Hillman Mitchell will be the new King County Office of Emergency Management (OEM) Director beginning August 3rd. This was officially announced via a King County News Release Robin Friedman is leaving to pursue other opportunities.
All of this made me think about how long should someone stay in a position? My tenure at King County was eleven years. I have often said that I would rather have someone who is terrific be part of an organization for three years and then leave versus have someone stay for 15-20 years and they are just a so-so employee.
Certainly the larger and more complicated a jurisdiction is the need for a longer tenure person as a director is probably necessary. In emergency management you are working to build relationships and trust with a multitude of organizations and individuals. All of this takes time to accomplish. Then there are the larger projects. We started working on the need for a new Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) in 1996. It wasn't completed and we moved in mid-2003. The Regional Disaster Response Plan effort started in 1998 and it wasn't officially launched until the Spring of 2002. These are long gestation projects that need continuity in the leadership to see them come to fruition.
There is also the question, "Do you appoint someone you know to a position like OEM Director, or do you do a formal recruitment, even a national search? Beauty is in the eye of the person doing the hiring and I suppose if you know someone who you think can do the job and would be "perfect" for the position--go for it. On the other hand, you never know who is out there who could be a better candidate. There is comfort in hiring who you know. You are not wrong until the person hired does not pan out!
For both Hillman and Robin I wish them the best in the future in their new adventures--whatever they bring!
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All of this made me think about how long should someone stay in a position? My tenure at King County was eleven years. I have often said that I would rather have someone who is terrific be part of an organization for three years and then leave versus have someone stay for 15-20 years and they are just a so-so employee.
Certainly the larger and more complicated a jurisdiction is the need for a longer tenure person as a director is probably necessary. In emergency management you are working to build relationships and trust with a multitude of organizations and individuals. All of this takes time to accomplish. Then there are the larger projects. We started working on the need for a new Emergency Coordination Center (ECC) in 1996. It wasn't completed and we moved in mid-2003. The Regional Disaster Response Plan effort started in 1998 and it wasn't officially launched until the Spring of 2002. These are long gestation projects that need continuity in the leadership to see them come to fruition.
There is also the question, "Do you appoint someone you know to a position like OEM Director, or do you do a formal recruitment, even a national search? Beauty is in the eye of the person doing the hiring and I suppose if you know someone who you think can do the job and would be "perfect" for the position--go for it. On the other hand, you never know who is out there who could be a better candidate. There is comfort in hiring who you know. You are not wrong until the person hired does not pan out!
For both Hillman and Robin I wish them the best in the future in their new adventures--whatever they bring!
