Any local government manager in New England will understand immediately when you have to decline a commitment because you are “in town meeting.” Being in town meeting simply means that your community’s town meeting is on-going and you have no bandwidth for anything else. Some towns finish their town meetings in a single night or on a Saturday. Many run two or three weeks, meeting two or three times per week until the end. There are even some communities that regularly run 10 nights or more.

Without question, town meeting is what I get asked about the most when I meet with colleagues from other parts of the country. “Is that really a thing?” Yes, town meeting is a real form of government. In my town, town meeting members gather the first Monday in May and then every Wednesday and Monday until we are done. They meet again in the fall – in October or November – usually for one night to tie up loose ends. That’s it. All the zoning. All the appropriations. All the by-law changes. The process is slow and deliberate, and while the pace can be excruciating, the opportunity for rushed decision-making is practically non-existent.

Local patriot Sam Adams is referred to as the “Man of Town Meeting.” His example in town meeting helped fuel the revolutionary spirit in Boston: “It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brush fires of freedom in the minds of men.” Managers from all forms of local government, however, will recognize the corollary. One of the “local government miseries” (more on this in a later post) is that it takes a very large majority to get any initiative off the ground, and about a handful of determined naysayers to kill it.

Town Meeting comes in two forms – Open and Representative. In our state, there are 59 communities that have a city form of government, either council-manager or council-mayor. There are 259 open town meetings, and 33 representative town meetings. Representative, of course, means just what it says. Voters of the Town pick citizens to represent them by ballot. There are a few other citizens who serve, such as elected board members, the Town Moderator, and the Town Clerk. The Moderator is the persons who runs the meeting.

Town meeting is a serious business, and is considered by many to be the purest form of government. Retaining town meeting as a legislative branch connects us to our history. It is, however, exhausting for those charged with making sure everything runs smoothly – from arranging the hall, making sure there are high school students to run the microphones, to creating the PowerPoint slides, to answering questions. Simply attending the many nights while keeping up with the daily workload is draining.

Several years ago I participated in a dancing with the stars fundraiser to support the 300th anniversary of our town. (Please do not google this video). I was introduced as a person who learned to dance by answering questions at town meeting. How true this is! No matter how much you prepare, you will be stumped. It’s guaranteed. The answer to “How many hydrants are there, and how many get knocked over every year?” was not in my five inch reference binder. Technology is a great servant, however, and by the time I made it to the podium my colleague had texted me the answer.

There is a lighter side of town meeting. Department managers are typically “encouraged” to attend town meeting, and the seating arrangement is a serious business. New managers are carefully instructed to leave the required seat between each individual. Managers can be seen playing town meeting bingo (for terms like “call the question” or “is this mic working?”).

In preparing for my first town meeting, I asked my predecessor and mentor for advice. “Be sure you can answer the first question on the budget, because if you can’t, town meeting will smell blood and go after you.” This was sage advice and I have taken it seriously every year since. He also reminded me that I will be on camera every minute. Now that’s an important tip.

I have only worked in a town with a representative town meeting – those of you who have toiled in open town meeting, please share your best stories!

Let’s Practice.

In the spring of 2014, I helped a group of eight “seasoned” local government managers join together in an effort to develop the skills necessary for maintaining our personal and professional resiliency.  I was inspired by retired City Manager and ICMA President Dave Limardi, who graciously shared his experience in Illinois with a similar group.

In putting the group together, I chose colleagues who worked within a reasonable driving distance, with whom I had a strong and enduring personal connection, and who were likely to be needing the same type of inspiration, camaraderie, and support that I was. To a person, they were eager to join.  One colleague actually stopped me mid-pitch and said “I’m in.”

We called our group C-8, and then promptly forgot why.  I think it was a mash up of Crazy-8’s – a card game probably only known to baby boomers, and the Group of 8 – an informal gathering of world leaders committed to the same ideals and values.  (Soon after we created the C-8, the G-8 became the G-7 with the suspension of Russia after Crimea, but no similar coup occurred here in metro west Boston.)  C-8 met roughly four to six times per year for both informal conversation and formal training programs. 

Many of my closest colleagues are several years older than I am, and have begun to retire and move on to other pursuits.  Only two of our C-8 members are still working in the profession – others are working on their passion projects, spending quality time with grandchildren, or working part-time in the area of local government.  I have been to three retirement parties in the last six months for close colleagues with whom I have worked for nearly 30 years, and there are more parties on the calendar. 

