Running head: TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANGE

Transformative Communication Change

Sean S. Adams
IDSL830
Ferris State University

TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANGE

Need Analysis and Solution for Change

Throughout its history, the City of Dearborn has communicated with citizens
through traditional means; an annual calendar, the bi-annual Back Fence publication,
City of Dearborn Public Television, an internet website, and strategic mailings and flyers
for important notices. The nature of these communications has always been macro in
scope; informing residents about all city information and programing by mailing media
via the United States Postal Service or through public television (Laundroche, 2015).
However, technology has changed the way residents receive their information. The
digital revolution of the 21st century, namely, electronic communication, has become the
primary resource for younger generations of citizens (Bennett, 2013). Citizen
communication and municipal business preferences have been noticeable through
many subtle changes in how citizens interact with the City:

Annual declines in the number of citizens signing up for annual calendar

deliveries and corresponding increases in downloads of digital calendar versions
(Carreras, 2015)

Sustained viewership declines of City of Dearborn Public Television and

increased web traffic to City-produced steaming online publications (Carreras,
2015)

Less citizens paying their bills at City Hall and increases in online transactions for
taxes, dog licenses, building permits, theatre tickets, recreation memberships,
etc. (Feldkamp, 2015)

Annual increases in email registrants for the bi-annual Back Fence publication
(Carreras, 2015)

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Annual increases in Facebook, Twitter, and social media followers of City of

Dearborn accounts (Carreras, 2015)
As citizens have begun to change the ways they prefer to communicate and

conduct business with the City, the cost of traditional communication mediums, primarily
paper-based mailings, have risen annually due to the costs printing, production, and
delivery (Laundroche, 2015) (United States Postal Service, 2014). At the same time, in
large part to the economic depression of the late 2000s, assessed valuations of
residential and commercial properties have fallen dramatically; leading to significantly
lower property tax revenue to fund general municipal operations. Currently, the City of
Dearborn is capturing 26% less property tax revenue than it collected in the fiscal year
2008. As a result of reduced property tax captures, the City of Dearborn has shed over
40% of non-public safety full-time municipal employees in the past six years as well as
cutting or reducing several City programs (City of Dearborn, 2013). Citizen preferences
toward digital communication and web-based municipal business, the rising cost of
traditional communication mediums, and stressed budgets has provided an opportunity
for the City to transform the communicative relationship it has with Dearborn citizens.
The City has recognized the need for digital communication by establishing a
municipal website, creating social media accounts, providing content for download, and
moving some business services online. Most recently, a text message based public
safety communication system was established to provide information on breaking police
news to residents via their mobile phone.
The City must provide a communication mechanism that will simultaneously
decrease the cost of media production and delivery while catering to citizen preference

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toward digital communication. Ways in which the City can transform its communicative
relationship with citizens include:
Option One
The City can discontinue printed publications and rely solely on the Citys website,
email, social media, and online video streaming to share information. This option will
focus resources on digital content and delivery while eliminating costly production of
traditional media. Citizens will be forced to find information online and those without a
computer, tablet, e-reader, or smart phone will be unable to access any City developed
media. The historical context for this change will be difficult to overcome as the City has
always provided a print option for all publications. This option would represent a drastic
change in communication and will likely be met with fierce political resistance.
Option Two
The City can continue producing and delivering printed publications and make all
content available for download on web-enabled devices. This option will provide the
option for citizens to receive information through traditional means or online. However,
this option does not address the issue of costly traditional media publication or delivery;
currently or in the future. This option will provide for the least amount of communicative
change and political resistance, but does not provide cost control for production and
delivery of traditional media.
Option Three
The City can require residents to sign up for (specifically request) delivery of traditional
printed publications, make all content available online, and collect digital contact

