Make sure you follow along with this planning and leadership series all week:
- Part 1: 15 Leadership Traits All Great Planning Managers Possess
- Part 2: Enhancing leadership capacity to lead effective planning efforts
- Part 3: Keys to being an effective planning director
- Part 4: Expert Advice: Overcoming planning challenges
We all want to be successful in our careers. One skill that distinguishes successful planning directors or leaders in general, is leadership: the ability to get things done through others. Leadership can manifest itself in many different ways, but the ultimate measure of an effective leader is positive and lasting change in community. You are remembered more for the lasting impact on the form, appearance, or vitality of a community versus how quickly you got something done or how well you stayed within budget.1
Experience suggests that effective planning directors know how to do five key things: exercise political skills, set the vision and mission, manage employees, manage decisions, and manage themselves. By practicing these five things from Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice, you will greatly make a difference in the life of your community.
exercising political skills
Planners are regularly involved with politicians and with political issues. Successful planning directors develop good relationships with elected officials and earn respect within the political framework of the community.
Practice Exercising Political Skills:
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setting the vision and the mission
The vision (what we aspire to be) and the mission (how we should do business) of the planning department will depend on the needs of the community. While you cannot achieve either your vision or mission without the buy-in from your staff, they are tasks that cannot be delegated: the planning director must take the lead.
Practice Setting the Vision and Mission:
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managing employees
Like any local government manager - a police chief, or public works director, for example - a planning director needs solid technical skills and the ability to manage people and operations. Successful planning directors make strategic decisions about the allocation of human and financial resources, the hiring and promotion of staff members, and the select of consultants.
Practice Managing Employees (From Good to Great written by Jim Collins):
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self-management
Successful managers and leaders are self-aware: they know their strengths and their limitations, and they make a point of developing the skills and discipline they need to manager their responsibilities.
Practice Self-Management:
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1 Edited by Gary Hack … [et al] (2009) “The Role of the Planning Director.” Local Planning: Contemporary Principles and Practice: pp. 444-445. ICMA: Washington, D.C.
Want to uncover more tips and best practices on leading and managing teams? Download the free ebook: Leading and Managing Others in Local Government. It includes different levels of leading and managing others, including: empowering others, performance and capability, recognition and motivating others, difficult conversations, and what matters most to your staff.
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