Local government is dead! Long live local government!...Local government is dead. Long live local...

$: Local government is dead! Long live local government!...Local government is dead. Long live local government!| City of Aurora, CO | TLG 2020 6 WS \爀屲Prior to March 13th, 2020,\爀䄀甀爀漀爀愀$
1Local government is dead. Long live local government! | City of Aurora, CO | TLG 2020

Local government is dead!Long live local government!

Making the Most of the Opportunity Before Us

City of Aurora, Colorado

Transforming Local Government Virtual Conference 2020

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML Introductions of presenters Disclaimer that what follows has been our immediate reaction to two very recent crises. We are still formulating our response. We’re not sure how well all of these things will turn out We have not measured effectiveness of our efforts (for the most part) but are working on it That stated, we are sharing our story—our perhaps unique (perhaps not) approach to addressing all that 2020 has thrown at us so far. We chose the provocative title, in part, because some other guys apparently already used Reinventing Government. But seriously, we view the traumatic events from the year so far as the golden opportunity for our City to reinvent itself. We don’t want to go back to the way things were. We are choosing to take this concept of ‘next normal’ very seriously.


For our story time together today…

Photo credit: Majharul Islam

1) Aurora’s completely unintuitive COVID recovery response

2) COVID, racial tensions and the gift of clarity

3) The next chapter: Aurora 2.0

4) Future chapters: Aurora 3.0 and beyond

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML Just a quick overview of where we’ll be taking you today.


Worst nightmare…or wildest dream?

COVID-19:

Sunrise photo credit: Jasper Boer

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML Preview for ‘Worst nightmare’: COVID has caused a nightmare economic scenario for most organizations here, including ours. We have a $25.5 million budget shortfall this year; $30 million in 2021. Indefinitely furloughed almost 600 temp and seasonal employees. We’re cutting vacant positions left and right, have a hiring freeze in place, will do furloughs for FTEs, are cutting capital projects and operations, and may lay off some furloughed temps and seasonals soon. �That’s to say nothing of the hurt from losing many to the disease or hurting for those who have been sick. Yet there’s been a very real need—and opportunity—to do things different in the wake of COVID. Things that need to be done to protect our residents, businesses, staff. Things to recover from the economic impact of shutting everything down. Let’s do a quick exercise. Imagine back to New Year’s Day 2020. Think about some of the greatest challenges facing your organization, your work unit. What were they? �Now, imagine some of the most radical changes you’d love to make to the way your team does business. These are your 1-year, 5-year, maybe even 10-year plan for transforming the way your organization does business. What are they? Reorganize your work groups? Upskill your employees? Redeploy financial and staff resources to different places? Make it easier for all residents to access your services? Work from home in your bathrobe? Now…what kind of leadership or managerial magic it would take to make those changes happen? Different budget? Different employees? Different elected officials? How about a pandemic that has literally shut down the entire world and sent everyone home for four months (and counting)? If there were ever a giant ‘reset’ button on life, 2020 is it!


Aurora COVID Response Strategy

1. Keep our City Hall closed when others reopen2. Keep employees working from home indefinitely3. Prevent in-person interactions between staff and residents (for

the most part)4. Offer services only on an appointment-only basis5. Throw employees head-long into tasks they are not trained or

feel they are ready for6. Create new Citywide Strategic Plan during two world-changing

events

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML So here’s our game plan to respond the onset of COVID in March. This is current as of right now. Sounds intuitive right? We have tried embracing—or leaning into—the situation. “Embrace the suck” I think is what the military calls it. How did we get here?


Earlier this year…

Presenter

Presentation Notes

You know how in a movie, it sometimes starts with a situation in the present and then the movie flashes back in time? So without knowing the name for that theatric device, we’ll do the same here. “Earlier that day” or “12 hours before.”


Presenter

Presentation Notes

WS Prior to March 13th, 2020, Aurora CO chugging merrily along: Situated east of the Rockies bordering on the plains We were the 54th largest city in U.S Had an estimated Population – 381,000 and growing We were the Most diverse city in CO; 19.8% of residents are foreign born We were home to Buckley AFB, possibly the future home of the US Space Command We had a CM Form of government; 1 mayor and 10 council members We boasted recreational reservoirs, 97 municipal parks, 5 municipal golf courses, 6 public libraries, 6 recreation centers, and a performing arts theater We had full service police and fire/rescue departments and an award-winning water utility We employed approximately 3,200 staff AND WE HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS ABOUT TO GO DOWN!


