By Mike Conduff, ICMA-CM

Good governance clearly seems to flow more easily when great management occurs in an organization. When the staff activities appropriately align with the elected officials’ goals, and these goals are being consistently measured and met in an efficient and effective way, governing body members can focus their efforts on the future and not the present.

Staying in their governing role is simply easier for them when the staff is “taking care of business.” Even so, this intersection of good governance/good management may take significant time to build.

Aligning Separate Paths

Some of our management colleagues will certainly argue that the good governance must come before the management and measurement. “After all, how do I know what to spend time and resources on unless the council sets goals?” is the way one colleague put it to me.

On the other hand, asking the council to stay out of operations when those are not functioning at a high level, or are the subject of task forces, subcommittees, and resident complaints, is largely an exercise in futility. Fortunately, the separate paths can align and function well when nurtured appropriately.

For the 2013 ICMA Governance Award winning community of Westlake, Texas (Tom Brymer, town manager), for example, it has taken consistent dedication to doing things right in order for the town council to be able to keep its focus at a high level. While the town itself is relatively small, its governance is quite complicated in that Westlake also owns and operates Westlake Academy—an International Baccalaureate Charter School.

Everyone has dual roles: The mayor is also the president of the school board, the town councilmembers are also school board trustees, and the city manager is also the superintendent of the school. If you think it is tempting for a council to delve into municipal operations, just magnify that temptation to talk about educational means!

By forging a strong partnership between the mayor and the town manager, starting with small steps, providing governance education (e.g., explaining roles for the parties), and staying consistent in these roles and behaviors, the town has progressed to the point where both the staff and the elected officials are expected to, and do, perform at an extremely high level.

Journey Starts With Values

Westlake’s journey of several years began when the council spent multiple challenging sessions agreeing on values and using those values to develop its vision and mission, both for the town and for the academy. Councilmembers next identified major outcomes (or “ends” in Policy Governance® language) that allowed the staff to develop strategies for outcomes, which they publish as a “strategy map.”

In order to be clearly transparent, each strategic objective outlines accompanying action items necessary to support or achieve the desired result, along with the responsible staff party, all of which is linked directly to the strategy map. The budget document also is tied to the strategies, with monies clearly associated with the appropriate themes and perspectives.

Efforts are measured and reported quarterly. Resident surveys are conducted. In short, both governance and management are aligned in such a way as to provide the best possible results for Westlake and Westlake Academy.

Efficient Performance

Have there been hiccups along the way? Of course! In the words of Mayor Laura Wheat, “At each critical juncture, we would remind ourselves that we are here on behalf of the citizens and stakeholders of Westlake, and that the best way to serve this very engaged community is for us each to perform well in our appropriate sphere.

“We use the Eight Behaviors and set the targets, the city manager oversees accomplishments, and our balanced scorecard indicators allow us to assess the organization’s performance.”

Tom Brymer goes on to say, “Because efficiency is such a hallmark in our profession, especially with our small number of town staff, we have to make sure we are measuring the appropriate activities. Only when the council is convinced that we are using scarce resources most effectively can [councilmembers] concentrate their efforts on their value-add to the process.”

Westlake also uses its annual council retreats to examine its governance process and to educate its new members so that the process continues to be sustainable over the long run.

One Model

If your community is ready to take the good governance challenge, Westlake’s Eight Behaviors (http://www.cmraso.com/gb.htm) journey might be a worthy model for you to investigate. The model’s principles are:

• Values, vision, mission.
• Council outcomes.
• Staff strategies.
• Responsible parties.
• Good measures.
• Tied to budget.
• Quarterly reporting.
• Annual retreats.

Remember, your own journey may take a while, but the governance rewards are significant.