Case Study: Performance Assessment for a Large PNW Municipality
Executive Overview
As part of a small team of project managers conducting an executive-level performance assessment of the city council and senior leadership team of a large PNW local government, I assessed the impact and effectiveness of the existing “City Council Leadership System” on staff. As lead researcher, my findings showed that while the governance system worked well, it caused considerable staff overload, prompting recommendations for staffing and systems changes. Having designed the research and analysis methodologies myself, I have used this experience to create the proprietary Council Compass™ assessment featured in the Services section.
Challenge
While the Council Leadership System was professionally effective, the assessment revealed significant operational and political challenges driven by the system's success and the city's evolution:
Unsustainable Staff Burden: The staff team, particularly the Policy Leadership Team (PLT), devoted immense effort to supporting the Council's annual Work Plan. This labor and time-intensive effort compromised staff focus on managing standing services, leading to signs of emerging staff burnout.
Cost of Consensus: The PLT and Council processes produced a near 100% voting consensus on business meeting items. The study questioned whether this consensus came at the expense of unheard views, minority representation, and excessive staff effort.
Mismatched Representation: The municipality was experiencing significant demographic growth, making it the 4th largest city in its state. This growth introduced complex challenges (housing, public safety, poverty). The report noted that the leadership system needed revision to ensure broader sources of political representation that reflected the new diversity to effectively address these issues.
Approach
The project utilized a robust methodology - the basis for the proprietary Council Compass™ system - to provide quantified analysis for the Council and executive teams:
System Definition: The assessment defined the Council Leadership System by its core functions: prioritizing citizen issues, framing issues for senior administration, providing policy direction, ensuring performance, and receiving staff concerns.
Time-Use Analysis (Quantitative): A one-year analysis of Council time use was prepared, categorizing meetings by purpose (Business, Policy Development, Round Table, Executive Session).
Staff Support Quantification (FTE & Hours): The study quantified the organizational cost of supporting the Council, estimating approximately 20,672 staff hours per year dedicated to the Mayor, Council, and the Work Plan. This metric served as a meter on the Council Leadership System's performance.
Interview Analysis (Qualitative): Interviews with staff confirmed the emerging overload and the burden carried by department directors, who roughly spend up to 20 percent of their time on Council Work Plan items.
Impact
The project delivered clear recommendations aimed at sustaining the current success while mitigating the risks of staff burnout and ensuring future political relevance.
Risk Mitigation & Staffing: Recommended the careful addition of mid-to-senior-level staff positions to relieve the executive and director teams and prevent liabilities emerging from a lack of supervisory attention.
Process Refinement: Suggested making a series of refinements to the PLT review process steps to decrease cost and staff energy associated with complex items, such as those brought by the Office of Governance and Management (OGM), Department of Environmental Services (DES), and Urban Design and Planning (UDP).
Succession Planning and Training: Recommended building awareness of how leadership team members uniquely contribute to prepare for staff or elected turnover. The study also set the foundation for a Councilor training program, covering topics like policy perspective, relationship boundaries, and the impact of their actions on staff.
Long-Term Sustainability: Recommended revisions to the Council Leadership and PLT systems to require broadened sources of political representation to address the city’s evolving demographics and complex social challenges.