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information (email addresses, cell phone numbers) of citizens and email them electronic
content. This option will reduce the costs associated with traditional publications,
provide electronic content (website, social media) and provide a comprehensive
database of citizen contact information for mass electronic communications via email.
Requiring citizens to request delivery of traditional printed publications will be met with
some resistance as citizens have never been required to do so in the past. However,
providing all content available for electronic download and emailing residents City news
and information directly to their inbox will likely be received warmly by increasingly
technology-reliant population. This option is likely to reduce the cost of traditional media
production and delivery, but may also reduce the number citizens receiving information
due to lack of sign-ups for traditional delivery or direct emailing of media. Another issue
when considering this option is hardware/software costs of collecting and storing citizen
digital contact information. This option will be met with some political opposition as it
may detract from the number of citizens receiving information and will necessitate
investment in hardware/software. However, this option will also likely gain some
political support as it is an option that can begin to control the costs associated with
delivering traditional media while catering to a younger, more technologically oriented
population.
Proposed Solution Option Three
Utilizing electronic communication is the most cost effective solution to
transforming the nature of municipal communication with residents. Emails and text
messages require little more than internet bandwidth, email addresses/phone numbers,
and staff to create and input messages for electronic distribution. Targeted messages

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such as road closures, construction activities, ordinance enforcement initiatives, public

safety notices, public events at nearby local facilities, and other neighborhood based
information could be transmitted to target audiences. Through generational changes
and an increased reliance on technology to communicate, the long-term benefits to
reduced traditional media costs and enhanced direct digital communication provides the
best opportunity for transformative communicative change.
The starting point for changing the communicative relationship with Dearborn
citizens is to begin collecting contact information and communication preferences into a
centralized system at all points of public contact. This centralized electronic contact/
communication preference system will be deployed at all city facilities and city
personnel can be instructed to ask for digital contact information and communication
preferences when interacting with the public. Examples of functions in which the
communication information/preferences information could be collected include:

When citizens apply for a residential Certificate of Occupancy to occupy a

residential home

When businesses apply for a commercial Certificate of Occupancy to conduct

business in Dearborn

When citizens apply for permits for construction work at their properties

When citizens pay their taxes and water bills

When citizens phone in ordinance related complaints to the City

City Clerk records such as applications for birth certificates, businesses licenses,
animal registrations, garage sales, etc.

Assessor records when citizens purchase or transfer property

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When public safety personnel respond to non-life threatening calls

When youth and adults register for public recreation activities

Organizational Culture
The organization of the City itself, broken into many separate departments, all
performing unique functions, is a visible artifact of a diverse organizational culture. The
Dearborn Police Department, Fire Department, Recreation, Public Works, Residential
Services, City Clerk, Treasury/Finance, Economic & Community Development, and
Housing are all representative of unique subcultures and functions that represent the
City as a whole. Each unique department, all artifacts, each have different strategies,
goals, philosophies, and espoused values.
The differences in espoused values of individual departments however are all
linked under the basic underlying assumption shared by all municipal employees; all
employees perform public services for greater good of the City. Although municipal
employees are often short-sighted in their role within the municipality and are often
influenced by the unique nature of their individual functions and espoused values within
their respective department, the unconscious underlying assumption of citizen service
are the operational roots of our civic government. It is this interlaying foundation; that all
employees of the City perform public services for the greater good of the City, which
can be used as a catalyst for transformative change.
The influence of the espoused values visible in each individual department will be
a major obstacle inhibiting change. Each department is broken into unique divisions of
specialization that form unique subcultures. For instance, the Residential Services

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Department is broken into two divisions: the Neighborhood Services/Sanitation Division

and the Occupancy/Housing Division, each forming a subculture within the department.
Each division is managed by an independent team with specialized staff. Divisional
structure and management within each department thereby represents a further micro
culture of beliefs and values unique to the division and staff. The delineation of
departments, divisions, and operational work teams, all are artifacts that represent
different values and micro cultural norms rooted in providing public service for the
greater good of the community. The differences between these classifications and sub
classifications of organizational structure will be another potential barrier for change.
The cultural tolerance to change within the organization is mixed. Some
departments embrace change and seek to develop new systems and technologies to
provide more efficient and effective services, while other departments largely resist any
form of change. Resistance to adding more work without direct tangible benefits
which support the need change is shared by all departments. In order for change to be
successful, the rationale for change must be clearly communicated, feedback from
internal stakeholders solicited, and tangible benefits which support the need for change
identified; justifying and reinforcing participation.
Support for transformative change must come in the form of coalition building
amongst departmental and inter-departmental leadership. Leaders within and across
departments must educate and demonstrate how change will benefit the City and each
department as a whole. Part of the education and coalition building process should
include detailed ways in which the change will make communication easier and more
direct, but also inform management and administrative leadership on how to provide

TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANGE

more efficient and effective services to citizens. Without education and coalition
building within and across departments, resistance to change is likely to derail the
success of this change initiative as participation will be inconsistent between
departments and information may not be gathered at key points of citizen contact as
anticipated.
Kotters Eight Steps to Change Model
Kotters Eight Steps to Change Model can be readily applied to this change
initiative as places significant emphasis on coalition building, communication, and
feedback. The first step of the Kotter Model is to create a sense of urgency. According
to Kotter, organizations should craft and use significant opportunity as a means for
exciting people to sign up to change their organization (Kotter International, 2015). As
applied to a transformation change to support digital communication, the need to reduce
costs and increase electronic communication delivery will be used by the City to create
an impetus for transformative communicative change. The second step of the Kotter
Model is to build a coalition to support and empower change. As the City of Dearborn is
comprised of many unique departments each performing specific public services, the
City must assemble a strong group of departmental leaders, guided by the elected
administration. The Kotter Model advocates for assembling a group with the power and
energy to lead and support a collaborative change effort (Kotter International, 2015).
Transformative change requires change leaders at the head of departments to become
the embodiment of change. Departmental leaders will be relied upon to work with each
other in guiding and inspiring departmental/division management in managing functional
and cultural change of employees.

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Forming a strategic vision and initiatives to support and lead change will be a
function of the leadership coalition. As step three of the Kotter Model prescribes, the
leadership coalition must shape a vision and steer the change effort and develop
strategic initiatives to achieve the transformative change vision (Kotter International,
2015). Enlisting support of departmental/divisional management to operationalize and
manage change is the fourth step of the Kotter Model. The Kotter Model explicitly calls
for raising a large force of people who are ready willing, and urgent to drive change
(Kotter International, 2015). As the managers of change, departmental/divisional
management must assist the leadership coalition in enabling action by removing
obstacles to change. The fifth Step of the Kotter Model cites the need for change
leaders and managers to remove obstacles to change, change systems, or structures
that pose threats to the transformative change vision (Kotter International, 2015). As
technical and operational experts, the departmental/divisional managers must reinforce
the need for change to operational staff and enlist them through communication and
education in identifying barriers to change that can be presented to change leaders as
potential threats. Working together, change managers and operational employees can
begin to develop operational plans for supporting change fully aware of, and potentially
mitigating, identifiable barriers to success.
Through collaboration, change leaders and operational employees will identify
and present short-terms that can be used by change leaders to track and celebrate
accomplishments to continuously build support for change. As the sixth step of the
Kotter Model, change managers and operational employees should constantly produce,
track, evaluate, and celebrate volumes of small and large accomplishments and

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correlate them to results (Kotter International, 2015). Short-term accomplishments and

tangible benefits to change are important in motivating and sustaining efforts of
employees that may be or may not be resistant to change. The final step of is sustained
acceleration. The Kotter Model calls for organizations to use increasing credibility to
change systems, structures, and policies that dont align with the vision; hiring,
promoting, and developing employees who can implement the vision; reinvigorate the
process with new projects, themes, and volunteers (Kotter International, 2015). As
applied to the Citys transformative change initiative, the City must continue to build
upon small victories and support the change initiative until the change produces a
change in culture. When the culture melds around transformative communicative
change, the organization can begin to reimagine employee roles, qualifications, and
hiring process to support adding employees that are receptive to technological data
collection and strategic email based communication.
The necessity for every department to collect data from citizens into a centralized
data management system will influence employee behavior as departments will all be
collecting and sharing information in a collaborative manner. City employees with direct
citizen contact will be required to ask for media delivery preferences, changing the
nature of the communicative relationship with the public. As City employees ask and
receive contact preference information, they will be directed to educate residents on the
benefits of electronic communication that is easy to access via email or text messaging.
Reinforcing the underlying assumption of superior service to the public, citizen
perception of City employees as being helpful and information-based representatives of
the City will be an associated benefit of the change initiative.