Where to?

• Innovation design team• Teleworking• CRM/311• Public engagement framework• Priority-based budgeting• Security protocol for city hall• Citywide strategic plan• …and many more.

Organization level strategic initiatives - relationshipsMarch 4, 2020

Bond capacity for capital projects (CIMP)

Citywide Strategic Plan

City broadband

Aurora Smart City

Priority Based Budget

Neighborhood Wellness

Key Places

Lean Six Sigma/Peak

Academy

Change management

Performance management

IT Strategic Plan, citywide

digital transformation

User fee study

Customer service

initiative

Public engagement framework

HR succession planning,

retention, and development

Diversity, equity, and inclusion

Tech solution nexus

Financial/staff resource nexus

Revenue generation nexus

Culture/change mgmt need

Civic engagement need

Community (external) focus

Organizational (internal) focus

Internal/external focus

Continuity of operations

plan?

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML Prior to COVID, we had a lot of strategic, big picture things on our plate. We were going lots of different directions at once. Frankly, we were having a hard time getting all the things to work together. We worked on sequencing, making sure the right people were on all the right projects. In some cases, we were having some challenges prioritizing—if you can imagine that! :P To illustrate my point, check out this map of ‘project linkages’ I put together. These were all the big strategic projects underway immediately before COVID. Fortunately, COVID has helped us prioritize these things. More on that later in the presentation. It’s not so important what these all are. What’s important is how COVID and other events immediately brought focus to many of these things. It’s brought us clarity, almost overnight. Have you noticed the same thing in your organization? IDT 1 (and struggling mightily) SHIFT and teleworking (employee attraction and retention efforts) CRM/311 Public engagement framework Priority-based budgeting ‘Strategic Initiatives Pyramid’ and Bird’s Nest Implementing tighter security protocol for city hall Citywide strategic plan creation


Presenter

Presentation Notes

WS FRIDAY THE 13TH—an auspicious day; Aurora issues a disaster declaration MARCH 17—Luck of the Irish? Not so much…City Hall is closed to the public and staff are sent to work from home; what next?


This is real...and you are unprepared.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

WS Villain concept introduced. Covid came like a velvet hammer. We had been hearing about it in the news for months Devastation in a Chinese community Cruise ships being stranded The President implementing travel restrictions Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson testing positive for Covid—MADNESS! WS, SN How prepared were we for what was to come? Here I can speak as the internal audit manager We had completed two audit engagements related to our disaster preparedness Our COOP plans were out of date and lacked a sense of reality Despite the fact that 50% of staff acknowledged either a lack of awareness of the plans or a lack of awareness as to what was expected of them in an emergency, we could not generate a sufficient sense of urgency to get departments to bring them current, even after two audit reports highlighting the issues Our disaster recovery plan was only written in 2017 This was like a tabletop exercise gone really wrong! Where we were: 1. COOPS - Isolated in silos, no cross-planning so same resources were requested for each, no planning on needs at the site, just that they need. Culturally it was seen as a bit todo about nothing. 2. City Operations was very entrenched in long-standing processes. Very paper driven, printed copies and wet signatures required universally. Telework was culturally frowned upon, and few if any employees were allowed to do so unless they had extraordinary circumstances. This includes during forecast blizzards and other events. Staff were generally required to take PTO, or come into the office. 3. IT was in the process of replacing desktops with laptops, based no who each department identified as critical staff. However, this was part of the standard 5 year replacement plan, 20% of devices replaced per year, and just started in 2019. In other words, only 20% had been replaced pre-Covid. This was also based on "essential staff" so the number was far lower than needed. 4. Additionally, staff had no training, policy or guidance on how to Telework. When do they use the VPN, when do they not? Home internet connection reliability and speed? Designated space at home to work without distraction / interruption? Attending meetings remotely? Teams and WebEx were the brave new world. Supervisors had no training on how to effectively supervise remote staff. When Covid hit, many said 90% of the City couldn't work remote.


