Introducing: The Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC) - Save 50% During Launch Phase
Every week, you’ll get insights and actionable steps to help you navigate personal growth and professional success.
Hello, Impactful City Leaders!
Welcome to this week’s edition of “The Leader’s Lens!” Drawing from Roger Connors and Tom Smith’s groundbreaking work “Change the Culture, Change the Game,” we’ve explored how beliefs shape actions and drive results in municipal organizations. This week’s insights reveal why most cultural transformations fail – and more importantly, how to ensure yours succeeds.
Finding time for leadership development is challenging enough. Creating an actual game plan that drives real growth? That can feel impossible.
That’s why as a Black Friday special (only available Nov 29-Dec 1), I’m offering:
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To learn more about the Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC), go here.
In local government, recognition often comes in the form of complaints rather than praise. The water system works perfectly for years – silence. One day of issues – instant feedback. Yet the dedication of municipal employees continues, ensuring our communities thrive through their often unseen efforts.
This Thanksgiving season, I challenge you to be intentional about expressing gratitude. Take time to specifically thank your team members for their contributions. Whether it’s the water treatment operator ensuring safe drinking water, the maintenance crew keeping our streets clean, or the permit specialist helping businesses grow – every role matters.
Remember: gratitude isn’t just about feeling thankful – it’s about expressing it. Your words of appreciation might be the encouragement that helps someone persevere through their next challenge.
Episode 120: Breaking Free from “We’ve Always Done It This Way”
Discover why changing your culture might be the most important thing you do this year. We explore:
Episode 121: From Banking to Breakthrough Leadership with Brooks Williams
Meet the City Manager who transformed “the town where everyone hates each other” into a high-performing organization. Hear about:
The last part of the podcast features a few snippets from Brooks’ new book, “Rising to Serve: Reimagining Public Administration for a New Era” which you can purchase at this link.
Drawing insights from the book, “Change the Culture, Change the Game,” we’ve explored how to create lasting cultural transformation in municipal organizations:
Monday: Transforming Municipal Culture: Beyond the Status Quo
Success Understanding the key challenges facing cultural transformation
Tuesday: The Results Pyramid: Transforming Leadership from the Inside Out
How beliefs drive actions and create organizational results
Wednesday: Cultural Beliefs and Leadership
The critical role of leadership in shaping and sustaining cultural beliefs
Thursday: Sustainable Culture Transformation
Building changes that last through political transitions and budget cycles
Friday: From Insight to Impact
Practical steps for implementing cultural transformation
This week’s exploration of cultural transformation reminds me why I’m passionate about municipal leadership. Every city has the potential for excellence – it’s the beliefs we hold that often limit what’s possible. Brooks Williams’ story proves that even the most challenging cultures can be transformed through authentic leadership and consistent action.
Next week, we’re diving into “Burnout” by Emily and Amelia Nagoski as we take the month of December to focus on the B of my ABCs of Impactful Leadership framework: Personal Well-Being. In the week ahead we’ll explore:
P.S. Connect with me on LinkedIn to receive this content and engage in the comments!
Seth Winterhalter is President of HaltingWinter Municipal Solutions and creator of the ABCs of Impactful Leadership framework. Through executive coaching, results-based consulting, and the Municipal Leadership Development Circle (MLDC), he helps city managers transform their organizational cultures to create lasting, meaningful impact in their communities.
This week, we’ve explored how the insights from “Change the Culture, Change the Game” can transform municipal organizations. We’ve examined the Results Pyramid, discussed the power of leadership beliefs, and explored strategies for sustainable change. Now it’s time to move from understanding to action.
How many culture change initiatives have you seen fade away after the initial enthusiasm dies down? Or worse, how many have you watched dissolve with the next election cycle or leadership transition? In municipal government, where political winds shift regularly and budget cycles dictate priorities, creating lasting cultural change can feel like building a sandcastle as the tide comes in.
As we continue our exploration of “Change the Culture, Change the Game,” today we focus on making cultural transformation stick – not just through the next council meeting or budget cycle, but for the long haul. Because in municipal government, sustainable change isn’t just desirable; it’s essential for community impact.
When was the last time you heard someone in your organization say, “Well, that’s just politics” or “You can’t fight city hall”? These aren’t just casual comments – they’re windows into the cultural beliefs that shape your municipal organization’s reality every day.
As we continue our exploration of “Change the Culture, Change the Game,” today we focus on perhaps the most crucial element of cultural transformation: the role of leadership in shaping and sustaining cultural beliefs. For city managers, this challenge is uniquely complex, requiring navigation between elected officials, department heads, employees, and the public.
Imagine sitting in your weekly department head meeting. Public Works is clashing with Planning over project timelines. Parks and Recreation feels overlooked in the budget process. And IT keeps mentioning how “nothing ever changes around here anyway.” Sound familiar?
As a city manager, you might be tempted to address these challenges through new policies, reorganized reporting structures, or enhanced communication protocols. But according to Connors and Smith’s “Change the Culture, Change the Game,” these surface-level solutions miss the deeper truth: organizational results flow from a pyramid of influence that begins with beliefs.
“We’ve always done it this way.”
If you’re a city manager, you probably felt your blood pressure rise just reading those words. This simple phrase, whether spoken aloud or silently understood, might be the most expensive sentence in municipal government – costing us innovation, talent, and public trust every single day.
But what if breaking free from this cycle isn’t about implementing new policies or reorganizing departments? What if the key to transformation lies deeper – in the beliefs that drive our organizational behavior?
As a city manager, you’ve likely heard the phrase “culture eats strategy for breakfast.” But between the walls of city halls, where bureaucracy often reigns supreme and change moves at a glacial pace, transforming organizational culture can feel like trying to turn a battleship with a paddle.
This week, we’re diving deep into Roger Connors and Tom Smith’s groundbreaking work, “Change the Culture, Change the Game,” and exploring how its principles can revolutionize municipal leadership. While the private sector often dominates conversations about cultural transformation, the stakes are arguably even higher in public service, where cultural effectiveness directly impacts community wellbeing.
