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Rumblings from ICMA

We have just returned from the ICMA conference and the experience reinforced our belief that the ethos of being a professional includes ongoing education so you can stay current in your field. The number of learning opportunities at the conference reinforced that our public agency leaders are presented with great learning and development opportunities through the ICMA and other organizations.

Medical, legal, and engineering professionals are required to maintain continuing education to maintain their professional licenses. In many other fields, including business, there is not this formal commitment. To us, however, this is a formal commitment.

A Few Highlights:

As part of our commitment to educating ourselves and our clients, we would like to share some of the highlights and notable FYIs from our participation at ICMA*:

Michael Katz Presentation and article takeaways:
https://icma.org/articles/katz-sees-cities-leading-way-century-ahead

Emphasis on the importance of local leaders stepping up to address the most pressing challenges and asking these questions:

• What is your community’s edge in the new economy?
• Who is in charge?
• Who are the leaders in our network we can tap?
• Where’s your power? Local governments have market- and civic power which can be aggregated and converted into other resources.

Rabia Siddique Presentation and article takeaways:
https://icma.org/articles/siddique-challenges-leaders-become-agents-change-conference-kickoff

Step out of the Comfort Zone: Reaching out for help in a time of need is particularly relevant during this period of so many disasters facing so many communities. Positive range requires stepping out of that Comfort Zone

To effectively lead in divisive times, ask yourselves the following questions:

• Are you prepared to confront your own reality?
• Is your community diverse or is equity and inclusiveness still an aspiration?
• Are you willing to challenge and if necessary, change your perspective?
• Are you willing to protect hope at all costs? Hope is the most powerful weapon we have in the fight against hate and violence.
• When it really counts, are you prepared to do something uncomfortable? To stand when others remain seated, to speak when others are silent.

These articles and the comments remind me of the conversations our team has with new users of technology and how being open to change is part of adopting new technology. The same held true at this year’s ICMA conference, and, as always, it was great to see clients and new prospects in person and have a chance to connect and catch up.

How We Can Help You with Change:
We are excited about the future and are committed to continually learning and developing. There are so many opportunities to learn and implement new ideas in agencies that will impact so many people. It is part of our core mission to help support our clients to drive positive change in their communities using technology.

In support of this philosophy, we are offering our popular best practices presentation for clients and prospective clients. This is a great way for you to learn what other agencies are doing successfully and to provide and initiate a platform for internal discussions about what your agency can take on.

Please call me directly.

Dave Richmond
415-632-1482
dave@comcate.com

*source icma.org