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Vision for the Outcome of Successful Change Implementation

Changing the nature of the City of Dearborns communicative relationship from a
traditional, hard-copy communication system to a digital-based system will allow the
City to communicate on-demand to citizens. Unfortunately, there is little coordinated
citizen digital contact information. The Department of Public information collects email
addresses of citizens seeking e-newsletters, but this information is not correlated with a
name, address, phone number, or street address to support a broad digital
communication initiative. Likewise, the Police Department collects cell phone number to
send text message updates to citizens for crime and public safety updates, but like the
Department of Public Information, there is no correlation with a name, email address, or
street address. As a result of this change, departments across the City with any citizen
contact will collect digital communication information from citizens including:

Name

Street address

Cell phone number

Email address

Citizen communication preferences and contact information will be collected and

placed into a centralized database managed by the Department of Public information
who will, in turn, provide comprehensive digital contact information of citizens for
departments to communicate digitally with the public; greatly reducing the need for
hard-copy mailings while allowing individual departments to provide micro, targeted
content to citizens. As digital communication is anticipated to be far less expensive

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13

than hard-copy mailings, it is expected that the City will not only provide more specific,
targeted information to citizens, but it will also increase the amount of communication
that takes place between the City and citizens as a whole.
The transformation change project will be called the Dearborn Electronic
Communication Initiative; abbreviated DECI.
Strategic Alignment with Institutional Goals and Priorities
The City of Dearborns mission is to provide superior public service every day, in
everything we do (City of Dearborn Department of Public Information, 2015). The
values of this change initiative are rooted in the Citys mission of providing superior
public service. Providing citizens with a choice to receive municipal information in a
preferred format is a public service that all departments can value and utilize
strategically. Collaborative collection of electronic contact information between
departments resulting in the ability to communicate more effectively to citizens is an
endeavor that will build support for the initiative while simultaneously boosting
collaboration between departments. There are multiple priorities/objectives of this
initiative:

Shifting the communicative relationship with citizens from hard-copy based to

digital-based

Emphasizing the shift to digital content creation and communication across the
City

Collecting accurate electronic communication data from citizens

Compiling, sorting, and storing citizen electronic communication data in a

centralized database

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Providing targeted electronic communication information to departments based

on communication needs
Implementation Plan

Priority/Objective
Shifting the communicative relationship with citizens from hard-copy based to digitalbased.
Timeline: Immediate
Strategies

Launch a comprehensive media campaign internally (City Department of

Information based-productions) and externally (Local news, internet advertising)
to inform the public of change benefits

Combine all current digital based communication data into a singular database to
serve as a springboard

Develop an incentive program for citizens to voluntary provide information

through e-registration

Priority/Objective
Emphasize the shift to digital content creation and communication across City
departments.
Timeline: 1 month
Strategies

Establish a coalition of stakeholders internally to lead change

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o Identify key departmental and divisional advocates to act as change

leaders

Provide training for departments on digital media design, development, and best
practices

Ask departments to save all documents as rich text (RTF) and Adobe PDF files
so they can be easily converted in a universal format for reading

Establish Citywide data base for digital contact record keeping

o Develop a deployable software package that all departments can use to
collect and sync data automatically

Provide training, access, and technical support for departments on

software

Priority/Objective
Collect accurate electronic communication data informing citizens who prefer electronic
communication.
Timeline: Upon implementation of software package and training (1-2 months)
Strategies

Provide e-registration option with multiple language options

Provide tablets to field-based employees to collect information

Provide tablets at kiosks for citizens to input communication information directly

at points of contact in civic facilities with multiple language options

Personally or electronically ask citizens to double-check data entered for

accuracy and validity

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Priority/Objective
Compile, sort, and store citizen electronic communication data in a centralized
database.
Timeline: Upon implementation of software package and training (1-2 months)
Strategies

