AMO Education – Supporting and Strengthening Local Leadership

By Petra Wolfbeiss
Director, Membership Centre, AMO

2024 is the 125th celebration of the Association of Municipalities as an organization. Over 125 years AMO has been and remains an organization committed to make municipal governments stronger and more effective. This year’s conference in the City of Ottawa will be a celebration of AMO, its members and the critical work you do. We are looking forward to this celebration.

AMO members are coming up to the mid way point of the 2022-2026 council term. The 2022 election saw a 40% turn over in municipal seats across Ontario. At this point in your term, your role as an elected local official is much clearer as is the magnitude of your responsibility and the complexity of your role.

AMO has traditionally provided comprehensive education workshops following each municipal election focused on supporting new heads of council and councillors in understanding their roles and responsibilities. As we are reviewing our education offerings, we understand that for an elected official the demands never stop, and they change and evolve. The expectations to lead, solve problems and build the economic and social sustainability of your community are high. At the same time, this diversity and energy is the beauty of local leadership.

Over the past few years, the Membership Centre in AMO has been expanding our education workshops. Rather then just post election, we now offer a range of education workshops aimed at supporting the many facets of local leadership. Our workshops are delivered by subject matter experts who understand the expectations and demands you face every day.

Herbert Simon, an American political scientist (1916-2001) observed:

“Human beings, viewed as behaving systems, are quite simple.
The apparent complexity of our behaviour overtime is largely a reflection of our environment
in which we find ourselves.”

AMO’s Membership Centre is creating our education workshops with this understanding in mind. From the legislative and regulatory requirements you are accountable for and the understanding that municipal life is a people-oriented business, we are offering workshops that look at the municipal leadership role comprehensively. This includes understanding strategies in land use planning, to insights into Indigenous-municipal relations, strategic approaches to leadership in our advanced councillor training series and opportunities for good governance through local codes of conduct.

We have also targeted a number of workshops that consider the wide variety of relationships elected officials are engaged in, including with constituents, municipal staff, other elected officials, other orders of government, and community organizations to name a few. Offering opportunities to advance your leadership skills in workshops exploring communications through crisis, navigating conflict relationships, understanding and responding to antisemitism, anti islamophobia, competing human rights and creating inclusive communities, we have you covered.

The Membership Centre is committed to supporting AMO members in education and skill development. While over the past few years we have expanded what we offer to our members, we continue to refine and expand what and how we are offering you support. For those of you who have not looked into our education workshops, please do. For those of you who are signing up, thank you. We would love to hear from you on your ideas and feedback as we continue to work to support you in your evolving and complicated commitment to Ontario’s communities. Thank you.

Visit: amo.on.ca/education
Contact: events@amo.on.ca