Train your team

Bring ICMA’s Micro-Certificate programs directly to your jurisdiction—live online or in person. These comprehensive, skill-building courses align with ICMA’s Practices for Effective Local Government Management and Leadership and feature expert facilitation, peer-to-peer learning, and certificates of completion. Each micro-certificate runs approximately four hours and offers cost-effective delivery: live online for up to 35 participants for $5,000, or in person for up to 50 participants for $5,000 plus travel expenses.

Please place program requests at least 90 days before your event date to ensure ample time for planning and delivery.

Contact us today to bring these high-impact learning experiences to your team.

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Beyond the Horizon: Strategic Scanning for Local Government

In this micro-certificate program participants will learn to enhance their strategic process by exploring the influences that impact their communities and organizations. Participants will learn various approaches and techniques for identifying and analyzing external trends and internal factors that affect their planning and decision making and receive a scanning checklist that will help you engage your staff, elected officials, and stakeholders in your strategic planning process.

Learning Objectives:

Explore emerging trends and challenges shaping local government.
Engage in meaningful discussion about the key factors and influences affecting communities and organizations.
Strengthen participants’ ability to think strategically and consider the broader context when planning for the future.
Develop a practical checklist for conducting a strategic scanning exercise.

About the Presenter

Gordon McIntosh

Gordon McIntosh, PhD, CLG, has 40 years of local government management, educator and consultancy roles. He provides governance, strategic and leadership services and serves as Executive Advisor at CivicExcellence. He has conducted 1,300 workshops involving 140,000 people on a myriad of topics. Gordon received the Professional Award of Excellence and served as President of the BC Local Government Management Association. As Chief Administrative Officer, he worked with a 26-member Council for the 470 Gulf Islands in British Columbia.

Dr. McIntosh’s research focuses on the political/administrative interface and CAO leadership role. Faculty roles include the Uongozi Institute for a Sustainable Africa and Universities of Victoria, Dalhousie, Cape Breton and British Columbia. He has delivered conference presentations and sessions, executive workshops, and customized programs for local, First Nation, Métis, and regional governments as well as municipal associations throughout Canada and overseas, including Palestine, United States, Caribbean, South America, Sri Lanka, Africa, and Philippines. Alumni say his sessions are fast-paced, interactive, humorous, and practical.

Building High Performing Board-Manager Relations

The governing process in this new environment of political division and agendas is challenging. How can public managers be more proactive and less reactive in working with their governing boards? There are a lot of theories on how to work effectively with your governing board, but very few examples of practical tools to make it happen. In this workshop, Bill Stipp, council member from Goodyear, Arizona, president of Leading-Edge Consulting, and senior associate for the Mercer Group Associates; and Mike Letcher, president and CEO of BridgeGroup LLC and senior associate for Mercer Group Associates, will present six tools to help you work more effectively with your governing board. Do these tools work? The answer is yes! We will provide examples from our experiences and clients who are effectively using the tools. In this hands-on, interactive session, participants will learn how these tools work and have opportunities to discuss in small groups how they might be used in their communities.

Learning Objectives:

Create effective strategic plans to guide the priorities of the governing board
Develop a shared governance evaluation system for the board and manager
Develop a collaborative budget development process with the board

About the Presenters

Mike Letcher

Mike Letcher is President and CEO of BridgeGroup LLC and a Senior Associate with Mercer Group Associates (MGA). He brings more than 30 years of executive city management experience, having served communities ranging in population from 6,000 to more than 500,000. A recognized leader in municipal innovation, Mike has received numerous awards and holds certifications from the International City/County Management Association (ICMA) and in Total Quality Management (TQM).Mike specializes in strategic planning, performance measurement, and developing innovative, sustainable solutions that improve human resources, budgeting, finance, and internal government operations—delivering measurable, positive results. He is also a dynamic speaker and trainer with extensive experience presenting at national and state conferences.

In addition to his consulting work with state, federal, tribal, and municipal clients, Mike has served as an instructor in the Executive Leadership Program at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland, for 10 years. He has also worked with graduate public administration programs at the University of Kansas and the University of Vermont and currently serves as an Associate Professor in the University of Arizona’s MPA Program. Throughout his career, Mike has held several senior municipal leadership roles, including City Manager, Deputy City Manager, Budget Director, Finance Director, and Human Resources Director. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from the University of Kansas and has published nationally on improving customer service, strategic policy development, and redefining the relationship among the mayor, council, and city manager.