Presenter

Presentation Notes

WS Comments on how recovery process was set up. We stood up the recovery plan for the first time: the plan was fairly generic and meant to be generally applicable to a host of situations; we had to adapt it to this one; once it was determined that we were moving from response to recovery we… WS Details on creation and execution of Recovery plan. We developed a Recovery Committee with a representative from every department and every council appointee’s operations We focused our efforts on three major fronts: Recovery Planning Reopening our Municipal Center Transformation activities We developed a recovery plan template to facilitate consistent planning; we asked them to Describe the current state of the activity Reimagine a desired future state; we encouraged them to think beyond the same old same old Develop the phased in action steps necessary to get from a to b How did staff respond? Staff responded quickly and began completing their plan templates We had hoped we might see some more creativity around developing a desired future state, but most staff planned only toward getting back to where they were before we closed. Maybe that was as far as they could stretch given the uncertainty of the times. It took several messages from the City Manager to make it clear we were not going back to that pre-COVID state of operations. As of today, every activity is back up and running in various stages of a new state of normal, but with a few exceptions, nothing dramatically transformational City Hall is still closed but we now have a plan for reopening We are still fighting the entropy to revert to ‘pre-COVID’ normal. What we did: 1. VDI - Old environment we were thinking of decommissioning, suddenly became top priority. 2. Deployed what laptops we could, and drove everyone else to VDI 3. Converted to electronic signatures for Financial paperwork 4. Rolled out Teams in advance of plans, and deployed WebEx 1. More permanent telework arrangements, continue the status-quo. Since most City business was running fine, City Manager wanted to keep people remote to reduce risk for a new Covid outbreak, which is starting to happen now. 2. Additional equipment has been ordered. Specific policies have been developed, and training is being provided to staff around Telework (supervisors and employees).


Aurora 2.0: how we’re choosing to respond

The next chapter

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML


First Aurora 2.0 framework

1. Faster2. Better3. Cheaper4. Safer

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML This is where we started. Being the well-trained and experienced in government technocrats we are, we automatically shifted into a familiar rut: How can we do things faster, better, cheaper, (and because of COVID-19), safer? But something else happened mid-stream to make us rethink. We believed something was missing…


Responding to George Floyd

• The crucial ingredients that will set us apart: Empathy and compassion.

• Community• Loving the community.• The role of diversity, equity, and inclusion

going forward.

• Staff• Caring for staff right out of the gate.• Conscious effort to understand staff’s

feelings and overall wellbeing.• Core motivators: turning jobs into personal

missions and employees into emissaries.

Photo credit: Nathan Dumlao

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML It was the second major trauma to our nation and our world that provided clarity to where we needed to go with our 2.0, new, revived government. It gave us what we believe is the final ingredient. Personally speaking, this has been a complex issue to work through. Ultimately, we believe, at least at a high level, our response boils down to empathy, and its action-based counterpart, compassion. Empathy not only for ALL members of our community but for our staff as well. Staff are our most valuable resource. If we pay it forward in love with staff—they will be more likely to pay it forward with those they serve. For the Community, What does love look like? For starters, listening and engaging Working to help the most vulnerable—rental assistance; sheltering the sick and at-risk homeless The role of DEI and its incorporation into the citywide strategic plan. For the Staff Paying for non-productive leave Averting layoffs in all but a handful of cases (very part-time seasonals) Redeploying would-be furloughed or laid off employees into new roles Telework to keep people safe Surveys to assess wellbeing—specifically, mental health and circumstances at home ‘Filling the bucket’ of our staff by bringing meaning to their jobs (Core Motivators). More on that later… --- We do some of this stuff already. Servant leadership, community engagement, charity drives, volunteering. But we intend to make it concerted and purposeful! We want to make it explicit! Make it so we are held accountable! Make it measurable! We have a basic model (next slide)…


Two simple models: The ‘how’ and the ‘why’

