

L17 – Adaptive Leadership: Surviving in the Challenging Times of Change
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Cornerstone/Catalyst
Skillful leaders can readily overcome technical challenges, while they can become weighed down by challenges with conflicting values. Change can be a desired outcome and alternatively, unintended change can be a driving force against progress. Using Shackleton’s expedition to Antarctica as a springboard, develop new leadership skills as you broaden your understanding of adaptive leadership. Learn to address the challenges that involve conflicting values or situations where established practices and procedures don’t apply and a new approach must be created. Engage in small group activities with interactive exercises to practice adaptive leadership. Learn to distinguish between technical and adaptive leadership challenges as you broaden your skills and abilities to address change and adaptive leadership challenges.
Instructor: Dr. Allan Wallis, Associate Professor of Public Policy, School of Public Affairs, University of Colorado, Denver, CO

L18 - Perfecting Your Message: A Leader’s Guide to Working with the Media
(This seminar is co-sponsored by APAMO, Asian Pacific American Municipal Officials Constituency Group)
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Communicator
Successful city leaders understand the ‘ins and outs’ of dealing with the media in order to deliver a clear, consistent message. Learn how best to present yourself through body language, appearance, tone and terminology… in effect focusing how you look, how you sound, and what you have to say. Learn how to develop concise messages and improve clarity and confidence in your media relationship.
Instructor: Carolyn Sawyer, President/CEO, Tom Sawyer Company, Columbia, SC

L19 – The High Performance Government: Council and Staff in Partnership
9:00 am – 12:00 Noon
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Competent Practitioner
Successful governing bodies recognize the basic values that come together in public policymaking: representation, efficiency, individual rights, and social equity. Dealing successfully with these values represents the core of the governing body’s work. Understanding the different perspectives that elected officials and professional staff bring to the values is critical. Learn what it takes to become a ‘high performing governing body,’ along with the obstacles to high performance and how to overcome them.
Instructor: John Nalbandian, Chair, Dept. of Public Administration, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS

L20 – Competent Leadership for Change through Crucial Conversations
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Catalyst
Transform the experience of engaging in difficult conversations in order to create an environment of change. Learn to express difficult ideas in new ways that will reduce defensiveness. Examine the habitual ways of thinking that you bring to conversations and learn how to develop new perspectives and approaches capable of shifting the way these exchanges unfold. Learn to successfully collaborate and reduce conflict between individuals, as you execute priorities with greater group buy-in and ownership. Learn to recognize when conversations are truly crucial and the specific skills you need to use.
Instructor: Lisa Carver, President, Moxie Consulting, Inc., Little Rock, AR

L21 – Time Management Skills for Effective Leadership
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Cornerstone
Learn to capitalize on your strengths as you explore what is needed to lead effectively, balance your life while decreasing stress and increasing productivity, and establishing that balance in others. Learn how the same principles used in life coaching to help people get what they want out of life can be used to help make effective and dynamic community leaders. By the end of the day you will have the skills needed to be an innovative leader who will be able to motivate and inspire individuals to excel and work together to achieve common goals. Establish a balance in your life by not trying to do it all, but rather focusing on a balance that provides intellectual stimulation, physical activity, understanding your work/life purpose, and putting passion into your work.
Instructors:
Marlene Pontrelli, Attorney, Mariscal, Weeks, McIntyre & Friedlander, Phoenix, AZ
Barb Carter, Retired Councilmember, City of Tempe, AZ

L22 – Speak So They Will Listen
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $115
Competency: Communicator
Learn how preparation, presentation and persuasion can expand your leadership and help you set positive change in motion within your community whether you are speaking to a group or to one person. Learn and practice presenting from an audience viewpoint. Enhance your ability to influence and persuade others. Your success depends on how well you present your information. Learn how to improve your presentation abilities, how to handle yourself “in the hot seat,” and realize how clear communication serves your constituents to better understand your leadership.
Instructor: Lindsay Strand, President, Lindsay Strand Associates, Minnetonka, MN

L23 – Local Government Finance: Guarding the Public Checkbook
1:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Registration Fee: $135
Competency: Competent Practitioner
Learn strategies and techniques to increase your proficiency and comfort in dealing with financial oversight responsibilities. Gain knowledge of budget management, financial crisis warning signs, the perils of micro-management and establishing an adequate fund balance. Participants will also receive the book “Local Government Dollars & Sense: 225 Financial Tips for Guarding the Public Checkbook.”
Instructor: John Nicoll, Professor of Public Policy, University of Southern California and Director of Human Resources, Ventura County, CA

L24 – Leadership Luncheon
12:00 noon – 1:30 pm
Registration Fee: $40 Register now
Diamond, Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Certificate level recipients will be recognized. A time to network with colleagues and an opportunity to support your fellow seminar participants’ training activities and leadership work.
Facilitator: Scott Brook, Chair, Leadership Training Council, Mayor, Coral Springs, FL

CERTIFICATE OF ACHIEVEMENT IN LEADERSHIP program… allows local elected officials to organize their professional development around critical skills necessary for effective leadership. The program is built around five core leadership competencies for local elected officials, with each Leadership Training Institute Seminar addressing one of the following competency areas…
(1) Cornerstone;
(2) Competent Practitioner;
(3) Communicator;
(4) Collaborator;
(5) Catalyst.

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