The First 90 Days – Big Thinking consulting services

The First 90 Days™ of a new Council may be the most critical. It is in this phase that relationships between elected officials begin, and relationships between Council and Staff are set. The tone set during this first 90 days continues for the following 4 years, and we propose to help your municipality in setting an open, communicative, respectful, and positive tone that will allow for positive interaction and a great working relationship between Council and Staff, and to help set your council up for success. With this up-front work being professionally facilitated by an outside consultant, Council and Staff are all able to participate and contribute to the plan and co-shape their future.

Big Thinking for Big Results

We help your Council get beyond the election debate and rhetoric, and start to think about the larger organization and municipal system – out of the operational and into the policy.

The Method

To build a positive and high functioning team, we use positive and high results tools. A combination of facilitation styles that are in keeping with a municipal culture will be used – a mix of collaborative and liberating structures that enhance relational coordination and trust as well as the traditional methods in keeping with Roberts Rule of Order. The training sessions will be interactive and energetic.

The Facilitator

Jane Torrance, BA, MA, Certified Professional Facilitator (pending), has been an elected official at both lower and upper tier municipal levels in Lanark County. She has also had a career as a local and regional community coordinator and social planner. She is skilled in group facilitation, organizational strategy, action planning, team building, transformational strategy, collaborative leadership, network weaving, community engagement and asset-based community development.

The Objective

To meet within the First 90 Days of an election for a series of training days.

To build a positive team through the traditional storming, norming and forming phase as well as non-traditional creative engagement
To review the various election platforms and find common ground
To reach agreement and set the preliminary goals of Council with an accompanying action plan and implementation schedule
To possibly influence the first budget, if required

The Opportunity

A positive pattern is set for collective decision-making and action.

All Council members will feel heard, understood, and their ideas will be considered
Council and Staff will start as a strong team that knows and acknowledges individual roles and responsibilities, and can work well together within that system
The hopes and dreams of newly-elected and returning Council members are acknowledged and received with respect
Staff will understand the direction the new Council wishes to take
Council understands some of the legislative and financial restrictions, limits, and process as well as staff roles and responsibilities

The Solution

Ideally, in the first three months we would meet four times.

To help build excellent and high functioning teams that can plan and deliver on hopes and dreams
To plan for success
To find solutions to common and uncommon problems and situations
To help manage change in your organization
To hit the ground running

Note: If your municipality is outside of the First 90 Days™, out of focus, or in crisis and you need to “reset” the relationship between Council and staff, this is still possible and this program can be modified.