Chief of Consulting Services and Innovation William Aaron and Senior Consultant Kevin Tolmich are working with Chester County, PA this week and got to see the “Big Storm” firsthand. Best guess is that 18+ inches of snow fell in about 24 hours. Conditions were so bad Chester County closed its offices for two days, the first closure in more than a decade.
For a couple of guys from the South, this is a LOT of snow! Kevin took a few pictures we thought we’d share.
“Receiving the highest rating reflects the county’s philosophy of managing for results,” said County Commissioner Carol Aichele.
Standard & Poor’s, which awarded the County a AAA rating last week, highlighted Chester County’s strong management practices including quarterly reports to elected officials and the voting public on budgeted numbers compared to actual results.
You can see the County’s press release here. Congratulations to Chester County!
… but no one knows about it, have you changed anything?
The folks in Chester County, PA, are leading their government through a robust Managing For Results deployment, with departments creating Strategic Business Plans and core management systems being aligned around results for customers. They know communicating this change to their employees is a critical element of their success. They’ve built an internal website with a rich array of resources and recently published a “special edition” of their employee newsletter, which you can see by clicking here. It’s good stuff.
Getting the word out to your folks about change is critically important – but too often tends to get lost in the shuffle. To successfully drive change, you can’t let that slide. People are smart, and they look to their leadership to see what’s really important – to see what their bosses really want them to focus on in their work. Rich, frequent communication like this newsletter can be an important part of changing expectations and culture.
