RussellAllenClip<\/a>\n<\/div>\nIn five minutes or less, that\u2019s what I feel my role is. As you can imagine, our business is about $650 million a year \u2014 that\u2019s the size of our budget \u2014 and about 3,500 full-time employees. A lot of it\u2019s internal, a lot of it is making sure that I\u2019m communicating with department directors, my management team, with employees, that I\u2019m listening and hearing what their needs are and helping them to be successful. That really is the way I see my role in the city. I have to know what they need, I have to help them get the resources that they need in order for them to be successful. Many of our employees touch our citizens far more every day than I ever would, even though I take every call that comes in and answer every email. I assure you that if our solid waste services worker is not doing his or her job that day, that\u2019s not going to be a good day for the city. Everybody expects their garbage to be collected.
\n
\nRecord: What have you learned doing this job for the past 12 years?<\/i><\/p>\n
Allen:<\/b> I\u2019d go back [farther]. My learning curve has been since I\u2019ve been doing city public service for about 30 years. I\u2019ve learned all along the way about what to do. I had my first managerial position in public service when I was about 25 and was a department director and had about 50 employees and a couple million dollar budget and that was a really good learning experience for me. Trying to be accessible and listen to people. My strategies have evolved over the years.<\/p>\n
I tell the Neighborhood College another thing is I used to think that my job is to make sure everyone got the same level of service, and that\u2019s really a flawed model because not every part of the community needs the same level of service. There are many parts of the community that need more public safety or they may have lesser infrastructure and they need a different level of service from the city, or they may have more poor housing stock or nuisance violations. They need a more concentrated level of service than just the same thing. That\u2019s evolved over the years. It helped instruct my belief in neighborhood empowerment and partnering with citizens to understand what their needs are to see if we can leverage what they have. That\u2019s been a good lesson for me over the years.<\/p>\n
I have personally always been one who had to pay attention to the details of the business. Not that I\u2019m a micromanager, but I\u2019ve always felt like it was important for the manager to understand those details of the business. That was good for me and my personality, but it also helped me to help department directors be successful. I always felt it was important for me, I learned early, to stay in touch with employees, to find ways to help them feel comfortable. I always have M&Ms in the lobby, because the manager\u2019s office can be intimidating. But if you have a little treat or something that people feel like they can just drop in, makes people feel more comfortable. So I buy M&Ms and leave them in the office. I started doing that about 20 years ago and it was successful and still is. I have a lot of customers.<\/p>\n
For me, trying to be strategic and taking advantage of opportunities, whether they\u2019re partnership opportunities, whether they\u2019re financial, whether they\u2019re political opportunities, trying to help to be able to articulate that. I\u2019ve found over the years that it is important. I got out of the public sector once and was in the private sector and went in with a business partner and ran a small company. He was an English major and of course I have an undergraduate degree in civil engineering and have a [Master\u2019s of Public Administration]. When I was in business, I was probably in my early 30s, we agreed that we would tell each other one thing once a month that nobody else would tell you.<\/p>\n
[pullquote]You can\u2019t lose the trust and respect of people you work with, nor can you lose it of those that you serve.[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n
One of the things he said to me once, he said, \u201cYou\u2019re an engineer and you think like an engineer and you think that if you can present the facts then everybody can just go along with the facts. If you show it\u2019s right, everybody\u2019s just going to say \u2018OK you\u2019re right, that\u2019s the facts.\u2019 And he said to me, \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to be right; you have to be convincing.\u201d And that\u2019s something that has stuck with me. Convincing doesn\u2019t mean you have to just sell, it means you have to make things compelling to people, you have to paint a picture, you have to use any tools that you have to help people understand why something is important. That\u2019s something that I have carried with me in my management role that I felt is always important and tried to make sure that if I was trying to articulate something that I did a good job of it, that I was thorough, that I tried to think about it from different angles. In this environment, where you have lots of people\u2019s interest, maybe fragments of information, that\u2019s even more important in my business.<\/p>\n
