Developing Supervisors

Fronline Leadership

This Leadership Institute is a flagship professional development program managed by the city’s Human Resources Department. Initially designed for supervisors overseeing front-line workers on infrastructure projects, the program expanded citywide due to its success in building leadership capacity. As a senior consultant, Tammy and her team were instrumental in collaborating with the City’s Program Manager to design, develop and deliver this program over a period of four years.

The Challenge

Infrastructure departments in cities nationwide face intense pressures that demand practical, highly adaptable frontline leadership. Supervisors overseeing front-line workers on critical projects—such as new road construction and road maintenance, wastewater treatment and storm water management, and overseeing multimodal platforms—contend with tight budgets, regulatory complexities, safety risks, unpredictable field conditions, cross-department scheduling mishaps, and cost overruns.

Without practical and adaptive leadership, these challenges can result in inefficiencies, high turnover, delayed projects, and compromised public services. This matters profoundly because effective frontline supervision bridges strategic city goals with on-the-ground execution, ensuring resilient, innovative teams that deliver results on time and within budget. The Leadership Institute addressed this head-on, equipping supervisors with knowledge and skills to lead their crews, optimize workflows, and foster collaboration, ultimately transforming potential obstacles into opportunities for municipal efficiency and community benefit.

The Purpose

The Leadership Institute was designed to:

• Cultivate practical leadership among supervisors of front-line infrastructure workers to enhance organizational effectiveness.

• Foster cross-bureau collaboration to eliminate silos and promote shared goals.

• Drive systemic change through innovative management practices.

• Strengthen the city’s workforce by aligning individual and team efforts with the city’s mission of high-quality service delivery.

Goals

• Develop Practical Leaders: Equip supervisors with skills in self-mastery, interpersonal dynamics, and change management to lead front-line infrastructure teams effectively.

•  Promote Collaboration: Build a network of supervisors across bureaus to share knowledge and tackle complex infrastructure challenges.

•  Sustain Organizational Improvement: Embed a culture of accountability, innovation, and continuous improvement in infrastructure operations.

•  Support Workforce Development: Enhance the city’s ability to recruit, retain, and develop a skilled supervisory workforce for infrastructure projects.

Methods

• Experiential Learning: Interactive workshops and role-playing exercises enabled supervisors to practice leadership skills in simulated infrastructure scenarios, such as resolving project conflicts or managing team dynamics.

•  Professional Coaching: Supervisors received one-on-one professional coaching from trained coaches, focusing on personalized leadership development, goal setting, and overcoming challenges in supervising front-line workers.

•  Internal Mentoring: Each supervisor was paired with a mentor from within the city itself to provide ongoing guidance, institutional knowledge, and support for applying program concepts to infrastructure projects.

•  Peer Coaching: Structured peer-to-peer coaching sessions provided feedback and refined leadership approaches, fostering a collaborative environment among supervisors.

•  Action Learning Projects: Supervisors applied concepts to real infrastructure challenges, such as streamlining permitting processes or improving project workflows, ensuring immediate applicability.

♦ Innovative Framework: The Leadership institute’s Transformation Framework integrated personal, interpersonal, and systemic change, aligning with the Transformational Leadership model. Unlike traditional programs that emphasized compliance, the Leadership Institute’s use of feedback, systems thinking, and action learning mirrored private-sector best practices, which were not yet widespread in the public sector.

♦  Partnership with the Organization: The collaboration with external experts brought cutting-edge methodologies to the city, ensuring the Leadership Institute was a customized, evidence-based program rather than a generic offering. This partnership gave the Leadership Institute an edge over programs relying on internal resources or less specialized consultants.

1. Enhanced Leadership Effectiveness: Participants reported significant improvements in communication, conflict resolution, and strategic decision-making. For example, bureau managers streamlined project timelines using systems thinking tools.

2. Cultural Shift: The Leadership Institute broke down silos, fostering a collaborative culture across bureaus. Within a few years, the program’s expansion to additional bureaus reflected its success, with participants forming a network of change agents.

3. Tangible Improvements: Action learning projects led to measurable outcomes, such as optimized resource allocation in infrastructure services.