Assign a Department of Public Information employee to sync data nightly via a

software package from e-registration and in-person data collection (from
personal contacts and public facilities)
o Review and double-check all information has been collected and valid,
o Reformat any data into a standard database format (example below)

NAME (FIRST)

NAME (LAST)

ADDRESS

PHONE

EMAIL

Sean

Adams

23240 Beech

616 902 9089

mr.sean.adams@gmail.com

Priority/Objective
Provide targeted electronic contact information to departments based on communication
needs.
Timeline: As data becomes available (appx. 2 months and through continuous
updates to database)
Strategies

Prior to any communications to the public, require departments to consult the

Public Information Department
o Is this communication city-wide?

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Trash delays

Public building closures

17

o Is this communication to specific neighborhoods?

Public service day reminders

Localized construction projects

o Is the communication to individuals with specific needs/interests?

Late water bills

Notice of Violation for property maintenances

Project milestones will come in many ways. Initially, the first milestone will be
establishing the coalition for change and identifying change leaders within each
department and division. The next milestone will be the media campaign informing the
public of the change and the associated benefits. Developing means for capturing data
through a software package, acquisition of hardware to support the change, training on
hardware/software use, and installation and points of contact will be other milestones.
Identifiable early success of the program will be measured not only by the
number of registrants in the database, but also reduced mailing costs, the number of
communications departments sent, and any positive effects of the change such as
voluntary compliance with ordinance violations, suspicious activity resolutions, and
fewer cars parked in the street on public service days. Each department will be tasked
with developing their own success stories to reinforce interdepartmental change.
The City will face a key decision point based on whether or not to discontinue or
limit hard-copy media in the future based on citizen preference and the amount of
contact information collected. This information can also be used by coalition leaders

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and departmental advocates on whether or not the project in on or off track. The
amount of contact information collected as a whole as well as the amount collected by
each department will inform the City whether this initiative should be re-examined and
altered and whether or not individual departments are participating in data collection
and e-communication. If departments and divisions are provided the hardware/software
training and employee participation in data gathering is low, this would be a potential
indicator that the change initiative is off-track. If departments embrace the change and
the number of citizens choosing to receive electronic communication is low, it could
likewise inform that the change initiative is off-track. The leadership coalition should
review the project monthly to assess progress indicators and the overall effectiveness of
the change initiative.
Resources Needed for Implementation and Sustainability
Investment of time from coalition leaders is the starting point for the change
initiative. Once the coalition has been established and a vision for the change initiative
solidified, time of middle management, who will lead the programs within the
departments and divisions, will become important. As field-level change leaders, the
middle management team will be responsible for conveying the importance of the
change initiative, technical aspects of how data will be collected (systems), and how the
availability of electronic contact information will aid the division, department, and City as
a whole. Individuals within the respective divisions and departments in close contact
with the public will require training on the electronic data collection software and
hardware systems. The Management Information Department (MIS) will be responsible
for general technical support, software development, hardware installation, and

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additional training on practical use. It is envisioned that the software program will be a
simple application that allows users to input information via a virtual keyboard on a
tablet device. Tablets, stands, and protective covers will be required for data gathering.
Considering the scope of the project, an estimated 110 tablets will be required with
internet access to connect and sync with City data management systems. Once in
place, the Department of Public Information will serve as a resource to City departments
and divisions that communicate with the public using electronic methods. When not in
use, tablets will be required to be locked in secured desks or other areas within each
department.
The departments and divisions that will be primarily involved with this change will
be those in direct citizen contact. Below is a breakdown of the departments/divisions
and the number of tablets required:
DEPARTMENT
Police Department
Police Department
Fire Department
Fire Department
Recreation
Recreation
Recreation
19th District Court
Libraries
Dearborn City Hall
Dearborn City Hall
Residential Services
Residential Services
Economic & Community
Development
Public Information
Engineering
City Council

