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- 9 - <br /> <br />mistakes/risk will breed an overly conservative organization and will stifle <br />creativity and flexibility and the benefits these values can bring. <br /> <br />• Try to focus feedback on service quality, not individuals: <br /> <br />An ongoing challenge is the difficulty of reconciling the ultimate responsibility of <br />the city council for city service quality versus the need to avoid interfering in the <br />daily management of the organization. It is much better for the city council to <br />communicate service level or quality concerns to the city manager versus <br />performance judgments regarding individual staff members. It is particularly <br />inappropriate for individual members or the council as a whole to try to direct the <br />manager to hire, fire, or promote members of the city staff. <br /> <br />• Don't expect managers to take sides in councilmember disputes: <br /> <br />Regardless of how they may personally feel, most city managers will avoid, at all <br />costs, "taking sides" in disputes between councilmembers. While on occasion the <br />manager might try to help reconcile councilmembers, don't expect the manager to <br />take your side in a dispute with a fellow member. Even if they may agree with <br />you, most managers will avoid taking part in public or private criticism of council- <br />members unless professionally required to do so in extreme cases. <br /> <br />• Don't jump to conclusions regarding citizen/customer feedback: <br /> <br />While it is your responsibility to be available to listen to citizen and customer <br />feedback regarding the city organization, be careful not to jump to conclusions <br />based on what you are told. Oftentimes an individual may sound completely <br />sincere and credible while providing you an inaccurate account of their experience <br />with the city organization. It is best to not jump to conclusions, one way or the <br />other, until the manager is able to provide you a response to the concern. It is <br />embarrassing to criticize staff for poor performance only to find out that the <br />information you relied on was not accurate. At the same time, the manager needs <br />to not be overly defensive regarding staff performance until he or she also has <br />heard "both sides of the story." <br /> <br />• Don't expect the manager to exercise "political leadership": <br /> <br />While managers are inherently leaders of their organizations and, to varying <br />degrees, in their communities, their role is not to be political leaders. That is, it is <br />not intended for the manager to be "out front" on community policy issues. Some- <br />times city councils want managers to take leadership (advocate publicly) on <br />controversial issues to avoid potential political consequences to themselves. While <br />tempting, this is contrary to the intent of the council/manager form of government <br />under which the elected officials are to take the lead on purely policy matters. <br />4.A. - Page 17 of 21 <br />19