Bill Stipp

Bill Stipp has over 30 years of top operational and executive governmental experience and currently is in his third term as an elected At-Large Councilmember for a community of over 105,000 in metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona. He is currently on the Board of Directors for the regional public transportation authority to plan, develop and operate regional bus service, a light rail system and alternative transportation programs for the metropolitan Phoenix Region with an annual ridership of over 65 million fares. He has previously served on several national, state, and regional boards including the Board of Directors for the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association and the State of Massachusetts’ Joint Labor-Management Commission mediating municipal contract disputes.

De-Escalation Strategies for Public Employees: Supporting Residents During Conflict, Stress, and Crisis

Join Michael David, director of ICMA's new Civic Learning Lab, in this workshop designed to help local government staff support residents during high-stress situations.

Local government employees are frequently the first point of contact for residents experiencing frustration, confusion, financial hardship, or personal crisis. Whether working at a front desk, conducting outreach in the field, or responding to complaints by phone, staff members without formal training in conflict resolution can find these interactions stressful, unproductive, and sometimes unsafe.

This engaging workshop provides practical, immediately applicable techniques for recognizing behavioral cues of emotional escalation and responding with verbal and non-verbal communication techniques designed to de-escalate. Participants will also learn how to establish critical boundaries when encounters escalate and recognize when it is time to disengage.

About the Presenter

Michael David

Michael David directs the Civic Learning Lab at ICMA, where he helps local government leaders build practical skills for navigating civic tension, leading constructive public engagement, and sustaining effective governance as communities change. He focuses on the real-world challenges that can strain trust, escalate conflict, or weaken civic participation, and on the tools managers can use to respond. Michael brings more than 25 years of experience strengthening community trust and public safety, with a background that spans municipal policing, higher education, and federal service with the U.S. Department of Justice. At DOJ, he worked alongside local government and law enforcement leaders during periods of public unrest, supported organizational assessment and change efforts, and helped shape a national framework for de-escalation and crisis response training.

Facilitating Through Conflict: Leading Difficult Community Conversations Without Promising Consensus

Local government managers and senior staff are increasingly asked to convene special-issue meetings around issues that divide communities—housing, public safety, land use, infrastructure, and other emotionally charged topics. In these moments, tensions can escalate quickly, trust is easily damaged, and leaders are challenged by the dual role of government representative and neutral facilitator.

Facilitating Through Conflict is a four-hour micro-certification that builds practical facilitation skills for appointed local government leaders, including managers, assistant/deputy managers, and senior department heads. The course focuses on helping leaders read the room and identify what's really driving disagreement, design meeting structures that lower the risk of escalation, and guide participants away from entrenched positions toward constructive discussion.

Rather than offering abstract theory or idealized models that promise consensus, the training equips leadership teams with realistic, immediately applicable tools for managing difficult conversation in the public arena. Participants leave better prepared to facilitate high stakes dialogue themselves, equipped to move conversations toward clearer options and next steps even when agreement is unlikely.

Learning Objectives:

Design and structure community dialogue in ways that reduce the risk of escalation.
Intervene effectively during high conflict moments.
Move divisive conversations toward actionable outcomes.

About the Presenter

Michael David

Getting the Plan Off the Shelf: Aligning Strategic Aims with Organizational Capacity (Based on the book, What’s on Base? Priority Setting in Local Government.)

Strategic success depends on the ability to turn vision and goals into meaningful action and measurable results. Local government leaders play a critical role in setting realistic strategic priorities that align with organizational capacity, resources, and community needs.

Learning Objectives:

Ensure realistic priorities that match organizational capacity and budget
Create a strategic priority dashboard to keep everyone on the same page
Get the strategic plan off the shelf and into tangible action plans
Cascade council priorities into operational work programs
Conduct regular check-ins to celebrate progress and make adjustments

About the Presenter

Gordon McIntosh

It Depends! Situational Leadership in Local Government: Leading Up, Down and Across

Local government managers operate at the intersection of the political and administrative realms. To excel, they must strengthen their ability to work effectively with elected officials, oversee operational performance, and foster collaboration across the organization. Together, these dimensions are essential to advancing organizational effectiveness and achieving strategic success.

It’s all about alignment for successful managers in local government - with council (UP), within the workplace (DOWN), and among functions (ACROSS). Organizational and personal success is dependent on your ability to ensure good practices, processes and performance. Sharpen your leadership tool kit with techniques and strategies through ‘real time’ matters facing you and your colleagues. Leave this session ready to make a leadership difference!

