Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Leadership Training topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Wasatch County CEO Ben White leads staff workshop on management and leadership
Summary
Wasatch County assistant county manager Ben White led an internal staff workshop on middle-management roles and skills, covering supervisory definitions, the Peter Principle, core managerial competencies and recommended leadership resources. The session included live audience polls and closed with an invitation for questions.
Ben White, the presenter at a Wasatch County staff workshop, spent the session outlining roles and skills for supervisors, managers and directors and urged participants to adopt a "leading through" approach rather than exercising "power over" staff.
White front-loaded the session with an interactive live poll and a brief word cloud exercise to surface what attendees value in leaders. "Effective communication is so clearly the most important attribute for any managerial role," White said, advising participants to practice active listening, clarity and constructive feedback.
Why it matters: The county's day-to-day operations depend heavily on mid-level managers who translate strategy into action. White argued that clear role definitions and improved managerial skills — communication, emotional intelligence, decision-making, delegation and coaching — reduce friction and improve outcomes across departments.
White described a six-level organizational model (front line, leads, supervisors, managers, directors and chief executive) and walked through the responsibilities at each level. He defined a supervisor as the manager who directs frontline work and recommends employment actions but typically cannot hire or fire; managers oversee team outputs and processes and have personnel authority; directors focus on strategy, resource allocation and external interactions.
On the topic of promotions, White discussed the Peter Principle — the risk that employees promoted for technical excellence may not possess the skills needed for a higher-level managerial role — and encouraged careful assessment and candid discussions during hiring and promotion decisions. "You have to acknowledge that you have untapped potential," he said when advising attendees on how to present themselves for new roles.
White also traced his own career path: an MPA at Brigham Young University, an internship in Provo City’s mayor's office, analyst and finance roles, and then positions as a budget officer and assistant county manager before joining Wasatch County. He used a past experience presenting a tentative and final budget before a city council as an example of how technical expertise can be applied in politically charged public settings.
To close, White recommended specific resources for managers — including Crucial Conversations; Good to Great by Jim Collins; How You Measure Your Life by Clayton Christensen; The Advantage by Patrick Lencioni; Start With Why by Simon Sinek; and Turn the Ship Around by David Marquet — and invited questions from attendees.
The session concluded with White asking for questions about management and supervision and indicating the floor was open for discussion.
