On many occasions we have wondered if in the Municipalities the change - in my opinion of reduced importance - in the nomenclature from director to manager has given those appointed to these positions a different vision that leads them to treat with sufficient flexibility everything that Because it comes from the traditional bureaucracy, it prevents or makes it difficult to go down the route towards a new model of management for results.
If we want a real change in the administration of local governments, it is not only necessary to change the name of the position, but we must primarily be certain that managers - former directors - equipped with an appropriate holistic perception are in a position to design and manage a successful non-mechanical strategic vision that allows them to deal with the changes that arise from the contingencies of the implementation of the new management model, without emotionally declining when they have to take charge of those complex and highly variable matters that make it very difficult, slow and difficult. It is difficult to achieve the expected effectiveness (efficiency + effectiveness) that would allow dealing with transparency and success the demands of the convoluted space in which public managers will have to carry out their activities.
The Public Manager (Manager Public) has a leading role whose mission, according to the National Civil Service Authority (SERVIR) “(…) is to efficiently manage government resources, projects and programs, in accordance with institutional guidelines and with the purpose of serving citizens ”(sic.)
We therefore consider that managing is not only managing, it is fundamentally “achieving results” but not just any results but rather those that require fine-tuned corporate work linked to institutional strategies and that obviously have to do with the entity's purpose. All of this straightened to satisfy the needs of the municipal community.
It should be understood that we are referring to the professional manager with accredited expertise, not the improvised official with mechanistic thinking who arrives at this position due to patronage or cronyism and whose permanence in it depends not on his successes but on the stability of the person who supports him. In these cases, the management - yes that is what it can be called - of the upstart Manager is generally plagued by wrong decisions as a result of incorrect reasoning as well as confused and rudimentary approaches that constitute tremendous barriers that prevent or hinder the municipal government from fulfilling its main mission that it is to satisfactorily provide essential public services.
However, it is not easy to find suitable professionals with leadership attributes who also meet the ideal profiles or unique characteristics adjusted to the environment and environment in which they are going to operate.
Leaders with high managerial performance equipped with managerial, personal, humanistic, professional and technical competencies. that guarantee -in appropriate times- optimal results based on the proposals and priorities that appear in the respective Government Plan and in the Concerted Municipal Development Plan, and that at the same time make use of technical mechanisms that stimulate the development of the maximum potentialities of people and that as a firm basis for this purpose they take into account that “(…) the distinctive feature of the best leaders lies, in short, in their understanding of the extraordinary role that emotions play in the work environment,not only in issues as obvious as performance or knowing how to keep the most outstanding employees but also in intangible variables such as motivation or commitment ”(Daniel Goleman - The Resonant Leader - Create More - The Power of Emotional Intelligence)
The truth is that the real level of suitability of the practicing Public Manager will not be defined until we evaluate the achievements obtained and confront them with the goals and objectives previously set since academic training, even experience and IQ are not perfect predictors of success in job performance.
For this, we propose to formulate semi-annual performance agreements in which the Public Manager and Municipal Manager set prioritized or ranked strategic objectives according to the importance assigned in the respective Government Plan and Concerted Municipal Development Plan, also provided with precise “Indicators Performance ”(*) that should be focused and oriented to rigorously measure those high impact final results fundamentally linked to the needs and expectations of the population
