What is the first answer that people usually give when someone asks them what they think of when they hear the words “city employee?” Many times the answers are not flattering. Phrases like “lazy, wasters of taxpayer money, inexperienced, slow, sitting around on the job, dishonest, too political, and fake” can be heard from city to city across the country. The fact is that in many cases public perception becomes reality for most communities. While this concept is not new, the truth can be said for many industries, not just public service. Public servants, however, are under more scrutiny and judgment by their constituents, the citizen taxpayer, and are often great fodder for the local evening news.
Over the last year, I have had the opportunity to conduct an experiment at the City of Albuquerque with employees from the front line to high-level leaders to challenge the thinking of the public servant about what it means to solve problems and create innovative, meaningful work in a community.
In 2015, Richard Berry, Mayor of the City of Albuquerque partnered with the economic development community and CNM community college to find a way for city employees to develop an entrepreneurial mindset in their current work. While thinking like an entrepreneur is not a new concept for people creating startups and innovative approaches to growing business, it is a new paradigm for public servants and people working for someone else.
The experiment began with 100 city employees from all levels of the organization, attending an 8-week course designed to explore the concept of the Entrepreneurial Mindset. The class followed the Ice House Entrepreneurial Mindset Program, and read the book “Who Owns the Ice House: Eight Life Lessons from an Unlikely Entrepreneur” by Clifton Taulbert and Gary Schoeniger. The course challenges the participants to think differently about their role in the organization, seeing themselves as contributors to their environment as opposed to victims, with the power to choose the way they see problems as opportunities for innovation and organizational success.
During the course, participants are not only trained about how to change their mindset but are also put in teams with other city employees to identify problems within their organization. The teams are tasked to validate that these problems are truly issues for their colleagues within the city and then challenged to create innovative solutions to those problems that others in the organization. Much like an entrepreneur validates their big idea with focus groups and potential customers, city employees approach internal problems with the same strategy. As a result, they build on their solutions and present them to the larger group at the end of the course for application in their work environments.
A year later, we have seen employees with transformed attitudes about their work. Employees are feeling empowered to create, innovate and not wait for someone else to solve a problem. One of the employees in the City’s Solid Waste Department was so inspired in the course that he went back to his manager and asked for support in finding a way to redesign trash and recycling pick-ups in his division. Through experimentation, he found a way to reduce the cost of recycling from $60.00 per ton to close to $6.00 per ton. Another employee with Family and Community Services has started developing creative ways to fill empty community centers in the city with non-traditional programming to encourage community engagement. Other employees are finding their voice and returning to their jobs with a renewed sense of purpose and vision about how they can own their work and provide great service to the public.
We are not just teaching people how to think like an entrepreneur, but how to view their current situation from a community of choice where innovation and creativity are encouraged as opposed to a position of powerlessness where bosses rule and employees survive ‘til five. Public service requires a commitment like no other. The pay is low, advancement is scarce, and people have a hard time respecting them until their house is on fire. However, that doesn’t mean that public servants are destined to succumb to mediocrity. They have the power to strive to be creative, innovative and excellent. This is possible with an Entrepreneurial Mindset and it is working here in Albuquerque!
Tom Darling