Learning Objectives:

Promote a positive workplace culture that supports employee engagement and performance
Facilitate sustainable collaboration across business units and departments
Develop practical strategies to address real-time leadership challenges
Create leadership learning plans for yourself and/or others

About the Presenter

Gordon McIntosh

Leading with Respect: Building Civility Amid Complexity

The complexities of local government can sometimes lead well-intentioned people to engage in unproductive behaviors. Challenging personalities, ineffective practices, and cumbersome processes can frustrate staff contributing to a dysfunctional workplace culture. Successful organizations need proactive strategies that promote respectful leadership, as well as responsive tactics to address incivility when it arises.

Learning Objectives:

Understand and explore how respectful leadership fosters trust, values individual contributions, and promotes a healthier workplace culture
Identify remedial strategies to address interpersonal and workplace incivility
Recognize your personality style, including potential triggers and impact on others
Develop strategies that promote organizational civility and prevent disrespectful behaviors
Explore remedies and codes of conduct that address disrespectful behaviors

About the Presenter

Gordon McIntosh

Public Engagement Skills for Solving Stubborn City Problems

Description: Turn community challenges into measurable progress. In this hands-on training, participants will learn how to use human-centered design and asset-based community development to address complex city issues—including violence, crime, illegal dumping, and blight—by partnering with residents and building on local strengths. Participants will practice a proven, step-by-step approach to identify community assets, including resources, skills, and lived experience; convene the right stakeholders; and move ideas into action. By the end of the training, participants will leave with a drafted, ready-to-refine action plan they can adapt for a priority issue in their community.

Learning Objectives:

Employ informed human centered design in your public engagement strategy.
Implement asset-based community development for meaningful public engagement, including asset mapping and data analytics
Take home a draft plan to address stubborn city problems.

About the Presenter

Tracy Colunga

Tracy Colunga has more than twenty years of experience advancing civic innovation, community engagement, and equitable public-sector solutions through the vision of local leaders and stakeholders. In 2025, she founded Colunga & Associates LLC, a consulting firm specializing in strategic planning, executive coaching, innovation, civic engagement, grant writing, and program implementation for public, nonprofit, and government organizations. Previously, Tracy served as Civic Engagement Practice Director at the Bloomberg Center for Public Innovation at Johns Hopkins University, where she helped expand initiatives such as Cities of Service, Local Infrastructure HUB, and Love Your Block while advancing civic engagement as a core tool for government innovation. She also spent sixteen years in city government, most recently as Chief Innovation Officer for the City of Long Beach, California, where she led high-profile initiatives including the Long Beach Justice Lab, Language Access Policy, cultural center development, violence prevention planning, My Brother’s Keeper, and Airport Customer Experience efforts. A first-generation college graduate and granddaughter of migrant farmworkers, Tracy holds a master’s degree from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana. She has also lectured at California State University at Long Beach School of Social Work and served on the Board of Directors for the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.

Sharpen Your Strategic Leadership Edge: Transforming Local Government Performance

Learn how to strengthen leadership, improve organizational performance, and align strategy with execution in local government using the Budget Options Balancing System (BOBs) . In this dynamic program, Mike Letcher, CPM, ICMA-CM, will help you master six tools designed to move your organization from reactive decision-making to disciplined strategic leadership, redefine job roles, foster transparency, add purpose to meetings, innovate budgeting, and build strong teams.

Key Benefits of BOBs

Creates a structured framework for evaluating major budget choices
Enables early dialogue and expectation-setting with the governing body
Provides clear direction for the City/County Manager when preparing the budget
Encourages long-range financial strategy and recovery planning

Learning Objectives:

Apply the BOBs framework to evaluate and balance revenue and expenditure strategies; and support long-range financial sustainability through structured budget decision-making
Strengthening alignment between governing boards and professional management
Use visual tools to communicate complex financial issues clearly to elected officials and the public

About the Presenter

Mike Letcher

What Does It Take? Collaborating for Results

This session will be a highly interactive opportunity to share ideas with colleagues, learn new techniques, and leave with tools to help you make an immediate leadership difference in your organization. You will develop leadership competencies for personal and organizational success along with performance plans.

Learning Objectives:

Plan for a dynamic learning opportunity to improve inter-municipal and inter-agency cooperation.
Gain a triple ‘A’ rating on collaborative relations through good assessment, analysis, and action
Develop a clear rationale and principles for collaboration agreements.
Use criteria to identify ideal targets for shared services
Explore ways to develop regional strategies

Participants will:

Discuss the benefits and pitfalls of cooperation efforts.
Explore process steps for initiating and sustaining successful collaboration.
Apply techniques to develop shared service and mutual strategies.
Leave with a toolkit to implement a service capacity review.

About the Presenter

Gordon McIntosh