Services for city and county leadership
Seven ways in, sorted by who is in the room.
Each of the seven has its own page. Every engagement starts with understanding the situation, and the first conversation ends with a fit or a straight answer that there is not one.
For a sitting city or county manager, and the team around them.
For the elected body
The council or board, with the manager, and the plan they are accountable for.
Set the Direction
Custom facilitation connecting leadership priorities with responsibilities, decisions and practical next steps, designed around the work already underway.
Set the Direction- What it is
- Facilitation built from a proposal: preparation, participants, sessions, written outputs and follow-through.
- How long
- A focused day or a wider engagement.
- Who is in the room
- The elected officials and the manager, with the staff the priorities land on.
- What is left with the elected body
- Written outputs: responsibilities, decisions and next steps.
For the leadership team
The senior team has decisions only it can make together, and the calendar keeps deferring them.
The Leadership Team Workshop
A structured engagement for the work only the senior team can do together: the real situation on the table, shared decisions, and visible follow-through.
The Leadership Team Workshop- What it is
- Custom consulting built from a proposal: preparation, sessions, working outputs and follow-through.
- How long
- A scoped engagement may span several weeks.
- Who is in the room
- The manager and the senior leadership team.
- What is left with the team
- Shared decisions, written outputs, and a follow-through the team owns.
For anyone in the organization
Open to whoever is willing to sit in the room, not only the leadership team.
Face the Truth Workshop
Three hours on the gap between what leadership intends and how it lands. The team sees the gap together and leaves with one question, one practice and one rhythm.
Face the Truth Workshop- What it is
- One facilitated session, scoped in a planning conversation first.
- How long
- Three hours.
- Who is in the room
- Any group in the organization willing to take the three hours: the leadership team, a department, or a mixed room.
- What is left with the team
- One question, one practice, one rhythm.
Culture by Design
A culture built with the people who live in it. Find out what people are experiencing now, let them help design what changes, and keep it alive through the year.
Culture by Design- What it is
- An assessment of what people experience now, a design of what changes, and support to keep it alive.
- How long
- From an assessment on its own to a full year of support.
- Who is in the room
- Leadership and the people who live in the culture.
- What is left with the organization
- Changes the people designed, and the rhythm that keeps them.
For one leader
The decisions on one desk do not fit a team setting.
Executive Coaching
One-on-one coaching for city and county leaders, with a coach matched to the situation, defined goals and a clear endpoint.
Executive Coaching- What it is
- Confidential one-on-one coaching with defined goals.
- How long
- The focus, cadence and length are set at the start, with a defined endpoint.
- Who is in the room
- One leader and a coach matched to the situation.
- What is left with the leader
- The goals reached, and the endpoint agreed at the start.
Think Tanks
A confidential monthly working session with peers who hold the same job: city managers and county administrators, the same people month after month.
Think Tanks- What it is
- A standing peer group, in two tiers. Every prospective member sits in on a real one first, at no cost.
- How long
- Ninety minutes, monthly, twelve sessions a year.
- Who is in the room
- Eight to twelve city managers and county administrators.
- What is left with the member
- A room of peers that meets again next month.
When capacity is the problem
A seat to cover, a transition to carry, or a project with no owner.
Consulting Services
Interim management, leadership transition support, part-time executive support, and organizational assessment and projects. Experienced capacity for the seat, the transition or the project, designed to end.
Consulting Services- What it is
- Four services on one page: interim management, transition support, part-time executive support, assessment and projects.
- How long
- Scoped in writing before the work begins, with the endpoint named.
- Who is in the room
- Experienced capacity in the seat, beside the new manager, or on the project.
- What is left with the organization
- The seat covered, the transition carried or the project delivered, and none of it as permanent overhead.
For an association or conference session, start at Workshops
How every engagement works
Every engagement is scoped to the situation. Each page names what decides its size, and the proposal puts the investment in writing before any commitment.
- Evidence-based. Every recommendation is grounded in research, with the sources cited and the work shown.
- Practitioner-led. Government practitioners have trusted Imagine That Performance with the truth about their constraints, the politics, and the public scrutiny they work under. That trust shaped the work.
- Confidential. What is said in the room stays with the people in it, within the open-meetings rules that apply whenever elected officials take part.
- Designed to end. Every engagement has an endpoint, and the capability stays with the organization when the work ends.
Every leader deserves clarity about what matters.
Seven ways to start, one conversation to choose, and the capability staying with the organization when the work ends.
Talk it through with Rob. Thirty minutes on what you bring.
Rob Duncan, who founded Imagine That Performance, takes the first conversation himself. About Rob Duncan
Most engagements begin there: the situation, the right starting point, and whether working together makes sense. If it does not, he says so, and points to a more useful next step when one is clear.