Aerial view of the Madison isthmus with Lake Mendota on the left
Human Resources
Erin Hillson, Human Resources Director

Toolkit

Welcome to our Organizational Development Toolkit, your one-stop resource hub for enhancing your daily work. This webpage offers a range of valuable resources, tools, and templates to support anyone and everyone in their daily work. 

  • If you're a City of Madison Supervisor, check out our Supervisor Resources for more specific on-the-job resources. 

Reach out to OrganizationalDevelopment@cityofmadison.com if you have questions or suggestions. 

Below are our current Online Learning Resources in alphabetical order within each category listed.

We're always adding more, so check back often!

 

Customer Service

Customer De-Escalation

Learn what customer de-escalation (also known as verbal de-escalation) is, why physical force should be avoided, and tactics to effectively de-escalate customer conflict situations.

Course Resources:

 

Development Activities

Individual Development Plan (IDP)

If you're looking for a structured process to create and communicate an action plan, look no further! Use this plan to communicate with others to achieve personal and professional goals.

Values to Action Learner Activity

The City holds five core values at the forefront of our operations. These values function as a guide for employees to make decisions related to the services we deliver to our community, and as a way to ensure our employees grow confidence in our ability to do our jobs well.

This can also be found within our Supervisor Resources under Onboarding. The Supervisor Resources are a directory of information and tools that support City of Madison Supervisors in their day-to-day management work. 

 

Interpersonal Communication

Giving & Receiving Effective Feedback

These resources, designed to supplement our Feedback Courses, includes comprehensive materials and sub-topics on the art of giving and receiving feedback.

Individual Resources:

  1. Feedback Foundations
  2. Tips & Common Pitfalls
  3. Receiving Feedback

Combined Packet: Effective Feedback Resource Packet

Additional Feedback Tools:

Additional Feedback Learning Channels:

Interpersonal Communication

These communication resources are designed to enhance communication effectiveness. This is vital for:

  • Developing high-performing teams
  • Fostering psychological safety
  • Increasing collaboration and innovation

Use these resources to help build stronger, more dynamic teams.

Individual Resources:

  1. Empowering Questions
  2. Types of Listening
  3. Acknowledge and Validate

Combined Packet: Interpersonal Communication Resource Packet

Presentation Guideline Checklist

Use this checklist as a guide for creating clear, concise, and effective presentations for your audience(s).

Included are tips for:

  • While you're preparing your presentation materials
  • When you're presenting
  • Additional considerations to shape your content

 

RESJI

Disability Justice - Internal Audit Tool

"'Disability Justice: An Audit Tool' is aimed at helping Black, Indigenous and POC-led organizations (that are not primarily focused around disability) examine where they're at in practicing disability justice, and where they want to learn and grow." - Northwest Health Foundation

To discuss this tool, or to learn more about Disability Justice at the City of Madison, reach out to the following contacts:

 

Templates

1:1 Agenda Template

This 1:1 Agenda Template - created for supervisors and managers - is designed to:

  • Foster leadership effectiveness
  • Boost day-to-day efficiency
  • Build trust and psychological safety
  • Enhance motivation and engagement.

This collaborative tool ensures impactful and meaningful one-on-one discussions, benefiting both managers and employees.

Project Charter Template

A Project Charter outlines the scope, objectives, and stakeholders of a project. It also ensures clarity and alignment from the start. 

Minimize misunderstandings, streamline communication, and increase your project's chance of success by using this template! 

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

A SOP is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled to help staff carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance while reducing miscommunication and failure to comply with industry regulations (if any apply).

Use these resources to begin to build your own SOP library for knowledge transfer and procedure documentation.

Team Meeting Agenda Template

Use the Team Meeting Agenda Template to help facilitate your team/unit discussions and increase meeting effectiveness.

 

Wellness

Employee Burnout

The Organizational Development Unit (OD) and the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) have created these three resources to help employees and their supervisors identify, converse about, and address root causes of burnout.  

Suicide Prevention

Suicide is preventable, and recognizing the signs can make a crucial difference.

This guide provides essential information for responding to suicidal thoughts among City of Madison employees, including warning signs, effective communication strategies, and available resources.

Learn how to approach these sensitive conversations with empathy and support, and discover the resources that can offer professional help. Remember, reaching out and providing support can save lives.

Resources You Can Refer To:

  • EAP: 608-261-6561 or eap@cityofmadison.com
  • Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988
  • Dane County Crisis Line: 608-280-2600
  • Crisis Text Line: Text or use WhatsApp to message HOME to 741741
  • Emergency Number: 911
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Organizational Development