Finding Solutions | Facilitating Change
My Work
Below is a sampling of my work and accomplishments that I think demonstrate my traits, skills, and approach coming together in what I do and create.
Contents
Continual Learning
Much of what follows wouldn’t be possible if I didn’t believe in my own continual growth and change. Here are a few examples of continued learning that have transformed how I view my work.
Business Analyst Certification Program – a seven month certificate program offered through California State University Sacramento. I learned skills and tools for working with the people side of technology.
Leadership Coaching Program – a six month coaching program sponsored by the City of Roseville. The program focused on developing high-performing teams and empowering them to be leadership and solution oriented. My key takeaway was learning the centrality of trust in building a good team.
Six Sigma Green Belt Training – the tools and concepts that I learned here continue to form the basis of much of what I do. Two of my bigger takeaways were that the most basic tools and techniques are often the most powerful and that making process improvements doesn’t have to be complicated.
Collaborating and Partnering
Teamwork forms the basis of almost everything I do. In my daily work, I collaborate with a talented team made up of members from various lines of City business to operate the Roseville GIS that I oversee. Each year we develop an annual business plan. It’s challenging to find solutions that work across wide ranges of needs, but it’s also very satisfying when we do.
Looking back, a collaboration I particularly enjoyed was working with Geographic Technologies Group to develop a strategic plan for the GIS Program. The result was an innovative and cutting-edge strategic plan, which is described in the case study of the project.
Earlier this year, my team and I built an open data portal to share geographic data and foster collaboration and problem solving in the local community.
While co-chairing the City’s web committee, I had an opportunity to connect my GIS team with the Library’s tech team. The outcome was the Historic Roseville Walking Tour, which won an award for excellence from the Municipal Information System Association of California (MISAC). The effort also won a Pride of Roseville award for team innovation.
Facilitating Change
Initiating and designing change has been the backdrop for much of my work. I’ve begun using this influence model from a McKinsey Quarterly article to guide my efforts at facilitating change adoption.
One of my most demanding change efforts was leading a team that conducted a GIS Program Review. Over an eight month period we held workshops and used Lean Six Sigma processes such as the DMAIC methodology – a data-driven approach for improving processes – to analyze the program and redesign key components.
We also used SIPOC and root cause analyses. Several gate reviews were held to evaluate our progress. One of the key outcomes was a redesigned organizational and decision making structure. My personal lesson learned was how critical strong leadership is during organizational change.
The team won a Pride of Roseville award for their contributions.
Training and Developing Teams
Recently I started an internship program in the Information Technology Department. I also organized a job shadowing day for local high school students. My interest in work-based learning grew out of the City of Roseville’s role as an industry partner with Valley Vision and their work building a talent pipeline and skilled workforce in the information technology fields.
To grow the teams I’m responsible for I’ve developed training curriculum for both hard and soft skills. One of my larger efforts involved my team and I developing a series of baseline competencies using the Geospatial Technology Competency Model developed by the U.S. Department of Labor.
We then developed a skills training program using the baseline competencies. I recently facilitated a series of soft skill classes for 25 team members. Leadership, teamwork, project management, effective meetings, and critical and creative thinking were topics covered in the series.
I’ve also developed and conducted workshops on topics that range from writing project proposals to implementing best practices to developing annual work plans.
Communicating Visually
My work with GIS has provided many opportunities to use my analytical and communication skills and combine them with my love of maps and geography.
Maps communicate. Former NASA astronaut and NOAA Administrator Dr. Kathryn Sullivan calls them “vehicles of exploration and storytelling”. To see for yourself, take a look at some of the interactive maps my team and I have developed to help engage the residents of Roseville.
A map is the greatest of all epic poems. Its lines and colors show the realization of great dreams.
There is both science and art in much of what I do. For a visual thinker like me, visualizing data and processes is the art side of things. I like the challenge of showing things visually:
- Context Diagram – high level view of relationships between stakeholders
- Mind Map – visually organizes relationships in a business process
- Decision Model – visual representation of a business process
- Balanced Scorecard – depicts the relative value of proposed technology projects
Writing and Presenting
Well crafted maps and good technical writing share a lot of the same qualities, and I enjoy crafting words as much as I do maps. Here are a few samples of my writing:
- Internship Program Flyer – flyer for GIS Internship Program
- Location Analytics White Paper – results from a pilot analytics program
- Newsletter Article – short article written to call attention to GIS Day
And here are several examples of presentations I have done:
- Sponsor Presentation – annual update on GIS Program accomplishments. The presentation also won a visual information award from MISAC.
- STEM Presentation – management briefing
- Fitting the Pieces Together – brown bag session
- Rocklin GIS Forum – public GIS forum
If the statistics are boring, then you’ve got the wrong numbers.
Supporting Public Safety
Along with several other teams I support Public Safety technology. I oversee a team that provides mission-critical address information to 911 dispatchers as well as provides services that help dispatchers find the closest resources to an emergency.
I am also a member of the Emergency Management Team and help operate the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). I recently managed a project that upgraded and documented the audiovisual capabilities of the EOC in order to improve communication and information sharing.
These photos are from a recent EOC training exercise that I helped plan and conduct:
Sharing and Giving Back
I serve in several advisory roles:
- Industry partner with the Information & Communication Technologies Advisory Committee for the Greater Sacramento area.
- Member of the GIS Advisory Committee for Sierra College.
- Member of the GIS Advisory Committee for American River College.
American River College has one of the largest GIS certificate programs in the country and has received recognition for excellence in education and achievement.
One of the ways my team and I have shared our passion for all things geographical and visual has been setting up a booth at Downtown Tuesday Nights, a weekly street fair held during the summer months. We displayed maps, hands-on exhibits, and talked about geography with the people that stopped by.
Other outreaches we participate in include the Neighborhood Santa program, for which we provide online access to Santa’s routes and the times he will be visiting various neighborhoods.
Early Work
And finally, for proof that all these things are in my DNA, take a look at my early work below. I was short on artistic skills, but not on passion to draw the world around me…often in the form of maps.
I think when it comes down to it, that’s much of what I attempt to do.
