NCSL Daily Development

Welcome to NCSL Daily Development—a limited series toolbox of five useful online resources on a common theme. These resources are relevant to every level of the legislative world: legislators, legislative staff and leadership.

An email is sent each week, but this webpage contains all links sent to date.

We hope you will find something that can help you expand your knowledge base or skill set to increase your legislative effectiveness.

Have a tip or trick that aligns with our weekly theme? Email it to Curt Stedron and we'll try to share it with a larger audience!

Strategic Planning

• What is a "strategy" anyway?
• Tips to foster strategic thinking.
• How to create an effective Strategic Plan.
• A visualization of the Strategic Planning process.
• For leaders/managers: getting your team to embrace a new strategy.
• When (and how) to shift strategies.

Design Thinking

• Why you should consider using Design Thinking to solve problems.
• The five main stages of the Design Thinking process.
• For leaders/managers: how to lead a group through the Design Thinking process.
• Using Design Thinking to improve constituent service.
• Examples of Design Thinking in action.

Improving Constituent/"Customer" Service

• Customer service best practices.
• Tips for dealing with a difficult customer.
• Leaders/managers: how to coach your staff to provide better customer service.
• Legislators share advice on how to turn your constituents into "partners".
• Techniques to increase customer loyalty.

Managing Conflict

• The basics principles of good conflict management.
• Tips (with video examples) for handling three classic types of difficult colleagues.
• For leaders/managers: how to manage conflicts between your team members.
• Resolving employee conflicts in a virtual world.
• "Managing Up": how to constructively interact with a demanding boss.

Telework, Part 2: Lessons From a Month of Quarantine

• Best practices for running a great virtual meeting.
• Tips to engage participants in an online meeting.
• Team-building activities for an online office.
• Leaders/Managers: new ways to think about leading a virtual team.
• Some moments of levity: online meeting FAILS to avoid!

Effective Decision-Making

• How to use a Decision Matrix to evaluate your best options.
• Management guru Peter Drucker's ideal decision making process.
• Leaders/Managers: how to lead teams to better group decisions.
• How to overcome a bad decision.
• Tips for overcoming "decision fatigue".

Innovation in the Workplace

• A framework for understanding how innovation happens.
• Tips to make innovation a daily habit.
• For leaders and managers: how to create a culture of innovation.
• Techniques to unleash your personal creativity.
• How to overcome an "innovation block". 

Increasing Personal and Team Productivity

How to create a productive schedule in a work-from-home world. A priority setting method to supercharge the effectiveness of your to-do list. How to avoid procrastination and get down to work. For managers and leaders: tips for boosting your team's collective productivity. Moving from multi-tasking to mono-tasking: increasing our work focus.

Teleworking Tips

Tips for managing your remote workforce.  Ideas for the remote worker: creating a positive space and routine for maximum productivity. How to make your video conferencing more natural. Cybersafety: best practices for staying safe while everyone is connected online. Home workout routines (with video) to help keep your body and mind in shape.