Training can generally be placed into two categories: job specific or staff development.
Job Specific
City governments rely on highly skilled staff to deliver vital daily services to their communities. By providing the right mix of job-specific employee training and leadership education, municipalities can increase public service quality, reduce legal risks, and build strong, capable teams for the future.
The main categories of training for all employees include onboarding, compliance, technical skills, safety, and soft skills. The main categories for supervisors are performance management, human capital management, labor relations, and strategic leadership.
Categories of Training for all Employees:
- Onboarding: Helps new hires learn about the organization’s goals, workplace culture, and day-to-day job expectations.
- Compliance: Ensures staff follows federal, state, and local laws. In government, this includes, but is not limited to, Federal programs like the ADA, FMLA, USERRA, and State laws such as public records access and election laws.
- Technical Skills: Teaches staff on a wide range of job-specific categories including, but not limited to, data systems and software, specialized medical equipment, heavy machinery, basic office equipment, and a whole host of other systems or equipment used by employees.
- Safety: All employees should attend annual general safety training and those in safety-sensitive positions should attend regularly scheduled safety training throughout the year.
- Soft Skills: Builds interpersonal skills like communication, active listening, and conflict resolution to better serve the public.
Categories of Supervisory Training:
- Performance Management: Teaches supervisors how to set clear goals, conduct fair employee reviews, and provide helpful feedback.
- Human Capital Management: Covers the practical rules of hiring, promoting, and maintaining a workforce.
- Conflict Resolution: Learning how to manage tense situations and stop arguments early.
- Labor Relations: Focuses on following union contracts, managing grievances, and conducting disciplinary actions.
- Strategic Leadership: Prepares leaders for critical career transitions and teaches them how to build teamwork, motivate staff, and manage organizational change.
Staff Development
Training is offered for numerous municipal positions by professional organizations, colleges and universities, companies and statewide associations such as the Iowa League of Cities. Allowing employees to attend job specific trainings can result in increased efficiencies, innovation and motivation; while reducing employee turnover. Training also allows employees who do similar jobs to meet and share ideas; these connections provide employees with additional resources for when new or difficult problems are confronted. The Iowa League of Cities provides information on trainings of interest to city officials on our Workshops and Events web page; this includes trainings offered by the League directly, partnering organizations and outside groups. Information on known trainings is also periodically included in our League Weekly publication that is e-mailed out to city officials each Tuesday.
