Local governments often experience leadership turnover when new elected officials take office. While senior management changes frequently, middle managers and supervisors — protected by civil service rules — are expected to maintain stability and continuity of services. However, without targeted development, middle management teams can struggle to adapt to new priorities and leadership expectations, putting service quality and organizational culture at risk. We partnered with the City’s HR Department to design a targeted improvement initiative focused on strengthening supervisor and middle manager performance during leadership transitions.

Key steps included:

• Needs Assessment: Conducted interviews, surveys, and focus groups to identify key challenges, including gaps in performance management, employee coaching, and conflict resolution.

• Causal Analysis: Mapped underlying causes and identified specific improvement drivers.

• Program Design: Developed a new capstone training module to build on the City’s existing supervisor program, emphasizing:

  • Practical role-playing and scenario training

  • Consistent application of policies and union contracts

  • Strengthened communication between supervisors and leadership

  • Positive informal peer interactions

Implementation
Using improvement science methodologies and Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles, the capstone session was piloted and refined with 22 supervisors.

The Results

• 📈 Supervisors reported stronger confidence and performance in handling leadership transitions

• 🎯 All five evaluation levels of the Phillips ROI Model were successfully met

• 💼 Improved morale, stronger policy application, and better coaching practices

• 💵 Achieved a return on investment (ROI) of 19.63% for the City

Supervisor Feedback
"The capstone training gave us the real-world skills we needed to succeed, even as leadership changed around us."