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Leadership in the Fiscal Crisis Robert O’Neill’s Presentation 2010 WCCMA Summer Conference Winthrop, Washington August 20, 2010. Navigating the Fiscal Crisis: Tested Strategies for Local Leaders. Leadership in Times of Turbulence: Five Stages of Decline. Stage 1 Hubris Born of Success.
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Leadership in the Fiscal Crisis Robert O’Neill’s Presentation 2010 WCCMA Summer Conference Winthrop, Washington August 20, 2010
Navigating the Fiscal Crisis: Tested Strategies for Local Leaders
Leadership in Times of Turbulence: Five Stages of Decline Stage 1 Hubris Born of Success • ** Stage 2 Undisciplined Pursuit of More Stage 3 Denial of Risk And Peril Stage 4 Grasping for Salvation Note: from “How The Mighty Fall” - Jim Collins Stage 5 Capitulation to Irrelevance or Death
Leadership in Times of Turbulence: Markers for Stage 4 • A Series of Silver Bullets • Grasping For A Leader-As-Savior • Panic and Haste • Radical Change and “Revolution” With Fanfare Note: from “How The Mighty Fall” - Jim Collins
Leadership in Times of Turbulence: Markers for Stage 4 (cont.) • Hype Precedes Results • Initial Upswing Followed By Disappointments • Confusion an Cynicism • Chronic Restructuring and Erosion of Financial Strength Note: from “How The Mighty Fall” - Jim Collins
Leadership in Times of Turbulence: Opportunity in Crisis • The Greatest Opportunity • The New Normal • Reset Priorities • Protect Your Most Valuable Asset Note: from “The Upside of the Downturn” - Geoff Colvin
Leadership in Times of Turbulence: Opportunity in Crisis (cont.) • Engage the Outside World • Reexamine Your Strategy and Business Model • Manage For Value • Create New Solutions for Customers’ New Problems Note: from “The Upside of the Downturn” - Geoff Colvin
Leadership in Times of Turbulence: Opportunity in Crisis (cont.) • Price with Courage • Get Fitter Faster • Understand All Your Risks • Don’t Forget to Grow Yourself For Next Time Note: from “The Upside of the Downturn” - Geoff Colvin
Who Copes Best in Hard Times? Strong Management Capacity Targeted and Flexible Spending Choices Revenue Diversity Have a Long Term Financial Plan Maintain Adequate Reserves Fees for Service Reflecting Cost of Delivery Informed Stakeholders Adaptive and Focused Organizations
What is Working? Reassess Community Priorities Re-engineer Organization Fix Structural Deficits (personnel) Advance Technological Solutions Increase Revenues Partnerships Management Flexibility and Transparency
What Do Transformed Governments Look Like? Anchored Around Purpose, Mission & Values Risk Tolerance Profile – Innovation Matters Understand the Brutal Facts but Focused on the Possibilities Not the Problems Engaged with all Stakeholders See a Path to a Desirable Future that others don’t Create Opportunities When Others See Obstacles
Six Characteristics of Successful Government Organizations • Establish early-warning system to discern environmental trends and factors that will have impacts on strategy and timing. • React quickly to those trends and factors. • Having “migration’” strategies in place early to weather the storms of changing environments.
Six Characteristics of Successful Government Organizations (cont.) • Understanding community values and making choices based on priorities. • Applying the rigor required to determine whether programs are working. • Never being satisfied with the current level of performance.
Keys to Local Government Transformation • Create alternative migration paths • Understand their risk profiles • Know what success looks like • Determine the upside of stakeholders
What We Know About Leadership of Organizations in Turbulent Times • Leadership Matters • We are not talking about the few people at the top • Great organizations focus on anchoring around values and attracting the right people
What Distinguishes the Most Creative Executives? Discovery Skills Associating: Connect seemingly unrelated ideas. Questioning: Ask Why, Why not, What if… Observing: Scrutinize common phenomena: ex. the behavior of potential customers. Experimenting: Try out new ideas and approaches. Networking : Test ideas through a network of diverse individuals. Note: from “Harvard Business Review ” - December 2009
Transformative Leaders • Pick up on subtle indicators that go unnoticed by the rest of us to forecast trends. • Look further ahead. • Know more from seeing less. • Make finer discriminations than average performers. Note: from “Talent is Overrated” - Geoff Colvin
Leadership Challenges forTop Performers They want: • To be assigned to your biggest challenge • You to invest in them • Recognition High performers don’t think they have a job – they have a passion for the mission