Advice Column: Help from The Senior Advisors April 2025

”Seniors Moments”  is an advice column where the innocent and the guilty shall remain nameless.  Send your real or imagined, funny or tragic, but always educational problems to the Seniors team, composed of anonymous ICMA Senior Advisors (who shall also remain nameless to protect their reputations ).

Dear Seniors,

 We have a younger employee who is quite passionate about local government. This employee could easily be a rockstar in the profession given some time and maturing. Unfortunately, the employee has a higher opinion of himself and his work than his performance would currently indicate. What is the best way to coach the employee and provide constructive feedback without dampening his passion for profession?

Sincerely,

Wanting to grow the profession and the person

  _________

Dear Wanting to Grow,

You are to be commended for recognizing talent and wanting to grow both the individual and, ultimately, the profession.   It’s going to take an investment from you, but the results will prove to be gratifying.  

We suggest that you take the time to sit down with the employee, preferably in an informal setting, and ask him what his goals are.  Recognize his passion and his skills and tell him that you want to support him in his advancement.  Ask him what he needs to achieve his goals and in what areas he would like to improve.  One aim of the discussion is to see how self-aware he is.  Talk about a reasonable timetable for his career advancement and ask how you, or the organization, can help.  Offer to share with him your perspective on where he has room for growth.  Be candid about areas in which he needs to improve.  Differentiate between soft skills and professional/technical knowledge during the meeting and discuss both.  

For a different perspective you might consider engagement with other organizational leaders who have experience with this individual.  If his position allows for it, a 360 evaluation might be useful.  Another option might be to help him find a mentor/coach outside or the organization.  

Encourage this individual to be proactive about his growth and development.  Suggest that he volunteer for organizational and/or community assignments that would build his skills.  You can support him by offering him training opportunities to reinforce his strengths and address his weaknesses.  Another approach is to give him some stretch assignments where he can be challenged and possibly learn some humility.  But, don’t let him fail miserably!

Finally, if you are going to remain invested in his success, schedule times for regular, periodic feedback and coaching.  Keep those engagements as informal as possible.  

Good luck,

The Seniors

p.s.  Since the inquirer used male pronouns, we have responded in kind.  We know that there are many high performing and promising women in the profession who deserve the same recognition and support. 

As always, if this response seems lacking or raises further questions, feel free to reach out and contact a Senior Advisor directly.  We are here to assist you navigate your local government management career and enjoy paying back the support that helped us through our careers.

The full list of Senior Advisors with contact information is available here.