The Golden Nugget September 2024
I watched some of the 2024 Summer Olympics when they were on last month. Did you? One thing that I noticed, especially while watching the field games, was how well those athletes worked together as a team. I mean, they had to, right? They were playing in the Olympics—the pressure was on to perform! I don’t normally analyze sports, but watching those athletes work together to score, celebrate their victory or support each other after a defeat, made me think about the teams we have where we work. It’s not different—to be successful as a team, we have to work together, celebrating when things go well, and supporting each other when things don’t go well.
Much like the Olympic athletes, we have to be intentional about developing successful teams. We have to “train”. We have to make time to get to know each other—how we communicate, how we work, what’s important to each of us—building relationships and trust so that working together works. We also have to understand the common goal, the team’s mission, if you will, and what it takes to make it happen. Hopefully, everyone on your team is on board with the common goal and works well with others to make things happen in your organization. We know, though, there is often that one person who forgets what they learned in Kindergarten and doesn’t play well with others. While the Jackson 5 would sing “one bad apple don’t spoil the whole bunch girl”, one bad apple can tank morale in a hurry. There are ways to deal with that, but I won’t go into that here--that’s a conversation for another day.
So what are some things we can do to build up our teams? My dentist and all her staff makes it a point to celebrate all life events—birthdays, anniversaries, work milestones—and they actively get away from work to do things together. In my small organization, we have several town-sponsored events in which almost all of our staff are involved—these events are a lot of work, but they are also fun and they give us a chance to work together outside the office. I know a lot of you make it a point to have your staff or leadership teams spend time away in structured team-building activities. Perfect. Bottom line, there’s no one right way to develop a successful team—it’s important to figure out what works best for you and your organization, and make it happen.
Speaking of activities to get together as a team, the ICMA conference in Pittsburgh later this month will give us Virginians who can attend the conference a great opportunity to meet up with each other. More information to come on the Virginia reception at the conference.
Also, congratulations to the newly elected members of the ICMA Executive Board—a new team who will work together to help ICMA guide and support us all as we navigate the year ahead in city/county management!
Until next time,
Debbie
Welcome new members:
Kimberlee Brown, County of Fauquier, Director of Human Resources
Michael Campbell, City of Hopewell, Director of Public Works
Tom Carroll, City of Lexington, City Manager
Brian Carter, County of Franklin, Deputy County Administrator
James Freas, City of Charlottesville, Deputy City Manager of Operations
Josh Gilliespie, County of Goochland, Assistant County Administrator
Kiley Kesecker, City of Staunton, Clerk of Council
James Knighton, Town of Tappahannock, Assistant Town Manager
Tracie Morgan, Town of Amherst, Deputy Town Manager/Treasurer
Rodney Newton, Town of Victoria, Town Manager
Tami Nunn, County of Gloucester, Human Resources Director
Heather Schott, County of York, Deputy County Clerk/Assistant to the County Administrator
Kristy Shifflett, County of Albemarle, Chief Operating Officer
Jaclyn Shonnard, County of Loudoun, Agenda Management Coordinator
Jacob Sumner, County of Albemarle, Chief Financial Officer
Francine Taylor, Town of Montross, Town Manager
Melanie Zipp, City of Fairfax, Chief of Staff/Clerk of Council
Save the date(s):
Retirees' Luncheon: October 10th
VML Conference: October 13- October 15th
Fall Executive Board Meeting: October 29th
Deputies, Assistants, and Others Fall Meeting (DAO): October 4th
Winter Conference: February 19-February 21st