March dates for DCHS School-to-Work Transition Resource Fairs
The Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS) is hosting its 12th-annual School-to-Work Transition Resource Fairs for students with disabilities and their families. Sponsored by King County Developmental Disabilities Division, this fair will include workshops for families, educators, and students. Learn about supported employment, community resources, transportation, parks and recreation programs, family advocacy, and housing. Learn more about the fairs here and in the video below.
- Saturday, March 16, from 9 a.m.-3:30 p.m. at Highline College. Register here.
- Wednesday, March 27, from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at Microsoft. Register here.
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Featured Job: Production Operations Infrastructure Manager
Salary: $115,717.06 – $146,678.48 Annually
Location: Seattle, WA
Job Type: Career Service, Full Time, 40 hrs/week
Department: KCIT – Information Technology
Job Number: 2018-08907B
Closing: 3/15/2019 11:59 PM Pacific
This position is responsible for leading the Production Operations Infrastructure section of the King County Information Technology Department. As the leader of this section, this position is responsible for the delivery of Enterprise wide services with a focus on servers (compute), operating systems, hypervisor layer, storage, backup, data center technologies, local and wide area network, wireless services, security tools, structured cabling and infrastructure facilities.
This position is responsible for managing a diverse team of managers, supervisors, and individual contributors, and will work with business, customers, senior leadership, IT Service Delivery managers, cross departmental teams, and highly technical staff to deliver solutions that meet the strategic needs of King County.
Learn more about this position or view all available positions.
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The King County Clerk’s office is one of the most important offices in the county – find out why!
A new podcast from King County Superior Court features King County Clerk Barb Miner who shares why the Clerk’s Office is the most important office you’ve probably never heard of. With 200 employees, reams of critical documents and even bloody knives, it’s where you can find everyone’s story.
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Mentorship Lunch-n-Learn upcoming dates
Would you like to have a mentor, someone who can help you grow professionally? Do you want to strengthen your coaching skills? As a Mentee, you will have a trusted advisor who can help you navigate complex situations, and as a Mentor, you can uncover new or forgotten skills and build influence. If the thought excites you, join King County’s mentoring program by signing up for one of our monthly Lunch-n-Learns to uncover more about mentoring and search for a Mentor!
- Thursday, March 14, noon to 1 p.m., Administration Building. Register here.
- Thursday, April 11, noon to 1 p.m., Administration Building. Register here.
- Thursday, May 2, noon to 1 p.m., Administration Building. Register here.
- Wednesday, June 5, noon to 1 p.m., Administration Building. Register here.
For additional dates throughout the year, search the training calendar for “Mentoring.” For more information about the mentoring program visit www.kingcounty.gov/mentoring.
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2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan Update – Staff Kickoff Lunch and Learn
All staff are invited to learn about King County’s commitment to confront climate change and understand how to contribute to a major update to the County’s Strategic Climate Action Plan (SCAP) that will start in 2019. The SCAP is King County’s five-year blueprint for County action to confront climate change, integrating climate change considerations into all areas of County operations and our work with communities. Based on high demand, we’ve added a final lunch and learn session in March to outline the SCAP update process and share how staff can engage and contribute ideas. RSVP required.
- Tuesday, March 5th, from 12:30-1:30 p.m. in the Chinook Building, 401 5th Avenue, Room 123. Register here.
For questions, contact Matt.Kuharic@kingcounty.gov.
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King County Superior Court welcomes new judge
Pictured: From left, Judge Aimee Sutton and Presiding Judge Jim Rogers.
Judge Aimee Sutton was sworn in Monday at King County Superior Court. Congratulations, Judge Sutton. We look forward to your outstanding work on the bench at the Maleng Regional Justice Center.
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Executive Constantine talks transit with The New York Times
In a recent article, The New York Times highlighted how West Coast cities are leading the way in innovative public transportation, as compared to East Coast cities. It included commentary from transit experts and regional leaders in Los Angeles, New York, and here in King County, featuring King County Executive Dow Constantine.
“Folks are tired of sitting in traffic,” he said. “They’re mindful of the environmental implications of driving.”
Read more in Why the West Coast Is Suddenly Beating the East Coast on Transportation. Image courtesy of The New York Times.
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Executive Constantine announces his plan to renew the King County Parks Levy, connecting regional trails and improving access to parks, green space and recreation
Executive Dow Constantine announced his proposal to renew the current King County Parks Levy, scheduled to expire at the end of the year. His proposal for the August ballot would generate an estimated $738 million over the next six years to expand and connect regional trails, improve access to green space and recreation, and keep the county’s parks and trails clean, safe, and open.
The current King County Parks levy – which voters approved in 2013 – will expire Dec. 31. On Feb. 21, Executive Constantine sent to the King County Council a proposal that will expand and improve access to the county’s 200 parks, 175 miles of regional trails, and 28,000 acres of open space.
“This proposal isn’t just about access to parks and recreation – although that is plenty. It is about a generational investment in our environment,” said Executive Constantine.
Read more in the official press release.
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5 things that make or break an engagement action plan
Four years into a more robust employee engagement effort that is part of Investing In YOU, we have been holding focus groups to figure out how to make our response to survey data more effective in improving engagement. We’ve learned a lot from you about what works and can offer these best practices that have helped boost belief that action will be taken as a result of the survey 11 points since 2015. This is the largest increase countywide on any question and speaks to the trust that is being built in the process. These practices are common among groups that have seen significant increases in areas where their action plans focused.
