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Commissioners discuss tweaking 2021 strategic plan and boosting leadership training, onboarding and IT rollouts
Summary
Board members and staff debated whether to revise the county's 2021 strategic plan or make targeted tweaks, and discussed increased emphasis on leadership training, employee onboarding, internships, UKG/SharePoint rollouts, performance-review changes and evaluating applications of AI for content and service improvements.
County leaders used the work session to review the 2021 strategic plan and to consider targeted updates rather than a full rewrite, and to discuss workforce, training and technology steps that staff say would improve county operations in the near term.
Staff recommended ‘‘tweaking’’ the existing mission/vision framework adopted in 2021 and postponing a full strategic-plan rewrite until after certain construction projects conclude. The presenter said the plan’s five pillars—employee development, economic development, communications, technology and financial planning—remain broadly relevant.
Commissioners discussed leadership training options. One commissioner favored a recurring, facilitated program for all commissioners and department managers rather than the current ad hoc ‘‘buckshot’’ attendance at separate events. Another commissioner said shorter, less costly in-house sessions or annual retreats could produce much of the benefit without large expense. Staff offered to develop a proposal for an annual facilitated session or a cohort-style program to run once or twice a year.
Staff outlined personnel changes and tools intended to strengthen onboarding and internal development: a proposed internship this summer to help with budget and transparency work; formalized internship policies routed through HR; the roll-out of a new performance-review module in UKG that eliminates numerical grades and emphasizes discussion-based feedback; and the idea of career ladders (for example, Social Worker I/II) to reflect experience and market realities.
On technology, staff reported progress on agenda-management software, Office 365 migration and SharePoint adoption but acknowledged uneven departmental uptake. One participant said, "I have heard comments about the rollouts of, like, UKG and SharePoint... it was rolled out, no information," and staff noted plans to provide targeted, desk-side demonstrations where needed. The work session also raised a potential public-facing live chat feature and the idea of training and guidance around using AI for content-development tasks; staff said they will explore best practices and any governance or privacy considerations.
Staff proposed an employee engagement baseline survey to measure progress, and said a more consistent, documented onboarding process and cross-training where practical would improve continuity when long-tenured employees retire. The board asked staff to return with a menu of training options and a proposed schedule for facilitated leadership sessions and onboarding improvements.
