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City CAO George Duncan is Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement

“Good is not good enough!” When Chief Administrative Officer George Duncan greets his staff and asks how they’re doing, he expects an enthusiastic response. Employees soon learn their answer should start at “Excellent!” and work up from there. Anything less will bring a gentle admonishment from the boss: “Good is not good enough!”

It’s one small way for Duncan to remind his staff about the organization’s commitment to its corporate values, which include the unending pursuit of excellence.

Under Duncan’s leadership the City has set the benchmark high. The City has won numerous international and national awards for outstanding management, innovation, leadership, service delivery and livability. It has been named one of the top employers in Canada and Duncan himself received the Award of Excellence from the BC Human Resources Management Association.

Duncan’s proudest achievement has been in creating “a high functioning organization.”  By strongly embracing its vision and mission statement and corporate values and by investing heavily in its people, the City has fulfilled Duncan’s goal of creating a culture of continuous improvement.

“It was because of the culture we created that we were able to go after and win the rights to build the Richmond Olympic Oval,” says Duncan. “It was an incredible leap for any organization to take, but we were able to do it because we had prepared our people to be ready to take on the challenge.”

Despite many challenges and risks associated with the Oval project, the City successfully delivered it on time and on budget and it is now universally recognized as the premier venue of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

“When you have an organization that is truly committed to its vision and values, you have the ability to exceed all expectations,” says Duncan. “Bottom line, we want to ensure our citizens feel like they’re getting good value for their tax dollars and that Richmond is a great place to live and work. Our employees can take a great deal of pride in working to meet that objective.”

“Ultimately, it’s about the legacy we will leave” says Duncan. “We are working to create a better community today, but also a better community for our kids. In 20 or 30 years from now, we want people to look back at what we’ve done and say ‘those guys got it right.’”

Duncan’s career with Richmond is a testament to the power of the City’s corporate values. Originally hired in 1987 in an intermediate position in Facilities Management, by 1997 Duncan was the City’s Chief Administrative Officer.

Duncan’s innovative thinking and ceaseless pursuit of excellence, two key Richmond corporate values, strongly contributed to his quick series of promotions. But his meteoric rise also illustrates how the City treats and develops its employees.

“George has a strong commitment to promoting from within,” says Mike Kirk, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer. “We invest heavily in providing training and other professional development opportunities for staff. We also provide opportunities for employees to develop new skills through internal secondments and participation on corporate teams tasked to manage special projects or help the city fulfil key objectives. These opportunities help us identify and groom new leaders within the organization.”

“George is also a great champion of people. He doesn’t pigeon hole people based on their current job or role within the organization. He looks at their skills and talents and gives them the opportunity to do something completely different.”

Kirk himself went from working with Recreation to being a Social Planner to heading up the City’s Human Resources department. Now as Deputy Chief Administrative Officer, he oversees such areas as Clerks, Customer Service, Human Resources and Information Technology.

“I would have never imagined myself doing some of the jobs I’ve had with the City,” he says. “But George had faith in me and that belief in people has been passed down throughout the organization so that every employee knows they have the same opportunity to succeed and grow.”

Duncan’s leadership style is also highly influenced by his commitment to the City’s corporate values.

“When we have to make tough decisions in senior management, George makes sure that we always consider the corporate values. He wants to be sure we are doing the right thing, rather than just being right.”

In fact, Duncan is so committed to promoting the corporate values, he has been known to give managers snap quizzes on the topic.

“Everyone knows our vision statement and the PELTI values, not just because we can recite them, but because George makes sure we are aware of the values and are practising them every day.,” says Kirk.

© 2012, City of Richmond