5 best practices that can make an action plan effective:
- Involve the whole team in a discussion to understand the data and pick an action plan focus. Teams that had successful action plans agree that it makes a difference to involve everyone. First, data is shared with everyone so a common understanding can be established. Then, the team turns to action by agreeing on where to focus their efforts in the coming year, what should be done and who should do what.
- Attend action plan training. Whoever is going to facilitate the conversation and project manage the action plan, often the manager or supervisor, learns a lot about how to have the conversation and drive toward results in the action plan trainings that are offered each year.
- Align with existing work. Successful teams think if ways they can integrate their action plan into their day to day work. An Example is focusing on a set of agreed upon behaviors in day to day interactions as a way to improve respect. Teams that take this to the next level add recognition for consistency or outstanding performance in the chosen focus area.
- Track progress and adjust along the way. Teams that treated their action plans like other work priorities had greater accountability and follow though. Checking in on progress and adjusting along the way helped them have a greater impact.
- Communicate action plan progress and results. Teams agree it’s an important step in building trust to communicate progress on a regular basis and tie activity back to the survey.
5 things that can break an action plan:
- Top down decision making. Several teams tried it this way first time out and agreed it caused staff to disengage and left managers and supervisors solely accountable for outcomes.
- Not creating time and space for the work. Teams that rushed through conversations and didn’t set aside time to regularly check in on conversations did not see as great an impact.
- Losing focus among competing priorities. Teams that saw this as a one-off work item instead of integral to the success of their unit were not able to carve out the time and space needed to follow though.
- Making progress but not communicating it was part of the action plan. Several teams talked about spending a lot of time and effort on their action plan but not communicating the progress and tying it back to the survey. This showed in a lack of improvement in their data despite their solid efforts.
- “Inauthentic” efforts. The words “authentic” and “inauthentic” came up a lot in our discussions. Teams are looking for honesty, transparency and true effort to make improvements.
The King County Employee Engagement Survey has been used to hear from employees about how to make King County a better place to work, and how to provide services more effectively to residents. Based on employee feedback, the survey will be administered in spring of each year instead of fall. This year, the survey period is March 11-29 (March 11-22 for Transit employees).
Learn more about the changes coming to this year’s survey in this blog post and on the King County website at www.kingcounty.gov/employeesurvey.
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Bridge Fellowship empowers employees to achieve career goals and public service
The King County Bridge Fellowship program continues to be a successful opportunity for employees to grow in their career development. The Fellowship is part of Investing In YOU, reinforcing a commitment to provide leadership and development opportunities to all employees.
The program is a valuable opportunity that encourages each employee to explore new possibilities, for themselves and for King County. During the Fellowship, participants engage in classroom learning, group projects, presentations and career development activities, as well as interviews and site visits to explore the County’s agencies and their priorities. It is an experience that each Bridge participant has found personally and professionally rewarding. Here we connect with a current Bridge participant, and a previous Bridge Fellow to hear about their experiences.
Jose Romo Ramirez
Current Bridge participant, Jose Romo Ramirez shares how the Program has impacted him. Jose is a Nutrition Assistant with Public Health – Seattle and King County for the Women Infant Child (WIC) Program.
“I would be naïve to say I am the same person I was 6 months ago before attending the Bridge Fellowship,” he said. “This program has given me the confidence to face challenges that life comes across.”
Jose explains that the growth mindset and coaching model are the tools he has come to find most valuable in helping him further develop in his career with King County. He has been able to apply these skills directly in his work helping women, infants and children receive nutrition and health education services.
“Having more of a growth mindset I have been able to embrace challenges and accept criticism. I am learning to see failure and effort as a path towards mastery,” he said. “I have been able to apply the coaching model taught through Bridge to the families I directly work with in the WIC program.”
“Helping the most vulnerable citizens in our community see themselves as capable and able to achieve their own solutions is the biggest benefit this program can give our communities and county,” he added.
Previous Bridge participants also note how meaningful the program is for personal development, and how it impacts other employees and the overall community.
Lisa Ingraham
“Bridge inspired me to take on new challenges at work, and the classes really gave me confidence to voice my opinions and share my goals with managers,” said Lisa Ingraham, a Program Manager II with the Department of Community and Human Services.
The program helped Lisa develop new skills, and connect with other employees to learn about the County and how to coordinate with one another to provide better customer service.
“The mindset of being more humble and approaching difficult situations from a point of curiosity and wonder have become daily practices for me in work and home life,” she said. “Also I met so many of my peers, and learned of the different jobs they do in the county that I have reached out to them while performing my job to create experiences for the youth I work with.”
Recently promoted to a Special Duty position as Program Manager II – Youth Contracts Monitor, Lisa sees Bridge Fellowship as an amazing opportunity for employees interested in taking the next step in their career.
“I think anyone who is interested in moving up in the county or trying on a different role would benefit from participating in Bridge,” she said.
Jose echoes this sentiment. He is proud to see the impact Bridge has had on his career and life, and thankful King County offers learning opportunities like this one for professional development.
“Joining the Bridge Fellowship has been great for my life. I truly have felt a change in myself to become a better coworker, employee, husband, father and human. Thank you for investing in my life.”
To learn more about the King County Bridge Fellowship program visit www.kingcounty.gov/bridge.
Employee News 