The people part of the business has always been important to me. I\u2019ve learned over the years, I don\u2019t ever assume anything about anybody. We all have that tendency, particularly citizens, when you see somebody and you paint this picture of what they\u2019re going to be like or you may have one phone conversation with them or they may come into the office and you think, \u201cWell, I\u2019ve got this person pegged. They\u2019re just a complainer; they\u2019re going to be a chronic complainer or something.\u201d I\u2019ve seen it enough times over the years; I do not take that position. Everybody starts fresh with me. Everybody has something to contribute in a way that probably will astound you if you let them. I\u2019ve seen that repeated over and over again. It\u2019s one of the things I\u2019ve enjoyed about the job, whether it\u2019s somebody that\u2019s an employee or a citizen or whoever it may be, you can\u2019t assume things about people.<\/p>\n
\nRecord: How have you seen new technology change government?<\/i><\/p>\n
Allen: <\/b>The access to information of course is phenomenal that citizens have that you used to just not have. The ability to transmit information as an internal organization has just changed so dramatically. I remember the first time I ever used a fax machine and just how phenomenal that was to be able to transact business in a matter of seconds rather than by mail and how much more efficient that was. And it was a game changer. The transition to email and other technologies that we have, it is just phenomenal. It is so unbelievably efficient and it makes information accessible and you can do so much more. There are just so many positive things. I worry that you use a little bit of the personal connection with all of it, but gosh, the positives associated with it are really just phenomenal.<\/p>\n
![\"Russell](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/allen-front.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n
The whole social media and how people are interacting. You\u2019ve seen that over the years and generational impacts that people have and how people grow up with different tools and different skills. It\u2019s instant information and it\u2019s higher expectations for good information and communication. There are so many more positive opportunities I see because of new technology.<\/p>\n
\nRecord: Tell me about openness and accessibility in city government.<\/i><\/p>\n
Allen:<\/b> City government is, in my view, the most accessible form of government. It\u2019s the level where you should absolutely count on your city to meet your basic needs, your family needs, your individual needs. And you need to count on it and you can hold them accountable for it. That\u2019s the level of government I love. I like cities and because of that, you\u2019re on the front lines and you can make things happen and you can make things positive happen from your interactions, no matter where you are in the city you can make a difference with what you do. I really like that part of the work.<\/p>\n
You never can lose that trust. In my view you\u2019ve got to always be open, you\u2019ve got to be accessible. You\u2019ve got to be responsive. Personally, for me, that\u2019s why I answer every email that anybody sends me, and I answer it usually on the day I get it. And I return every phone call that I get. It\u2019s time consuming, but it\u2019s important. I hope that then transmits through the organization so that we\u2019re seen as a more transparent and open and accessible and responsive organization. For the closest level of government, that\u2019s important. You wouldn\u2019t want to feel that your closest level of government is distant or you can\u2019t get good information from them. I think there is a higher expectation in that arena and I think it\u2019s important and I think it\u2019s valuable. I think we do a really good job of it here at the city. We take that part of it very seriously. If you ever do something that hides something or isn\u2019t done properly or ethically or morally, then you\u2019re not going to be successful as a city. You\u2019re going to lose the trust and you just can\u2019t do that. You can\u2019t lose the trust and respect of people you work with, nor can you lose it of those that you serve.<\/p>\n
\nRecord: How do you communicate those ethics down to the thousands of people working for the city on the front lines?<\/i><\/p>\n
Allen: <\/b>From my perspective, I have to try to live them and show examples. I try to do that as best I can. Again, from my perspective, I try to reach out and make myself available to employees in as many different forms as you can. We\u2019ve invested a lot in organizational development, having programs on leadership, helping departments, making that important in our training and our investment in employees. Hopefully hiring the right people that bring those traits to the table and making that important in your hiring decisions. Promoting people that have those traits. It\u2019s important to build a culture. It takes a lot of work and a lot of time and you\u2019re never perfect. You\u2019re always struggling to be doing better. Those are some of the ways. Supporting employees when they do those things right. Thanking them, I think, is a very important part of my role. Help them be successful and then thank them when they are successful.<\/p>\n