The C-8 experience was an invaluable way to make deeper professional connections, and I really miss it.  Recently, I was commiserating (perhaps whining) to a colleague about feeling lonely and left behind.  She told me to get some younger friends.  Then we laughed and I decided I had better work out a plan to maintain the personal and professional resiliency needed for this job. 

This is what is working for me:

Join.  For me, this meant volunteering for several committees on the local and national level.  Locally, I am co-chairing our State Association’s program committee, working with others to increase exposure to the Association and its value. I also helped establish and continue to support our local Women Leading Government chapter. This group was formed to encourage women to work and grow in local government at all levels, and especially to prepare them for the top jobs.  Nationally, I volunteered for several International City/County Management Association boards and committees, and very recently was honored to be invited to join the board of the League of Women in Government.  Working on these groups has helped me make new connections and friendships, and reminds me why I love local government and want to keep helping to make it stronger and better, 

Reach Out.  I took my friend’s advice and started reaching out to colleagues I wouldn’t naturally work with to schedule lunches or coffees.  At this stage of my career and with no kids left at home, I can take on the role of organizer and have made fantastic new connections.  By taking the time to meet with newer managers, I have learned a number of clever ideas to implement in my community. It’s also fun just to hear their stories.

Expand.    I decided that I need to identify passion projects at work and attack them like a side hustle.  The one I am working on now is to increase our social media presence for routine matters and to identify and implement innovative ways to communicate with residents who are not likely to attend public hearings or watch them on cable television.

Share.  I started this bog, and have accepted speaking engagements to share my love for the profession and lessons I have learned in this relentless practice.  

Accept.  When you have become part of the “Old Guard,” take advantage!  Nothing substitutes for experience, and people really do tend to ask me for advice and recommendations.  I find I can help shape the future of the profession just by offering suggestions in an appropriate way. 

Reconnect.  I am actively working on setting up a C-8 reunion!

How about you?  Have you experienced significant shifts in the composition of your work “friend circle?”  What have you done to adapt to the changing environment?  Are you interested in creating your own kitchen cabinet? Would you have had to look up the spelling of “camaraderie” like I did? 

Let’s Practice.

One of the fundamental truths about local government is that the profession requires a lot of night meetings.  I mean a lot. Because most of our governing bodies are volunteers with full-time day jobs, most of the policy making occurs between 7:00 and 10:00 p.m.

A “typical” town manager in our state attends select board meetings twice per month.  In the long budget season (sometimes December to May) the manager could attend at least two or three Finance Committee meetings every month.  If he or she is overseeing a large capital project, there will be public building committee and planning board meetings to cover.  Add to that mix any special board meetings and the annual and special town meetings and you start to get a sense of the time commitment.  And that list does not include any civic or charitable events, or the admirable goal of attending at least one meeting of key boards every year.  Most managers are out twice a week, and three times is fairly common. 

In my research about the careers of local government managers, I asked many seasoned managers why we have to work this many hours.  I hypothesized that the managers coming after us will simply not be willing to work the number of hours we do.  Not surprisingly, the later-stage career managers don’t see a path for change, while younger managers can imagine a different structure somewhere in the murky future.  Aspiring managers wholeheartedly agree with my hypothesis.

Especially in smaller communities, where the manager is also the HR Director and the Finance director, say, the notion of not working the traditional 40 hours as well as nights is hard to fathom, managers say.  Moreover, working 40 – 60 hours per week is the norm for any CEO. “In many ways this is the job and why we are paid the salaries we receive,” said a colleague.

A common theme is that some of the workload is self-imposed.  “We are successful as managers when we develop strong and supporting working relationships with our boards,” said one manager, noting that “part of that success, at our own peril, is being indispensable.”  Another manager of our seafaring state added, “You have different constituents and the like who expect you to be available at different times.  They add up.  And the ‘to do’ list never gets shorter.  You tend to accumulate responsibilities like barnacles especially when there is no one else who can do it (as much as we’d like to delegate).”

It was suggested that new managers need to accept the reality of long hours at least in the first few years of their careers as a CEO.  After they build relationships and credibility, they can delegate more.  While many seasoned managers have a hard time envisioning a different future, they are conflicted.  “I’m not 100% sure I agree with the initial premise” said one manager.  “However I will concede that may be a challenge in attracting qualified people to fill all the vacancies we are experiencing.”

If change is inevitable given the needs and wants of the next generation, what can be done?  One option is for local government to become more outcome-focused rather than input-focused.  Boards and committees would have to evaluate managers more on achievement of goals rather than the number of hours spent in meetings.  Delegation is another option, although most managers are protective of their staff and are reluctant to burden them further. If you can delegate, perhaps take the time to explain to the board or committee chair exactly why you are dividing up the work.  Catch up with committee chairs during the day when possible for coffee after watching their meetings on cable television. 

