Leadership and Management

A message from Dan Hartman, Leadership and Management Committee Chair, 2011-2012

What we do in public works is critical to our communities health and well being. Imagine not having safe water, trash removal or sanitation. What would a communities economy be like without roads to deliver goods or the food we eat. The truth is what we do in public works provides the backbone of our communities and without this critical infrastructure the community and its people would suffer.
 
During these tough fiscal times it is more critical that we provide the critical infrastructure that our communities count on more efficiently than ever. To accomplish this our leaders and managers must continue to improve, supply vision and guidance to everyone in the organization. Providing assistance to our members to improve their leadership and managerial skills is the mission of the L&M committee. This year we will be finishing the Road to Excellence series in the Reporter. Beginning in March we will begin a new series that explores the important traits common to quality leaders. We are also very excited about a new program “Recognize Your Leaders”. Through this program we will be looking for leadership stories from members about people working in public works as examples to our members. We hope to find throughout the public works field that we all can be leaders, and that in doing so we can make our communities better for all.
 
Finally, we will be highly focused on supporting the new Donald C. Stone Center. The Center is dedicated to providing professional training to people in public works in one of four career paths. The Professional Career Path for engineers, scientists, planners and consultants who work in public works. The Technical Specialty Career Path that will have three levels of credentialing; Operator & Technician Specialist I, II and III/Manager. The Leadership and Management Path will have four levels, Public Works Supervisor, Manager, Executive and Leadership Fellow. This path is designed to develop the future generations of Public Works Leaders. Finally the Degree Program is designed to take the traditional degree programs in engineering and science areas and emphasize how they apply to public works and infrastructure.
 
We welcome everyone who is interested in Leadership and Management to contact us and get involved. We have subcommittees in Publication, Future Public Works Leaders, Standards for Leadership and Trends & Challenges. These committees are looking for energetic involved folks like you.

We value your input and appreciate your questions, so please do not hesitate to contact any of the committee members or Becky Stein, the committee's staff liaison.