\nRecord: Do you have any other thoughts you want to share?<\/i><\/p>\n
Extra: Listen to Allen’s response. <\/strong>
\nRussellAllenClip<\/a><\/p>\nAllen:<\/b> I feel like Raleigh is an exceptional community. It\u2019s exceptional for lots of reasons. I think we have a great city government. Obviously I\u2019m biased in that regard. We have a great city government because we have terrific employees. When you look around and you see the reasons we\u2019re successful, it\u2019s because citizens are engaged and care about the community. There really are lots of them that do. That really is the basis of a successful community. As an example, again, in the Neighborhood College, I read a portion of the oath of the Athenian City State, we\u2019re all sworn to leave our community better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us. There really are a lot of people in this community that believe that and they get invested in it and they contribute, and I think that\u2019s good.<\/p>\n
[pullquote]I read a portion of the oath of the Athenian City State, we\u2019re all sworn to leave our community better and more beautiful than it was transmitted to us. There really are a lot of people in this community that believe that and they get invested in it and they contribute, and I think that\u2019s good.[\/pullquote]<\/p>\n
When you look around, there\u2019s a lot of things the city does on its own. But there are many many things that we do in a partnership. We have some very strong partners here in the community. Just mention a few, Wake County has been an extraordinary partner and has been for a long time, the Chamber of Commerce, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Downtown Raleigh Alliance, N.C. State University, the hospitals here, major institutions and businesses. There\u2019s hardly a thing that\u2019s been done that\u2019s been great for our community that we haven\u2019t reached out and built a strong partnership. That\u2019s not easy to do, either.<\/p>\n
From a strictly business perspective, just from looking at the city, I always talk about three foundations of a really successful city. You have to do all three to be a really successful high quality city. Number one, make sure you pay attention to basic services, that people expect tat their home and their community is going to be safe. If you don\u2018t pay attention to public safety, you\u2019re going to be in trouble. People expect their utilities to be there. You need to have good water and reliable water and you need to flush and make sure it\u2019s taken care of. It needs to be affordable. You need to be sure the streets are in good shape. That the garbage gets collected. These are things they can\u2019t do for themselves. They need to get at a good value, it\u2019s important to them, their city needs to do that well. Focus on basic services.<\/p>\n
The second is to be financially strong. No business can be successful unless it\u2019s really financially strong. In our case, we are. You know, AAA [bond rating], it has the best financial footing. We\u2019re conservative in our finances and budget practices, we have strategic reserves. We\u2019re able to hang in there when there are tough times. We\u2019re able to invest when there are strategic opportunities, so we really have good finances.<\/p>\n
The third is what really makes a community unique, and if you think about when you travel, what is it that you remember about a community? Generally, you remember the history, maybe its historic buildings that you see, you remember the parks, you remember the museums, the public art. You remember if the air was clean, if you had access to nature, things that are not basic services but are important components that make a community and its quality of life unique. You sort of look around Raleigh and think about what are those things that we built here. I think Raleigh has those examples: great basic services, very strong finances, and we\u2019ve invested in quality of life. Whether it\u2019s public art or culture or performing arts or whatever, just looks across the spectrum. Successful parks bond issues, the people in this community have made that important and I think that\u2019s why we have a first class, quality community, because we put all those things together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In an exclusive interview with the Record, City Manager Russell Allen talks about what he\u2019s learned as the city\u2019s chief executive officer and what has helped Raleigh top all those \u201cbest of\u201d lists. City Councilors last month decided not to renew to his contract.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24002,"featured_media":19078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15,23],"tags":[1243,899],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19351"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Allen](\"http:\/\/theraleighcommons.org\/raleighpublicrecord\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/RussellAllenCityMgr.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n