When great leaders retire, we all feel the loss, but we also consider ourselves privileged to have been part of the team. So when Tom MacDonald, Executive Director for the Local Government Management Association (LGMA) announced his retirement, there was a line up of privileged team members who wanted to share their stories in Exchange magazine as a way to show their appreciation for his leadership.

Capturing all the anecdotes and insights about Tom would take a book, which means the greatest challenge was selecting the nuggets that would best tell his story. What emerged for me was a picture of a humble, visionary leader who understands and values people, and has the ability to blend ingenuity with practical applications to move himself  and everyone around him from good to great. I’ve since learned that Tom is a big fan of the book, Good to Great, by Jim Collins, which is where he started to apply this approach in his own life. When his staff suggested this for the title of his story, it was a perfect fit.

The other underlying theme to every interview was friendship. Everyone he meets becomes a friend, and every friend treasures this connection. I’ve had the pleasure of  working with Tom on Exchange for the past few years, and I too enjoy the benefits of  his thoughtful and insightful advice, his leadership approach that allows me to take the lead in my areas of  expertise, and his friendship. Interacting with Tom has afforded me the opportunity to learn from an amazing leader. He motivates people and creates an environment where everyone maximizes their individual skills as well as their cohesive capabilities as a team. He is open to new ideas, and frankly encourages us to push boundaries and take a few risks. He sets clear goals, but provides flexibility in how they may be achieved.

Tom knows how to have fun and laugh at life’s ironies, but he also makes it okay to seethe with righteous anger and frustration when we witness injustice. He is a champion for local government employees, and an advocate for continuous improvement in the profession.

Tom is everything we talk about when describing exceptional leaders, and he will be missed around the office as he steps out into new adventures in his retirement. At the same time, because he’s a great leader, he has established an amazing team and the foundations for success that will provide for a smooth transition and future achievements with the incoming Executive Director.

Best wishes Tom. Thanks for everything.

As a communications professional, my role has always been to share information with customers, residents or any other affected audience. I can remember a group of us joking about what happens when you have a communications person and a lawyer in the same room giving advice. The communications person says: “Tell them everything!” and the lawyer says: “Tell them nothing!” We usually met somewhere in the middle.

These days, there is a growing shift towards sharing more information. It’s difficult to pinpoint the drivers behind this trend. There seems to be a general lack of trust in governments and accusations of them hiding things or doing secret deals at the expense of taxpayers. Elected officials have increasingly proposed that the electorate should have greater input into decision-making and the words “community engagement” are becoming a common part of the government vernacular. When you factor in social media, electronic content management systems and other online tools, it’s become significantly easier to share information and generate discussion. The result is tremendous potential for communication and consultation in communities.

The challenge with all of this “openness” is the corresponding requirement to protect personal information. Government is tasked with privacy laws and Freedom of Information requirements that put it in a difficult position when trying to meet the demand for being open and sharing information more readily. File storage for social media platforms is in the United States, which does not meet the more stringent criteria for privacy protection upheld in Canada.

And some of the “Wikileak” incidents have resulted in the release of confidential and/or compromising information. There are other considerations as well: competitive information, details from closed meetings and preliminary discussions that many feel are best kept behind closed doors until there is some definitive decision to move forward as speaking too soon may raise unnecessary concerns or otherwise undermine the project or process.

Open government practices are designed to find a balance in this mix of information demand and privacy requirements. Technology is making it easier to share open data that has been stripped of personal information. Mobile apps and other software are being developed to apply data in a way that makes it useful as a customer service tool and easily searchable as a resource. Social media platforms are assisting with community engagement by building online communities for information sharing and increased collaboration.

The concept of open government and the new tools and approaches like open data and social media are still relatively new. Their potential is largely untapped, and the risks are largely unexplored. In the September edition of Exchange magazine, the story Building Trust Through Transparency highlights the progress being made in open data projects and provides a guide and resource for local governments across the province. Similarly, Successes in Social Media are case studies highlighting some best practices in how these new tools can be applied effectively. It is evident that early days or not, there is a shift underway in B.C. local governments as organizations strive to meet demand for communication and community engagement in a responsible manner.

As a communicator, my philosophy remains vested in the idea that sharing information and being more open is essential to building trust and establishing relationships.