Friday, February 3, 2012

Two important positions in the Florida Keys community will be filled this year. The Key West City Commission will hire a new city manager and, for the first time since being given the responsibility by the voters, the Monroe County School Board will hire a superintendent of schools.

The School Board has invited the executive director of the Florida School Board Association to come to Key West on Feb. 27 to address the School Board and the public on the nuts and bolts of selecting a good superintendent. The City Commission plans to establish "preferred criteria" for selection of the new city manager at its meeting Tuesday, and has already appointed a search committee to help with the selection.

The City Commission's preferred criteria will be essential to the selection committee in reviewing city manager applications, and to the commission itself when it makes the final decision.

However, determining if an applicant truly meets the criteria is next to impossible if all that is known about him or her is from an application, references and an interview. Some people can look good on paper and have excellent verbal skills so they sound good in the interview, but end up being disappointing once on the job. In Texas they call it "all hat, no cattle."

What is needed is a thorough assessment of finalists to see how well they match the desired criteria, and a way to see the applicant in action before the hiring decision is made. This can be done by using an assessment center.

An assessment of how well an applicant matches the preferred criteria is often done with written tests covering the criteria. Then, when a finalist is invited to the Keys for an interview, the interview process would include role-playing scenarios of tasks that are part of the job. The role-playing scenarios could include, for example, explaining a budget, dealing with a group of irate citizens, conducting an effective and efficient meeting, decision-making, conflict management, delegation and coaching employees.

An assessment center has been used with success locally to help select top management positions at least three times in the recent past -- twice in the city of Key West and once in Monroe County. The results were City Managers Richard Whitaker in the 1980s and Felix Cooper in the 1990s, and County Administrator Jim Roberts in the 1990s. These were some of the best managers in memory.

The selection of strong, competent, sensible, caring leadership for the School District and the city will reflect on the elected officials who shepherd that selection, on local government and on the communities overall. The School Board and City Commission can help ensure the best outcome by making sure they have the best information available to make wisest decisions.

-- The Citizen