2019 June ASPA Video
Hello, I am Paul Danczyk, President of the American Society for Public Administration.
You may have felt the energy last month in our pursuit of advancing excellence in public service. At least twenty ASPA chapters held awards ceremonies during or near National Public Service Recognition Week. Congratulations to the one hundred plus award recipients. Your commitment to and passion for the field are inspiring. The breadth of our awardees—and their contributions—are what make ASPA truly unique.
As we explore the “2020 Vision for Politics, Policy, and Administration," this month’s focus is on “2020 Vision for Leadership and Management.” When we see great leaders emerge, they are individuals who place a high value on outcomes—they think of goals, both big and small, and how to get there through continuous process improvement cycles or quality improvement approaches. And, they place a high value on relationships. Both outcomes and relationships matter.
The first is often linear—plan, do, study, act…or…define, discover, dream, design, deliver…among other models. These are often learned within organizational settings. The second, relationships, is often more complex. In some ways, they require getting back to basics on what it means to be human and show kindness. These skills evolve from birth and at every stage of our lives we understand them in a new way. It may show up in how we show presence with each other or express empathy or how we can disagree without being disagreeable or simply listen to each other.
In leadership roles, at times, these two paradoxes of relationships and outcomes create synergy…and at other times, they are at odds with each other. In leadership roles, it falls within the search for what is reasonable, even when the environment is complex, and in being true to self while respecting the other party.
During the month of June, we have an exciting line-up at the national level with:
Two
BookTalks: The first, on June 6th is
New Public Leadership: Making a Difference from Where We Sit, by Douglas Morgan, Marcus Ingle and Craig Shinn, where they emphasize personal qualities that bind leaders and followers to a shared purpose.
The second, on June 20th, is
Ethics and Professionalism in the Public Service by Thomas Lynch, an ASPA past president, and Cynthia Lynch. They illustrate the significance of self-control, critical thinking, moral leadership, and values as essential knowledge to more fully understand ethics in the public and nonprofit sectors.
On June 13, APSA partners with the Center for Accountability and Performance to bring us Larisa Benson and Chelsea Lei who present
A Model for Engaging Local Government Practitioners: Washington's Government Performance Consortium. Larisa and Chelsea share research findings from the fields of neuroscience and positive psychology that inspire a somewhat unorthodox approach to local governance.
On sessions that are in the works, Ulrich Thy Jensen, Lotte Bogh Anderson, Christian Botcher Jacobson explore insights on their
Public Administration Review November 2018 article: "Only When We Agree! How Value Congruence Moderates the Impact of Goal-Oriented Leadership on Public Service Motivation."
And, as a nod to our
2019 annual conference, panelists dive into what they didn’t get to talk about and what’s next from their session on "Revitalizing the Middle Class: Workforce Issues."
At the conference, Maria Aristigueta, Director and Charles P. Messick Chair in Public Administration, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration, University of Delaware, moderated a rock star panel with Heather Boushey, Executive Director, Washington Center for Equitable Growth; Stephanie Hoopes, Project Director, United Way New Jersey ALICE Project; Mark Pisano, Senior Fellow, University of Southern California; and Leland Ware, the Louis L. Redding Professor and Chair, Study of Law and Public Policy, University of Delaware. During this month’s webinar, Maria will take this discussion a level deeper with Stephanie and some new voices.
As always, if you are unable to join these programs live, they are recorded and can be found on our website at
www.aspanet.org/webinararchives.
Which reminds me: For the past few years, the Sacramento Chapter has interviewed their award recipients. Be on the look out for some of this year’s award recipients interviews on our national site. If other Chapters are also capturing their award winners, reach out to
Karen Garrett about including it on our site as well.
Also at the national level, Rutgers is hosting the Social Equity Leadership Conference on June 5-7.
At the local level, on June 11th, the Detroit Chapter is hosting its annual meeting and awards dinner and the Keystone Chapter has its board meeting. On June 20th, the Delaware Chapter is hosting its Third Thursday and the South Florida Chapter, it’s annual awards ceremony. What a great line-up!
Our work within public service could not be possible without committed individuals and organizational partners. A quick shout out to LaShonda Garnes, Community Development Manager with the Public Policy and Management Center at Wichita State University, who received the Kansas Chapter’s “Public Servant of the Year” award as part of Public Service Recognition Week. Prior to her current position, LaShonda served in a variety of leadership roles for the City of Wichita in the Water Utilities and Business Operations Division. LaShonda, we thank you for your service!
And, a special thank you to our partners at The IBM Center for The Business of Government. The IBM Center, through its executive director, Dan Chenok, as well as through longtime ASPA member John Kamensky, among others, continues to be a strong and supportive partner of ASPA’s work in the field. In 2019, The IBM Center increased its support to produce conference proceedings from the Presidential Panels that took place at the 2019 conference. Those proceedings will be released later this summer, adding one more resource from this year’s already robust conference.
For more information about us and these and other programs, visit us at
www.aspanet.org .
I look forward to seeing you at an upcoming event.