Who doesn’t want to be the best Village Manager and yet when it comes to recruitment, it’s business acumen that’s considered important, mostly to fulfil the ‘operator compliance requirements’?
However, village residents see those skills a little differently, and Resident Association Presidents have shared the characteristics they feel make a great Village Manager – the so-called ‘soft skills.’
- Honesty and has a sense of humour
- A genuine listener who takes an interest in the community
- Consultative and able to understand every resident is different
- Transparent and follows up on issues
- An influencer for the good of the village
Many of these characteristics are based around good communication strategies, not ones put in place by marketing teams, it’s about you the Village Manager ensuring effective communication is a priority.
A smile costs you nothing. Add in empathy and it will go a long way to building trust and long-term relationships within your village.
I have often had to remind myself of the importance of stepping back from the busy day to day reporting, compliance and paperwork and take time out in my day to reach out and build great relationships.
Many of us will have been attracted to the role of Village Manager for the joy of supporting the community and serve residents, therefore for our own job satisfaction we too must ensure we build time into our diaries to make this happen.
If you are part of the VM program you can download the WHS checklist as part of the month-end materials.
Jodie
