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The BlueMoon is published bi-monthly by the Kentucky Arts Council. Please
send comments, questions and information to The Blue Moon, Kentucky Arts
Council, Old Capitol Annex, 300 West Broadway, Frankfort, KY 40601-1980 or
call 502/564-3757V/TDD Toll Free: 1-888-833-2787
E-mail:
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I recently attended a meeting that has energized my thought
about the work we do and how we do it. Mark Moore and Richard Hackman were
both brilliant in thought and presented new perspectives that can probably
apply to most of us as we strive to efficiently deliver the arts in our
own communities. I have reviewed their books for fellow Cabinet agency
directors and thought I might share a few of the concepts with you that
are so dynamic.
CREATING PUBLIC VALUE:
Strategic Management in
Government
Mark H. Moore Published by Harvard University
Press
“The book sets out a philosophy of public management–an idea
of what citizens should expect of public managers.” The very first chapter
describes a scenario in which a local librarian faces a decision about how
to handle the overwhelming wave of children who are coming to the library
between 3:00 and 5:00 each day; a recognition that the library is being
used as a day-care center for latch key kids. Her first instinct was to
discourage the practice, but, after giving it some thought she began to
apply more entrepreneurial thinking–maybe she could use it to lobby for
more funds from the city, or perhaps charge for the service. It might
serve as an opportunity to mobilize a volunteer corps. Finally, she began
to consider how the problem could be solved internally through
restructuring space and rescheduling staff. The librarian moved from being
a public manager/bureaucrat following established mandates (i.e. a library
is a place where books are kept and made available to citizens) to a
public manager/entrepreneur and leader. The Librarian was willing to step
outside conventional restrictions on her job to view the new demand as an
opportunity, she even ventured forth to consider that there may be some
VALUE to be created for the community.
The most intriguing part of the book for me was the section
on a strategic triangle that helps conceptualize the integration of (1)
substance - what is valuable and effective in our work; (2)politics - an
analysis of political expectations; and (3) administration - a calculation
of what is operationally feasible. In order to produce value in our work,
all three must be in alignment. I realized that most of my work is devoted
to (1) and (3), and that I have allowed myself to use the restrictions of
my job as a public manager as an excuse for not getting more involved.
LEADING TEAMS:
Setting the Stage for Great Performances
J. Richard Hackman Published by Harvard
Business School Publishing Corporation
Since most of us use teamwork, this book is extremely useful
in identifying and discussing five specific conditions that foster work
team effectiveness: having a real team, a compelling direction, an
enabling team structure, a supportive organizational context, and expert
team coaching. We used an exercise from the book in a staff retreat last
week. It focused on establishing norms, acceptable and unacceptable
behavior in our agency. This was an important process for us because it
required general agreement about standards of good behavior in work teams,
i.e. respect, punctuality, interrupting. These will be posted in our
conference room as a reminder of what is expected of teams as they do
their work. We also hope to model good teams for our partners and grantees
to replicate in the future. If you get a chance, check out these books.
They are very insightful.
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