DIVISION / AREA
Neighborhood Patrol Division
Community Services Division/Internal
Rescue Vehicles
Fire Marshal Bureau
DISC Center
Season/Parks
Art Gallery/Theatre/Rental Suites
Main Lobby
Check-Out Desks
Finance Payment Windows
Welcome Center
Neighborhood Services/Sanitation
(Inspectors)
Building Division (Inspectors)
Building Division (Inspectors)
All
Inspectors
Council Office and Public Meetings

TABLETS
12
6
10
3
4
10
1
3
6
4
3
20
10
6
4
6
2

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The departments and divisions involved in this initiative will be those in direct
contact with citizens; at City facilities or in the community. Goals of field-level
employees will be to collect electronic contact information from citizens on the mobile
device and also demonstrate the electronic content and services offered by the City in
addition to established job duties. A limited number of devices will be available at
municipal buildings for data collection. A reduced number of devices requiring mobile
data plans are reflected as such. The estimated monetary investment of hardware,
software, internet connectivity, and related accessories is shown below:
DESCRIPTION
Samsung Galaxy Tablets
Galaxy Tablet Cases
Galaxy Bullet-Proof Extended Warranty
Tablet Stands (freestanding)
Software Program

NUMBER
110
110
110
35

PRICE
$ 450.00
$ 50.00
$ 100.00
$ 225.00
$ 750.00
Up-Front Hardware Cost

COST
$49,500.00
$ 5,500.00
$11,000.00
$ 7,875.00
$ 750.00
$74,625.00

DESCRIPTION
Unlimited Mobile Data Plans for Tablets

NUMBER
PRICE/MO
87 $ 50.00
Monthly Data Cost

MO COST
$ 4,350.00
$ 4,350.00

Funding this initiative will come from the Technology Committees Capital
Improvement Budget. Annually, the Technology Committee prioritizes and establishes
recommendations to the Administration for technological investments. Once approved
by the Technology Committee, a recommendation from the Mayors Office is required
prior to final consideration and consent by the City Council. Currently, the Technology
Committee has a balance of $225,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015
(Feldkamp, 2015). The cost of mobile data will be charged to each department and is
presently unbudgeted. An approval from the City Council to allocate additional funding

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for each department for mobile data must be sought and approved. A breakdown of
anticipated unfunded mobile data costs are below:
DEPARTMENT

DIVISION / AREA

TABLETS

DATA #

Police Department

Neighborhood Patrol Division

Community Services
Division/Internal
Rescue Vehicles
Fire Marshal Bureau
DISC Center
Season/Parks
Art Gallery/Theatre/Rental
Suites
Main Lobby
Check-Out Desks
Finance Payment Windows
Welcome Center
Neighborhood
Services/Sanitation
(Inspectors)

12

12

10
3
4
10

Building Division (Inspectors)

10

10

Building Division (Inspectors)

All
Inspectors
Council Office and Public
Meetings

4
6

4
6

Police Department
Fire Department
Fire Department
Recreation
Recreation
Recreation
19th District Court
Libraries
Dearborn City Hall
Dearborn City Hall
Residential
Services
Residential
Services
Economic &
Community
Development
Public Information
Engineering
City Council

DATA COST

MO COST

50.00

600.00

10
3

$
$
$

50.00
50.00
50.00

10

50.00

$
$
$
$
$

300.00
500.00
150.00
500.00

$
$
$
$
$

1
3
6
4
3
20

20
$

50.00

$ 1,000.00

50.00

500.00

$
$
$

50.00
50.00
50.00

$
$
$

300.00
200.00
300.00

Multiple methods will be used to overcome internal change resistance to the

initiative. Providing a state of the art technology with mobile data for field personnel will
be viewed favorable and marketed as a tool to not only collect data but make their job
easier with city email, picture taking functions, connectivity to city databases, internet
browsing, etc. In the past, municipal employees have always new technology (smart
phones deployed in 2013) favorably. Departments will be encouraged to be creative
and collaborate with the MIS in developing or purchasing software packages that will
enhance having a tablet in the field. Such programs could include code enforcement

