City staff outline link between equity and innovation; propose E5 Academy relaunch and Solutions Lab

Renee Jackson, the city’s Equity and Engagement Director, and Claire Miller, Innovation and Strategy Director, gave a work-session presentation framing equity as the foundation for innovation within city government and described several employee-focused initiatives intended to operationalize those values.

Jackson explained Decatur’s participation in the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE) and described GARE’s organizational-change model (visualize, normalize, organize, operationalize), which the staff said guides the city’s racial-equity efforts. Miller connected psychological safety to innovation, invoking Timothy Clark’s four stages of psychological safety and arguing that employees must feel included and safe to progress from learning to contributing and finally to challenging ideas.

Staff highlighted the Ignite employee engagement team (formed last August) with three subcommittees—recognition and appreciation, welcoming/sunshine, and internal communications—intended to reduce silos and increase employee voice and psychological safety. Jackson noted the city held its first internal employee conference (an "E‑con") in December and plans to continue in‑house professional development.

Miller discussed relaunching the E5 Academy in 2026 as a decade‑running employee leadership program that uses employee input for curriculum and includes capstone projects. She also outlined a proposed Solutions Lab modeled on Denver’s Peak Academy—monthly trainings that teach process tools (lean, Six Sigma) aimed at enabling employees to implement low‑cost, high‑impact improvements. Miller cited Denver’s program metrics (a cumulative figure cited in the presentation of over $77 million in realized value since its inception) as rationale for piloting a similar approach locally.

Commissioners and audience members asked about benchmarking, survey methodology and how staff will follow up on the national employee survey results. Staff emphasized anonymity and departmental-level action planning, and said they will work with department heads to craft data-driven action plans and measure progress when the survey is next administered in 2026.

Next steps: staff will continue operationalizing the strategic plan and bring implementation updates to the Commission and city management; they plan a Solutions Lab pilot and E5 Academy cohort planning for 2026.