Uncivil Rights
A BLOG rife with wit, sarcasm, and the endless joy which comes from taunting the socialistic and unpatriotic liberal left. Logical thoughts and musings ONLY need reply...unless you're really, really funny. You have the Uncivil Right to be an IDIOT.
"Give me LIBERTY, or give me DEATH!"
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Change vs STATUS QUO
The City of Aurora, Illinois will be electing a new mayor this coming spring. Aurora is the secong largest city in Illinois and can no longer afford to avoid this fact. The City needs to eliminate the small-town mentality that has plagued it for years. Change is needed in Aurora. The next mayor must be willing to initiate change, foster innovation and creativity, and bring the City into the 21st century all while avoiding the ever-so-comfortable STATUS QUO.
The public sector, it seems, has always been viewed as being different from the private sector. However, public sector entities such as the City of Aurora have stakeholders. Citizens, employees, suppliers, businesses, and visitors all have a stake in the City. Why can’t the City be held to the same standards as a private business? Shouldn’t the City stakeholders expect and receive the best return on their investment dollars (taxes, fees)? Why wouldn’t private business methods and models work in the public sector? The answer is: they should work. The citizens should expect and receive the greatest return on their investment dollars, and private business methods, models, processes and procedures will work in the public sector.
So, what seems to be the problem?
Status Quo: same old, same old. Ideas, creativity, and innovation stagnate.
It is so easy to keep the status quo when the alternative is CHANGE.
CHANGE is feared. Change is hated. Change is perceived to acknowledge failure. Change is constant. Change is hard. CHANGE is needed.
CHANGE takes determination, focus, planning, strategy, leadership, follow-through, feedback, open communication, employee buy-in, and long-term commitment.
CHANGE must be swift, immediate and thorough.
CHANGE creates innovation and creativity.
What are we hearing from most of the mayoral candidates? We hear we need to reduce crime, unify the City, enhance the downtown core, and bring in new businesses. Do we need to do these things? Of course we do. All are noble objectives and should be pursued and accomplished. However, haven’t we heard this before? How many years have we been hearing about these things? How many candidates have pledged to accomplish these goals once in office? Yet nothing seems to have changed. Why?
Status Quo. It’s so easy to keep things the same, to make some minor, cosmetic adjustments while overall maintaining the same system, operations, infrastructure, processes, and procedures.
I believe the City does not want change. This organization, this public sector entity is resistant to change. But the City is not a living, breathing being. It cannot resist change as much as it can change. It is the people in the City, of the City, for the City that resists change. It is the inability, fear, or refusal by the people to change that causes this stagnation and fosters the Status Quo. It is much easier to deny change than to change.
That is why the new mayor must be a strong, trusted, well-respected leader to create the much needed change in the City. This leader should use words and phrases such as innovation, creativity, strategic planning, operations, six sigma, critical thinking, participative management, employee empowerment, learning organization, and corporate culture. The new mayor should encourage feedback and open dialogue. He should accept honest, constructive criticism. He should understand different people have different views. He should foster a corporate culture that exudes integrity, creativity, and trust. He should make every decision as if it will be on the front page of every newspaper. Incorporating these theories and concepts will aid the new mayor in his quest for change. That is, if the new mayor wants change. The Status Quo is so much easier.
The public sector, it seems, has always been viewed as being different from the private sector. However, public sector entities such as the City of Aurora have stakeholders. Citizens, employees, suppliers, businesses, and visitors all have a stake in the City. Why can’t the City be held to the same standards as a private business? Shouldn’t the City stakeholders expect and receive the best return on their investment dollars (taxes, fees)? Why wouldn’t private business methods and models work in the public sector? The answer is: they should work. The citizens should expect and receive the greatest return on their investment dollars, and private business methods, models, processes and procedures will work in the public sector.
So, what seems to be the problem?
Status Quo: same old, same old. Ideas, creativity, and innovation stagnate.
It is so easy to keep the status quo when the alternative is CHANGE.
CHANGE is feared. Change is hated. Change is perceived to acknowledge failure. Change is constant. Change is hard. CHANGE is needed.
CHANGE takes determination, focus, planning, strategy, leadership, follow-through, feedback, open communication, employee buy-in, and long-term commitment.
CHANGE must be swift, immediate and thorough.
CHANGE creates innovation and creativity.
What are we hearing from most of the mayoral candidates? We hear we need to reduce crime, unify the City, enhance the downtown core, and bring in new businesses. Do we need to do these things? Of course we do. All are noble objectives and should be pursued and accomplished. However, haven’t we heard this before? How many years have we been hearing about these things? How many candidates have pledged to accomplish these goals once in office? Yet nothing seems to have changed. Why?
Status Quo. It’s so easy to keep things the same, to make some minor, cosmetic adjustments while overall maintaining the same system, operations, infrastructure, processes, and procedures.
I believe the City does not want change. This organization, this public sector entity is resistant to change. But the City is not a living, breathing being. It cannot resist change as much as it can change. It is the people in the City, of the City, for the City that resists change. It is the inability, fear, or refusal by the people to change that causes this stagnation and fosters the Status Quo. It is much easier to deny change than to change.
That is why the new mayor must be a strong, trusted, well-respected leader to create the much needed change in the City. This leader should use words and phrases such as innovation, creativity, strategic planning, operations, six sigma, critical thinking, participative management, employee empowerment, learning organization, and corporate culture. The new mayor should encourage feedback and open dialogue. He should accept honest, constructive criticism. He should understand different people have different views. He should foster a corporate culture that exudes integrity, creativity, and trust. He should make every decision as if it will be on the front page of every newspaper. Incorporating these theories and concepts will aid the new mayor in his quest for change. That is, if the new mayor wants change. The Status Quo is so much easier.
totalkaosdave, 4:29 PM
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