In the words of one manager, “We have a maximum amount of time we can bring to the job simply because of energy, logistics and other commitments.”  As a profession, we need to figure out how to get more done without meetings, use technology to shape the workplace structure, and spread the workload among department managers in our organizations. 

On a positive note, jobs that have the most night meetings tend to have a corresponding amount of flexibility.  Use it.  Exercise in the morning.  Have breakfast with your aging parents.  Go to school plays. One colleague notes “I’m not sure there is a solution to this problem, or that it is a problem.  The nature of the job is that it is 24/7. The best advice to managers is to maintain their own schedules and use slow times to add some extra time off.”  Well said. 

Finally, when taking a new job, the manager should set expectations with governing boards about the night meeting commitment.  Setting limits now will benefit those who come after us.  Local government CEOs have to be available 24/7 but the structure of that work will inevitably have to change, or manager candidates simply won’t take the jobs.

Local government managers and aspiring managers – can you imagine a different structure?  Do you have any tips for managing your time?  Will brick and mortar city and town halls remaining open every day be a thing of the past?

Let’s practice.

A few months ago, the Assistant Town Manager and I were talking about the stressful nature of New England Town Meeting – working late nights for weeks on end while also keeping up with daily responsibilities.  I asked him why department managers felt obligated to come in early or even schedule early meetings the day after a Town Meeting that everyone knows will end after 11:00 p.m.  “Because you said they should.”  “When did I say that?”  “2007.” We looked at each other and burst out laughing. And so, the “Ask Again” movement began. 

One drawback to being the leader of an organization for a long time (about 18 years in my case) is that decisions made without the benefit of age and experience can take on Magna Carta-like proportions.  In 2007, I was 12 years younger than I am now and had one child still in middle school.  That person should not be relied upon for enduring pronouncements. 

We relayed this story to our Leadership Team and encouraged them to “Ask Again” when confronted with outdated policies. Needless to say, they were enthusiastic, thinking of many onerous tasks that they would love to shed, and practices that needed updating.

I even announced that all decisions of my predecessor (a mentor and all-around amazing manager) were fair game.  After all, he left Town when many of our rising stars were themselves in middle school.

People starting asking whether they had to go to certain meetings – whether meetings needed to be held at all.  They asked if hiring and pay policies could be modernized, and expense reimbursement practices streamlined Conversations are happening all around Town about modernizing our approach to work. For example, after years of trepidation, we found a way to allow most employees to work a modified schedule during the summer months. What seems like the norm in some towns is innovation in others.

What would “Ask Again” look like in your organization?  Are you willing to challenge leaders to make new decisions in 2019?  If you are the leader, do you have sacred cows (like modified summer hours) that you have been unwilling to reconsider?  Let our community know what you decide to confront!

It’s time for innovation and longevity to rumble. Let’s practice.

I’m not drowning with New Year’s Resolutions, but I’m certainly dong a pretty serious job of treading water with them. 

I have so many new ideas from the 100 Podcasts I started listening to (sorry NPR).  Even trickier, I have all these new journals for starting today, resetting my mind, practicing gratitude, being my best self, and acquiring high performance habits.  

Since January, I have been trying to do all of them at once with a predictable result – and I am overwhelmed and paralyzed.  All I can manage to accomplish is writing random goals and thoughts on an old loose leaf notebook with no cover that is probably a high school reject from one of my (now) adult kids.

I seem to be afraid of ruining the journals with the wrong goals, starting and then stopping, wasting pages, and just plain “doing it wrong.”  Plus, who really wants to have a journal listing the things you really need to change and improve?  And actually be honest about it?  What if someone sees it?  Does this mean I have to finally start working on these goals??

I recently heard an interview with Shauna Nyquist on one of the aforementioned podcasts (they really are a rabbit hole).  Her ingenious idea is to write her prayers, fears, and embarrassing goals on those small notepads that you acquire at trade shows and hotel rooms.  Once you writes them down they are real, and then you can throw them out.

Usually by April 1, all of the resolutions are out the window.  I’m committing to one journal at a time for the next three months, with some paper scraps thrown in for the hard stuff. 

How about you?  Have you mastered journaling?  Have you ever bought a new journal and don’t use it because you might do it wrong?  Try the hotel notepad hack and let me know if it works!

Relentless Practice is for sharing ideas and connecting people who want to make their busy lives easier, happier and maybe even fulfilling.  I will share what I have learned from a lifetime in local government, and I hope to learn from your life experiences too.

Let’s practice.

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton