Page 13 - Demo

COUNTY COMMENT %u2022 February 2025 13continuedoutside their comfort zone. Change sometimes is necessary and is always an opportunity. One of the more important strategies that I had to learn was how to be the most effective at making change. I knew that I had a lot on my plate, so I committed to not making changes just for the sake of making change. I prioritized the issues that were most important and started with the ones that had the best opportunity for success. I recognized early on that the most successful changes are the ones that the employees had ownership in. The best way to get ownership is to include input from the employees that will have key roles in implementing the change. There are no doubt occasions when change needs to be made from a top-down approach. But most of the time, simply involving or inviting input from key leadership staff makes change less painful and go a lot smoother. It is also a good opportunity to share your perspectives and to consider perspectives that you did not consider or realize. I always appreciated Norm Bowers%u2019 philosophy for getting and keeping your job: %u201cYou do your job by being smart and you keep your job by looking smart.%u201d His premise was that you should always try to make your boss look smart and hire and keep employees that make you look smart. Get rid of the slackers and troublemakers. Set goals each year and make sure your staff understands those goals and be sure to share those goals with your County Commission. Those goals become the gauge of achievement.I was fortunate to have County Commissions through my career that for the most part supported me and allowed me to get work done. I told my County Administrator once that if I ever got to a point that I had to fight for or defend everything that needed to be done, I would step aside and let someone have the job. We just had way too many things going on to allow ourselves to get bogged down. It was important to develop trust with the County Commission and the County Administrator. One of the most important things that I learned was to simply be honest and be humble. If there was a problem caused by the department, I would own it and then work with staff to address it. I made it a point to always get an answer to a question. If I didn%u2019t know the answer to a question, the best answer for me was %u201cI don%u2019t know, but, I