City of Santa Clarita's program helps fill management ranks.

It's no secret that public sector government agencies will soon be facing an employment crisis. This year, the first of a generation of baby boomers began to retire. How are we as public sector leaders preparing the next generation to succeed us?

As today's managers are nearing retirement, fewer young professionals are in line and prepared to fill their shoes. This is the beating drum of alarm communicated to cities from organizations like the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and the League of California Cities. The problem is real and significant because half of the 20.6 million government workers are 45 years of age or older (Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government).

The City of Santa Clarita has heard the message and is acting proactively to address this emerging predicament through preparing the next generation of up and coming government employees.

In 2002, the City of Santa Clarita initiated the development of a Mentoring Program designed to meet the following goals: 1) to provide employees with growth and development opportunities; 2) institutionalize mentoring and support the City's Philosophy and core values; 3) address issues identified in an employee survey that showed desire among employees to engage in mentoring relationships; 4) to invest in our human capital; 5) to identify leaders and potential leaders; 6) to build and deepen leadership capacity; 7) to provide training and resources; and 8) provide a support and recognition network for those seeking growth and development opportunities.

The Mentoring Program works in the following way:

* The Program is managed by a Mentoring Committee which is composed of the City's Executive Team. The Mentoring Committee has the responsibility of providing guidance and advice on the program scope and design, providing acknowledgement and recognition of mentor/protege relationships, and occasionally participating in the program through serving as instructors/trainers. The active participation and support of this committee demonstrates the credibility and significance of the program within the organization.

* The Program is open to all classifications of regular employees (management, non-management, union, etc.).

* The Program is a year long beginning in September and ending in August.

* The Program is voluntary and participants need only to present a request to participate form to the Mentoring Committee.

* All participants are required to self-select. This means that the City does not match mentors and proteges. Instead, interested participants are required to take the initiative to seek potential mentors within the organization that best match their own leadership characteristics.

* Once in the program, mentor/protege pairs can mutually agree upon a development plan for the one year program. This development plan outlines the purpose of the relationship and the key areas of focus. Creating this plan provides a framework for the relationship and helps with clarity and meaning.

* Mentor/protege pairs can decide how often they need to meet. The majority of participants meet at least once a month for an hour.

Mentors are responsible for providing the protege with professional or career guidance focusing on long-term development: serving as a channel for communicating the organizational mission and priorities/decisions; discussing development progress and goals; serving as a confidant/advisor; being a role model: and providing opportunities to work on challenging and significant projects either within or out of the protege's department/division (in cooperation with and approval of the immediate supervisor).

Once accepted into the Mentoring Program, participants are given the opportunity to participate in a comprehensive training and networking schedule. These training activities include: an introductory training session is provided to help participants (mentors and proteges) understand the concept of mentoring and how to make sure that their experience is successful, a meeting between the City Manager and the mentors to facilitate a discussion about key values they should be passing on to their proteges, and two professional development trainings on topics such as business etiquette, leadership, conflict management, and successful negotiation.

Focus group meetings

To help program participants network and provide continuous feedback to the Mentoring Committee and other program participants, three focus group meetings are scheduled during the course of the year long program. These focus group meetings serve as period check-in sessions where participants can share what they are learning, give advice to other participants and give constructive feedback for the betterment of the program.

In addition to the focus group meetings, participants can log on to the Mentoring Program web site. which is located on the City's intra-net system. This web site allows Participants to post information that was helpful to their mentoring relationship and provides additional educational resources that all participants could benefit from.

At the end of the program, the Mentoring Committee organizes a small reception for program participants. During this reception, participants are recognized by the City Manager for their participation in the program and are given a Certificate or small token of appreciation to commemorate their experience in the program.

During the first two years of the program, approximately 35 to 40 employees participated each year. Last year, 2004-2005 participation increased significantly with 69 employees participating. The 2006 session kicked off with 96 participants, which represents nearly one-third of the City's regular employees.

Participation growing

In addition to the consistently positive comments received through the satisfaction survey, of the 249 participants since 2002, over 58 or 23 percent of employees have actually been successful in promoting within the organization to take on higher level or more complex jobs. Ten employees who participated in the program were able to accept promotions to management positions at other organizations, including three who were promoted to department head positions. Several employees who have participated as proteges have gained sufficient confidence through the program to later participate as a mentor, furthering the support network and deepening the leadership capacity in the City of Santa Clarita.

Finally, the successes of the program could not have been accomplished without the support of the City's Executive Management Team. The City's Executive Management Team is committed to the success of the Mentoring Program. In addition to their advisory and advocacy roles, the Management Team encourages their staff to participate, allows participants to use work hours for mentoring activities, provides guidance, and serves as role models to others.

This year, the League of California Cities recognized the City's Mentoring Program with an award of excellence at the annual conference. We have prepared a CD about the Mentoring program that we would be happy to share. The City's Mentoring Program would be easy to reproduce in both the public and private sector. If you are interested in receiving a free CD on Santa Clarita's Mentoring program, please contact Tina Haddad, Assistant to the City Manager at 661-259-2489.

By Ken Pulskamp and Ken Striplin

City Manager and Assistant City Manager

City of Santa Clarita