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May 2003 · Volume 85 · Number 4

Meeting Today’s Challenges:
Competencies for the Contemporary Local
Government Professional

This is part 2 of our “Contemporary Challenges in Local
Government” series.
Part 1 was published in the December 2002 PM
Magazine.[1]

John and Carol Nalbandian

In a previous article, we outlined two contemporary trends—community building and
modernizing of the organization—that affect the work of local government professionals. In that
article, we also identified some approaches to dealing effectively with the problems of these
trends. In this follow-up article, we propose some competencies that contemporary local
government managers will need in order to meet their responsibilities and roles in this new world
successfully.

Before we proceed, let’s briefly review these trends, which have been derived from recent
research, including an international database assembled after examining innovative and
democratic local governments:[2]

 Community building, this is, helping to build and maintain a sense of community and the
value of public life. This is today’s external focus for the local government professional.
This trend reinforces the axiom that organizations are continually interacting and
adapting in the light of environmental changes. Today, a greater emphasis is being placed
on citizen engagement that goes beyond the required hearings and public comment at
formal meetings. It challenges traditional orientations on service delivery and regulatory
responsibilities to fit into a community paradigm.[3]