Getting new ideas to stick in a large organization isn't easy. But sometimes the right framework, introduced at the right moment, can change how an entire team thinks about their work. That's exactly what happened when the City of Ontario's Community Life & Culture department discovered how Lean process improvement methodologies could be used for public sector teams. From Forum to Full Staff Meeting: How Ontario's Community Life & Culture Team Is Bringing Process Improvement

How West St. Paul stopped writing strategic plans and started building a system that actually runs one. Most strategic plans don't fail because they're poorly written. They fail because the operational side of a city runs on an entirely separate track, and nobody ever builds the bridge. The plan lives in a binder or a PDF, the real work lives in everyone's inboxes and department meetings, and by March of year one the document is already gathering dust while decisions get made

​What is a Huddle? You may have heard of it, you may be a huge fan, or a little skeptical. This visual management tool is a 15-minute stand-up meeting (yes, just 15 minutes!) that's used to drive accountability, align daily work with strategic goals, and foster a culture of continuous improvement. Huddles provide regular opportunities for a team to check in, share updates, and discuss challenges. Every Huddle is accompanied by a Huddle Board, which is designed to meet the nee

There’s something oddly comforting about walking into a CALPELRA conference ballroom and knowing that almost everyone in the room has likely been through it: the 2 a.m. phone call, the “should we say something?” debate, the department head who’s burying their head in the sand, and the attorney who‘s convinced that silence is mandatory. Public sector HR doesn’t get to control when the next crisis hits, but we do get to decide how prepared we’ll be when it does. This year, I