With Empathy

Better

Cheaper

Safer

Faster

Better

Faster Cheaper

Safer

With Empathy

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML This is where the approach we are taking (we believe) is maybe somewhat unique. We have two ways of looking at empathy and compassion. We started out with Aurora 2.0 being faster, better and cheaper. But we quickly added safer and with empathy. DIAGRAM ON LEFT: Without empathy in the middle of the diagram on the left, this is a standard, routine, dry approach to making improvements. The same ol’, same ol’. But with empathy at the center (the heart) of this efforts, we are viewing our task of making our New Aurora faster, better, cheaper, safer through the LENS OF EMPATHY. All efforts in 2.0 are to be made through this lens. THIS IS OUR ‘HOW’ we’ll act with compassion, out of empathy. DIAGRAM ON RIGHT: Putting these other four items in the heart of empathy (and listening), we are consciously and visibly saying, ‘This is WHY we are doing these things.’ We would like to make it explicit. We lead with empathy. This is the City of Aurora’s way to show love to our community. Citywide strategic plan is a great opportunity to help us do just that. All these things must be done out of a motivation of love for the community. Otherwise, we are no different from anyone else. More importantly, we’d be no different than we were before COVID and George Floyd. Our community is crying out for love and respect. We MUST take the uncomfortable (and unknown?) steps to show our community how much we care. How else will we ever dig deep enough to show we want to make needed changes? This may all fail spectacularly. People may not ‘get it’ or they may not believe us. But clearly, there is more work to do and the need for connection and healing has never been greater. Why not try this now?


But how to practice and measure empathy?

• Putting others—our residents and our employees—first.

• Frequent, purposeful communication.

• Listening!

• Putting our own comfort aside.

• Acknowledging when things could have been handled better and improve.

Photo credit: Nathan Dumlao

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML: How do we express love to other people? Think about how you express love to those close to you. What might that look like when applying it to your community and residents? Your fellow employees? Chances are, we took our respective jobs not for the money but the desire to make a difference. We have the privilege and responsibility to improve the lives of those we serve. So why not apply the lens of the highest standard of service there is—love? --- Measures Admittedly, we have not gotten this far yet. We will be looking ways to evaluate our progress toward empathy and compassion. It starts with including empathy and compassion (specifically DEI) in our Citywide Strategic Plan).


Empathy and compassion in Aurora

• ‘Diversity and equity’ is one of seven principles in our ‘Aurora Places’ comprehensive plan.

• View everything we do through lens of diversity, equity, inclusion.• Role of DEI in new Citywide Strategic Plan.

• Appointed DEI officer, realigned Community Relations, Employee Town Hall on race, equity, and equality.

• Offer a ‘spectrum of accessibility’ to services for residents. In-person, phone, online, mobile, social media, self-service kiosks.

• Proactive ‘listening’ into everything we do—community engagement.

• Continued customer service training for employees.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML This is how we are choosing to act out in compassion so far. It’s not a huge departure from the norm but we’re working on it. If you can label it, if you can verbalize it, you can measure it, and improve upon it. We can (and should) be held accountable for it. We think it’s time that starts happening. Now we’ll walk through the specific projects we’re undertaking to launch Aurora 2.0… — It starts with staff putting itself in the shoes of all residents. There are lots of different shoes to wear! --- Servant leadership speaks a lot about empathy. That is part of the overall framework for what we’re looking to accomplish here. Love is not just a feeling—true love is self-sacrifice. Employees have to sacrifice their own perspective in the name of service to our individual residents. We don’t have to personally like what’s happening in the community but we do have to respond. How will we choose to respond?


Transformation from Aurora 1.0…

Aurora 2.0

Telework and digital government

Photo credit: Muhammad Haikal Sjukri

Photo credit: Julian Wan

To Aurora 2.0…This isn’t your father’s city hall

Presenter

Presentation Notes

SN Better access, better digital engagement. Offer more online. But want to be sensitive to technology limitations for some residents. Offer self-service kiosks. Example of voter wait time estimates. Change to the way library is used. 3. Transform the way we provide services to citizens, and become more of a "digital city:" - Self Service through online portals - Self Service kiosks for underserved / unserved citizens - Expand kiosks to other City buildings to be more accessible - Dedicated community engagement tool (will just mention and let Michael discuss details on his slide) - Equip Libraries with more technology to serve the citizens - Use digital services to support and facilitate election services


Aurora 2.0

Community engagement

• Pre-COVID, City was building a ‘public engagement framework.’ • The vision:

• “Earn and keep the trust of our community by making active public engagement a critical and consistent part of doing business and making decisions.”

