PEOPLE - HEARTS AND MINDS - THE CITY OF MISSISSAUGA, CANADA

The City of Mississauga is located on the western boundary of the Grea ter Toronto Area (GTA) in Ontario, Canada. As a municipality it is und ergoing rapid urban growth, pressure from citizens to keep the taxes d own, political pressure to reorganize the surrounding municipal areas, rapidly changing technology, increasing competition for economic deve lopment and increasing demands for high level services from its citize ns. This article will indicate how, in the face of the challenging dem ands of the '90's, the city is making a significant shift in the 'cult ure' of the organization. The City is moving from a traditional style of management emphasizing control to one that stresses leadership and empowerment of the workforce. It involves changing from a hierarchical bureaucracy to an organization that is more flexible, responsive, inn ovative and creative with a strong customer focus. To meet the demands of this shifting culture there needs to be a highly skilled workforce . There are a number of initiatives in the City to accomplish this 'cu ltural shift'. This article deals with the continuous learning aspect called Capability Development, focusing on Team Effectiveness, Continu ous Improvement and Customer Service. We developed two phases for the learning. Capability Development Phase I outlined the concepts and too ls for managers at all levels to be able to support the learning requi red to accomplish the 'cultural shift'. Phase I included the City Stra tegic Plan, Management Strategy and Human Resources Vision and practic al management tools. Phase II was designed for front line staff workin g in their 'intact teams'. It incorporates the concepts and tools from Phase I and is being delivered by trained volunteer facilitators with in the City. We will discuss the process, the results and learnings we have discovered on our journey.