Monday, December 10, 2012

Rise of the Do It Yourself Culture in Local Government


I observed an interesting work culture trend while interning with the City of Phoenix. More and more people are becoming more self sufficient while performing their job responsibilities. I feel that there has been a paradigm shift from following time consuming procedure steps to improvising and taking ownership of completing a task, especially when it comes to serving the general public.

I was working with my support to process a business development application for making some exterior improvements to an existing building. Part to application process required getting pictures of the exterior façade for historic preservation society approval. The building contractor was supposed to submit the respective pictures along with application packet. I was really impressed by my supervisor who decided to drive to the location and take the pictures himself. It was not his job but he took the initiative so that he could get the application processed faster and provide the best possible service to the customer. The spirit to go the extra mile to serve the public is what drives true innovation and change in local government. I am glad that I got to intern at a place that embraces such a strong public service spirit.

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