• Goals• Build predictability and trust.• Establish value of public engagement with City departments and

employees.• Help staff determine when and how to engage residents.• Continually evaluate public engagement processes.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

ML Communication—especially listening—is an important part of compassion. 3 minutes at the podium just doesn’t cut it anymore. Even before COVID and George Floyd, this is something Aurora was actively working to do a better job on. Project was placed on backburner with COVID, other things. But the project fits perfectly with Aurora 2.0 and our desire to empathize with and show compassion for our community. We will pick it back up again as part of 2.0. --- [Do not read] We have been inspired by the examples of our colleagues in Fort Collins and Arlington County, Virginia, among others. We had success with our 2018 comprehensive plan process. Over 150 instances of community engagement to bring the voice of all communities to the table. In 2019, staff initiated work on building a citywide, ‘public engagement framework.’ Build predictability and trust. Make a visible commitment to public engagement. Ensure consistent public engagement practices across all departments Establish value of public engagement… Explain to staff and depts on the whole what’s in it for them. Help staff determine when and how to engage residents IAP2 levels. Continually evaluate public engagement processes. Use data, process reviews.


Aurora 2.0

Innovation by Design

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Innovation manifesto from IDT 1. This was from 2018—Innovation MANIFESTO We want to build a City that is at the forefront of transformation to anticipate issues and address new challenges. We need to be transformative to be competitive and to be a sustainable place where people want to live, work and play. Being transformative allows us to act with a sense of purpose, to question and improve the status quo (as necessary). A transformation-focused culture will allow us to attract, engage, and retain a world-class workforce. A transformation-focused culture produces the freedom and confidence to be creative and to be inspired. One transformation initiative can jumpstart another. A transformation-focused culture allows us to better connect with our entire community and anticipate their needs. Two years and we had not been able to get it off the ground The opportunity was ripe to make changes and our City Manager was keen on making sure our Innovation Design Team got off to a strong start this time. We want these people to be like Special Forces, trained to drop into projects and lead our transformation efforts. We also want them to training other staff in their arts.


Why should staff care?

The motivators we believe drive our employees:

Consistency Variety Pride Connection Growth Contribution

Credit: Anthony Robbins, Habits for Well-being

Presenter

Presentation Notes

WS Consistency: defined by clear vision and goals Variety: an opportunity to try new things Pride: the chance to show what they can do Connection: the ability to work together Growth: adding skills and experiences that expand them horizontally and vertically Contribution: to be part of something bigger than themselves By keeping these motivators at the forefront of our decision-making we believe we can turn careers into personal missions and employees into emissaries


Aurora 3.0 and beyond

Future chapters

Presenter

Presentation Notes

SN


Looking into 2021 and beyond

• Versioning the City’s future—interweaving the new strategic plan, the Smart Cities plan, and the Innovation Design Team

• Aurora 2.0—BHAG >>>> December 31, 2020

• Aurora 3.0…etc.

• Who are the heroes in our story? We don’t know yet; time will tell.

Presenter

Presentation Notes

Scott’s slide 3. Transform the way we provide services to citizens, and become more of a "digital city:" - Self Service through online portals - Self Service kiosks for underserved / unserved citizens - Expand kiosks to other City buildings to be more accessible - Dedicated community engagement tool (will just mention and let Michael discuss details on his slide) - Equip Libraries with more technology to serve the citizens - Use digital services to support and facilitate election services


Now we’ll be prepared!

Presenter

Presentation Notes

SN


Thank you!

Michael LawsonManager of Special [email protected](303) 739-7188

Wayne SommerManager of Internal [email protected](303) 739-7075

Scott NewmanInterim Chief Information and Strategy Officer [email protected](303) 739-7712

Local government is dead! Long live local government!...Local government is dead. Long live local...

Documents

Transcript of Local government is dead! Long live local government!...Local government is dead. Long live local...