Wednesday September 19, RCFC hosted Fort Collins City Manager, Darin Atteberry to discuss the City's recent Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and what it means for residents. Atteberry started by taking about the change to focus on "budgeting for outcomes", using community safety as an example. While the data can show how safe city residents actually are, the necessary outcome must be "how safe do you feel"?
Atteberry spoke of his personal journey after hearing a speaker challenge "What's the one thing you believe that on one else believes. That is your opportunity." Atteberry's belief is that government at all levels, can be great and he is working to prove it at the city level. As part of the Malcolm Baldridge process, the city developed the vision "to provide world-class municipal service through operational excellence and a culture of innovation", and carefully chose benchmarks against the the best rated cities across the US. The Malcolm Baldridge, he noted, is a process about continuous improvement, not a destination of perfection. The key is to "shine a flashlight" into all areas, encouraging and expecting continuous improvements.