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!
The holiday lights are twinkling across our cities, and municipal teams everywhere are wrapping up their final projects of 2024. As I reflect on the conversations I’ve had with city leaders this week, one theme keeps emerging: the desire to truly rest and rejuvenate during the upcoming holiday break, not just “survive” it.
My deepest hope for each of you is that these next couple of weeks bring not just rest, but moments of pure joy surrounded by family and friends. You spend all year caring for and serving your communities – I hope you’ll now allow others to serve and care for you.
This week, we’ve explored Matthew Kelly’s remarkable insights from his book, “Off Balance” through the lens of municipal leadership. But as every city manager knows, insights without implementation are just good intentions. Today, we’re turning understanding into action.
Throughout 2024, I’ve had the privilege of coaching and connecting with city managers across the country. While each leader faces unique challenges, one theme has emerged consistently in almost every conversation: the struggle with crucial conversations.
Whether it’s addressing performance issues, navigating council relationships, or building stronger teams, many municipal leaders find themselves caught between knowing what needs to be said and finding the right way to say it.
Being a municipal leader can feel like being on an island. You carry the weight of community decisions. You navigate complex political waters. You balance countless competing priorities. And too often, you do it all alone.
Here’s what nobody tells you in leadership training: the “lone wolf” approach to leadership isn’t just inefficient – it’s outdated. The most successful leaders I work with have discovered a powerful truth: real growth happens in community.
Recently, an executive leader shared something striking with me: “I did everything right today – attended all the meetings, handled two crises, even made it home for dinner. So why do I feel like I’m failing?”
This conversation perfectly illustrates what Matthew Kelly identifies in “Off Balance” as the fundamental flaw in our thinking about success. We’re measuring the wrong things. For city managers, this insight is particularly powerful because you’re already measured by countless metrics:
“If you stop performance reviews, even if you don’t have a plan to replace them, your organization will improve by probably 20-30% immediately.”
This bold statement from Sam Anselm, City Administrator of West Plains, Missouri, sets the tone for one of our most provocative and practical episodes yet. In Episode 127 of The HaltingWinter Podcast, Sam joins us to challenge everything you thought you knew about municipal performance reviews.
My breaking point came on a Sunday afternoon. As a lead pastor of a growing church, I had just finished delivering two morning sermons, attended two leadership meetings, and was preparing for an evening event. On paper, I was succeeding. In reality, I was empty.
This moment mirrors what I hear from city managers across the country. The calendar says you’re managing your time well, but your mind, body, and spirit tell a different story. This is where Matthew Kelly’s insights in “Off Balance” become transformative, especially for municipal leaders.
We all know the script: “Leaders are readers.” It’s written in every leadership book, preached at every conference, and probably pinned somewhere on your office wall. But let’s be honest – between council meetings, crisis management, and countless emails, when exactly are you supposed to find time to read? And even when you do, how do you turn those insights into real change?
As someone who coaches municipal leaders across the country, I see this struggle constantly. The intention is there, but the execution? That’s where things fall apart.
Picture Philippe Petit on the morning of August 7, 1974, stepping out onto a wire suspended between the Twin Towers. “I was a little anxious on that first crossing,” he later told the NY Post, “because we never checked how strong the anchor point was on the other side.”
For city managers, this image might hit uncomfortably close to home. Each day, you step out onto your own professional tightrope, often uncertain about the strength of your anchor points. On one side: your commitment to public service. On the other: your personal well-being.
A city manager recently told me: “I’m doing everything the books tell me to do. I’ve time-blocked my calendar. I’ve set boundaries. I’ve delegated. So why do I feel like I’m failing?”
This haunting question echoes through city halls across America. As municipal leaders chase the ever-elusive ideal of “work-life balance,” they’re finding themselves more frustrated, more exhausted, and more disillusioned than ever.
But what if we’ve all been misled?