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property history applications, fillable forms, engineering reports, and documents that
can be filled in and printed wirelessly to citizens.
Communication Plan
The need for change to reduce costs and provide a technology savvy
population with City news in a format that is efficient, cost effective, and a preferred
communication medium (digital) will be the strategy for engaging in dialog with key
audiences in support of the change. The first part of the communication plan will be to
discuss how the City presently communicates and the challenges associated with such;
namely cost, efficiency, and audience preference. Following the introduction, a
demonstration on how data can be collected and used to inform communication and
management decisions will presented. Finally, how municipal employees will support
and benefit from this change initiative will be unveiled.
Communicating the need and plan for change will happen personally and
digitally. Presentations by coalition leaders will be given to internal constituencies who
will be responsible for funding, implementing, and executing the change. Department
managers will personally communicate the change through presentations to divisional
staff in a similar fashion. A video produced by City of Dearborn Television (CDTV) will
be aired both via cable and on the Citys website informing citizens on the importance
and newfound convenience of the digital communication initiative and locales where
citizens can register. The video produced by CDTV will be revised with highlights
quarterly on the success of the program for citizens and internal constituents alike.

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The effectiveness of the communication will be measured by feedback and

commitments of internal constituents (Tech Committee, Administration, and City
Council) and personnel that will be implementing the change. Early questions and
possible resistance, especially in regard to additional monthly data fees, is expected
and must be presented as a means to expand service to residents through a more costeffective and preferred communication medium.
Evaluation
Progress toward the change goal will be measured by the number of citizens who
voluntarily register their digital contact information or provide contact information to fieldbased municipal employees. Internally, progress toward the change goal will be
measured by the number of digital communications utilized as a result of the contact
information. Performance metrics in the form of data collected and communicative
messages send will be primary importance. Monthly data will allow change leaders to
spot trends, ebbs and flows of data collection, and digital media usage. Based on
performance reporting, changes can be easily implemented throughout the course of
the program.

Employees can be rewarded for collecting the most citizen digital contact

information. Progress will be celebrated the video shorts on CDTV, intranet, and
online. The City of Dearborn will know it succeeded when citizens willingly and readily
come to rely on digital information as the primary source for City of Dearborn
information.

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Transformative Leadership
Leadership of this change initiative will rely heavily on creating a sense of
urgency and positive reinforcement. A real sense of urgency is a highly positive and
highly focused force (Kotter, 2008, p. 8). Municipal employees, sharing the underlying
belief that that their role is fulfill the Citys mission in providing superior publics service
every day, in everything they do, must understand that the need to effectively
communicate with residents is truly an urgent issue effecting the organization. True
urgency is rooted in leadership; people not only at the top but up and down the
hierarchy who create urgency and re-create it when needed (Kotter, 2008, p. 10). In
order to establish and reinforce a sense of urgency, the leadership coalition will need
the buy-in of not only the change managers in departmental/divisional management
positions responsible for leading interdepartmental change, but field-level employees
that will be responsible for executing change through citizen contact. The leadership
coalition must identify the Citys critical communication issues and form
interdepartmental change management teams that are strong enough and feel enough
commitment to guide ambitious change, even though some team members may be
overworked or suffer from change resistance (Kotter, 2008, p. 14). Employee
motivation and resistance to change will be mixed across departments and functions.
Change leaders must lead this effort through an over-arching need for change, but also
through micro, department specific reasons why transformative communicative change
is important.
Supporting the urgency for change requires positive reinforcement. Once the
need for change is established and affirmed city-wide, identifiable and measurable

TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANGE

25

short-term wins associated with change must be reinforced. The leadership coalition
must work with individual departments in identifying visible, unambiguous short-term
wins that will silence critics and disarm cynics (Kotter, 2008, p. 15). Short-terms wins
should be established around creating user value (municipal employees), recipient
value (citizen), and organizational values (City).
User values that will be developed into short-term wins include making work
quicker, easier, or reducing workplace complexity that improves the working experience
(Murphy, Emma, 2015). An example of a user value short-term win is accessibility to
web-based applications that make municipal functions more efficient or effective.
Recipient value short-term wins improve the life of the process recipient (Murphy,
Emma, 2015). Receiving municipal communication in a preferred format through
traditional or email publications can be considered a user value short-term win.
Coalition leaders must continuously update and reinforce the efforts of the change
initiative with municipal employees by sharing the numbers of citizen sharing their
communication preferences; reinforcing the efforts of operational staff in collecting data.
Organizational value short-terms wins improve the utility rate of organizational
resources, affords savings in money and time, and allows the organization to improve
customer service (Murphy, Emma, 2015). Establishing short-term wins that support
organizational value includes the number of media messages sent digitally, reductions
in media production and delivery costs, and new forms of technology that have been
implemented to support enhanced digital communication. Reinforcing the urgency for
change with tangible benefits derived as a result of the change initiative will positively
reinforce and stimulate organizational change and culture. As municipal employees

TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANGE

26

may be resistance to change, it is imperative that the benefits of change positively

reinforce a change in activities and culture.
Change leaders must continuously support this change initiative through
reinforcement of the change vision. The change vision should continuously remind
employees why the change is taking and the importance of change to the organization.
Reinforcement of the change vision through success stories and positive outcomes will
reinforce employee behavior and acceptance of change. The leadership coalition must
use communication and the pursuit of the change vision to maintain employee focus,
momentum, and confidence in change. Short-term wins should be communicated on an
interdepartmental and city-wide level that highlights benefits to the employees, citizens,
and organization.
As a transformative leader, my greatest strength is vision. In my career as a
municipal employee, I have been exposed to field-level work, middle-level management,
and executive-level long range planning and visioning (on a departmental level). The
ability to view the organization from multiple perspectives through active engagement in
multiple levels of organizational activities has enabled me to view the organization from
multiple perspectives. Many municipal leaders have never been operational or middlelevel managers and lack perspective on the day-to-day challenges associated with
providing municipal services in a diverse environment. This perspective allows me to
empathize, understand, and view issues facing the municipal from a unique perspective.
However, I lack executive level leadership experience. Although I have participated in
department-level long-term planning and visioning, I do not have experience leading
municipal mission, visioning, and planning effort as an executive municipal leader. In

TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANGE

27

our organization, this responsibility is primarily reserved for elected officials and
appointed department heads. As these opportunities have yet to be afforded to me in
my current role, I seek to hone these skills through engagement in such activities with a
local non-profit for which I am a member of the Board of Directors. Annually, volunteers
for an executive committee which reviews the vision, mission, and long-term goals of
the organization are solicited. Volunteering for this an executive committee position
would provide me with an opportunity to learn from seasoned leaders the duties and
role of executive leadership.
My first goal in developing as a leader is to volunteer for executive leadership
opportunities within my local non-profit organization. The annual Board of Directors
meeting takes place the first Friday in March and I plan to volunteer at that time. My
next goal is to seek an appointment as a municipal representative on one the newlyformed Warren Avenue and/or Dix/Vernor Corridor Authority Boards. These boards
were established to act in pseudo Downtown Development Authority function to provide
executive leadership and planning for downtown infrastructure and economic
redevelopment. An opportunity to serve on either of these municipal boards will
leverage my visionary strength and provide much needed executive leadership
experience that will undoubtedly aid my growth as transformative leader.

TRANSFORMATIVE COMMUNICATION CHANGE

28

References
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Carreras, J. (2015, February 23). City of Dearborn Digital Communication Interview.
City of Dearborn. (2013). City of Dearborn Annual Budget for the Year Ending June 30,
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City of Dearborn Department of Public Information. (2015). City of Dearborn. Retrieved
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Kotter International. (2015). Kotters 8-Sep Process for Leading Change. Retrieved
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Kotter, J. P. (2008). A Sense of Urgency. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Press.
Laundroche, M. (2015, February 24). City of Dearborn Public Information History.
Murphy, Emma. (2015). How To Implement Short-Term Wins. Retrieved February 25,
2015, from https://www.thechangesource.com/how-to-implement-short-termwins-to-increase-engagement/
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