Before the pandemic, it was hard for pool governing body members to carve out time for training. Layer on pandemic-related travel restrictions and other hurdles, and it’s even more difficult for them to find space on their schedules for governance education — no matter how valuable or necessary...
A few weeks ago, we distributed our Succession Readiness Assessment to pool executives. This survey — the first engagement of the year in our ongoing residency — was designed to help each top pool executive self-assess their pool’s readiness for their own planned or unplanned...
In 2019 and early in 2020, a number of states passed or considered legislation to create workers’ compensation presumptions for PTSD in first responders. When COVID-19 hit, legislative focus shifted and things quieted a bit on presumptions. Today, the issue of presumptions is again gaining...
Late last year, we brought together pool leaders for Executive Think Tank, an event in which participants used collaborative conversation methods to discuss important pooling issues in 2021 and beyond. After the event, we were surprised by how frequently participants inquired about how...
Pools and their members have spent the last year conducting most, if not all, of their operations virtually. As we look ahead, I imagine every pool is looking forward to the return of in-person interaction. However, as much as we might wish otherwise, our pre-pandemic professional world is...
With almost all pools having experienced some form of operational disruption this year, pool leaders are looking ahead to what their business processes might look like in 2021 and beyond. For many pools, this will involve using technology to automate functions historically performed by hand...
In his 1990 book The Fifth Discipline , systems scientist Peter Senge defined a “learning organization” as one with the following characteristics: (a) systems thinking, (b) personal mastery, (c) mental models, (d) shared vision and (e) team learning. For a more condensed look at Senge’s...
Given the future-minded nature of public entity pooling and heightened awareness surrounding social and economic inequalities, it’s no surprise some health pools are taking up the issue of health equity for public employee subscribers. In conversations I’ve had over the past two...
Since March, AGRiP has been highly cognizant of the way we communicate with members, including what information and news we share and how we share it. In consideration of the many competing priorities pools are dealing with, we’ve kept our member outreach simple and direct, filtering away what’s...
Perhaps today more than ever, local public officials find themselves dealing with seemingly no-win, “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” decisions: Should we reopen schools? Should masks be mandated? Should we restructure the funding and mission of our policing agency? To manage for...