Most cities buy the dashboard first and think about people later. Savannah went the other way. Dr. Jennifer Blalock describes her city's performance work as a covenant with residents: here is what you've invested, and here is what you get back. In this conversation we get into why Savannah decided to put numbers in front of the public, what actually happens inside a government when a metric comes back disappointing, and why she treats data capacity like a muscle that hurts the first few times you use it. Jennifer is candid that no city gets it right every time, and that the real obligation is to say so out loud. We also trace how two Georgia cities ended up learning from each other, starting with a chance conversation at a conference.

Dr. Jennifer Blalock is a change leadership and organizational development practitioner who has served in the public sector for over three decades. She is the Organizational Excellence Officer for the City of Savannah, where she develops the City's leadership capacity, organizational effectiveness and performance, and data and strategic competencies. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Development and Higher Education Leadership and is a Certified Public Manager.

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

• What Works Cities: https://whatworkscities.bloomberg.org
• Results for America: https://results4america.org
• Bloomberg Harvard City Hall Fellowship: https://www.cityleadership.harvard.edu/bloomberg-harvard-city-hall-fellowships/
• UGA Carl Vinson Institute of Government: https://cviog.uga.edu
• ICMA Data-Driven Decision Making certificate, with Polco: https://icma.org/events/data-driven-decision-making-certificate-program
• Polco: https://polco.us
• Georgia Municipal Association: https://www.gacities.com

FIND JENNIFER
City of Savannah: https://savannahga.gov
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferb13/
Host: Dr. Joe Pennino
Website: https://www.drpennino.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DrJoePennino
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drjoepennino/

Chapters
00:09 Introduction
05:36 The Data Covenant
09:21 What Works Cities Origin Story
13:43 How We Connected
22:07 Building a Data Culture
33:54 Technology vs. Process
39:00 Advice for Cities and Closing