A dense, complex city with 2,000+ employees and 24/7 operatons needed practical supervisor training that could work across departments (5 years later, they’re still expanding it)
The Challenge
Rebecca Fuentes needed something specific.
As Deputy Chief Operating Officer for the City of Cambridge, Massachusetts (formerly Assistant Commissioner for Planning and Administration at Public Works), Rebecca managed a uniquely complex environment: six square miles, 120,000 residents, and over 2,000 city employees working across drastically different roles.
“We have such a variety of shifts in the city with some of our departments being 24/7,” Rebecca explains.
The workforce spanned from field supervisors managing garbage trucks and street crews to city solicitors and engineers. Harvard University and MIT sit within city limits. Dense residential neighborhoods border biotech corridors. Emergency communications operate around the clock with impossibly complicated schedules.
Rebecca needed leadership training that could work for all of them.
“We wanted something that was practical, that could meet both supervisors who maybe don’t have a lot of formal higher education, don’t spend a lot of time in meetings and classrooms, but we also have other supervisors who are lawyers and people with professional credentials,” Rebecca says. “So we wanted something that spans all the different job types we have.”
The city had tried various management training open to all employees. Intermittent sessions on different topics. But sustaining a comprehensive program internally wasn’t realistic.
“It’s hard for us to sustain that level. Even just hosting a 10 week training is a big deal. We just didn’t have the staff to do it.”
The Search
Rebecca did a web search: “field supervisor training, hands on supervision training.”
Trinity’s Frontline Leadership Program was the first result. And the last one she looked at.
“It was really the only thing we saw that met our needs, and we liked it, and we just kept going.”
What caught her attention was the curriculum structure. Not too theoretical, not too basic. Ready to implement, but flexible enough to adapt.
“It has the right level of structure and content, but also enough flexibility and ability to connect to different learning styles.”
There was another consideration too. Government procurement is notoriously complicated.
“Our systems for paying and stuff are so challenging. We appreciate that Trinity has been very adaptable and patient to understand.”
Cambridge signed on in fall 2020.
What Made It Work
The program launched with Public Works. About 250 employees spread across the city… parks, streets, garbage collection. Thirty frontline supervisors working independently across distributed locations.
“With such a distributed system, the skills of each supervisor are so important because they really are working independently,” Rebecca says.
The trainers made it work for Cambridge’s diversity, using in person sessions with 10 four-hour blocks.
“Right now we have a training where we have the city solicitor as one participant, and we have a couple engineers, and then we also have working foremen who maybe have a college education but are primarily promoted through their experience in the field,” Rebecca explains. “The curriculum and the trainers themselves have done a really good job where everyone can feel like they’re getting something out of the class.”
Christina Giacobbe, Director of Emergency Communications and 911, faced an even bigger scheduling challenge. Her 53 person department operates 24/7 dispatching police, fire, and EMS calls.
“Unfortunately, my whole team was not able to participate because of the schedule,” Christina says about the initial cohort.
So Trinity worked with her to create a custom schedule: once a month sessions over several months. Seven supervisors completed it and an eighth is going through the traditional format now.
“They’re very flexible, which is a big value of this program,” Christina confirms.
The Common Language
Five years later, Cambridge is still expanding the program.
What started with Public Works has grown to include Transportation, Water, Inspectional Services, Veterans Services, and Emergency Communications. More departments keep getting added.
“We have over 2,000 permanent full time city employees. Within that, a chunk of them are supervisors of different levels,” Rebecca says. “With turnover and everything, we could be doing this for a while.”
For Christina’s team, the program created something unexpected: a shared framework.
“I had different supervisors at different educational levels, different years of service levels, and different professional development levels,” Christina explains. “Now we have this anchor that everybody receives the same content, whether they have education or no education, or whether they’ve had advanced education or professional development. Everybody is on the same level playing field.”
Her team can now reference specific modules when navigating challenges.
“We’re able to say, okay, well let’s take this situation or even just having some challenges when you’re dealing with a multi-generational workforce, we’re looking to appropriate modules such as the conflict model and redirecting the supervisors back to the curriculum so they’re exercising the tools they learned.”
The entire dispatch team went through DISC training (incorporated into Trinity’s curriculum). Although the State 911 department agreed it was a valuable tool, they couldn’t approve continuing education or grant reimbursement as it does not fit within their guidelines. Because it was important, Cambridge Emergency Communications did it anyway.
“Knowing the styles of your coworkers is really helpful,” Christina says. “It helps our supervisors plan on their approach and use the curriculum from the Frontline Leadership to engage with subordinates, and team members on conflicts or personality conflicts that are creeping up in the work environment.” In addition, it fosters better understanding and communication among the groups and overall the team.
What Practical Actually Means
Rebecca appreciated that Trinity balanced structure with application.
“They’re not talking about just philosophical concepts. They’re talking about how they actually play out. When we talk about employee engagement, that’s kind of a big academic term. But what does that mean when you’re out in the street and how people interact with their employer and how they feel and what your role is?”
The format mixes lectures and slides with hands on activities and relevant examples.
“I think they’ve tried to do a good job of being kind of relevant to our workplace in terms of examples,” Rebecca notes.
The feedback has been consistent over five years: supervisors feel it’s one of the most impactful trainings they’ve taken. Even skeptics come around after a few sessions.
“They feel excited to recommend their coworkers to take it,” Rebecca says.
Christina sees the same thing.
“A lot of times training becomes challenging for folks to be away form the operation or office as ‘nobody has time for training.’ However, we all know we need it and we’re always glad when we go through it,” she says. “I would highly recommend it to my colleagues within the city, but also externally outside of the city as well as in emergency telecommunications industry.”
Why It’s Lasted
Rebecca credits the program with creating more consistent, professional leadership across the city.
“Overall, just the level of common understanding about the role of the supervisor and general expectations that people bring to the role now in terms of how they communicate with others, what they bring, and how they treat other people. That has coalesced into a more consistent, higher quality, more professional approach.”
For Christina, it’s about muscle memory.
“I think it was a really good curriculum and allowed us to refocus and use the modules… hey, remember the Frontline Training and the module on (communication, conflict of interest etc.). If we’re all using the modules and referring back to the curriculum, hopefully that muscle memory will absorb and it becomes second nature in how our leaders lead consistently and thoughtful.”
The program works because it meets supervisors where they are.
“This really meets an important spot in the middle for a wide group of supervisors,” Rebecca says. “We have a group of employees who maybe haven’t gotten a lot of leadership training, and this is their first crack at it. And then we have another group who need something more practical than high level hypothetical leadership and management training. This fits both.”
For a city as dense and operationally complex as Cambridge, that’s exactly what they needed.
And five years later, they’re still expanding it to new departments.
Ready to find leadership training that actually fits your organization?
Trinity’s Frontline Leadership Program provides practical, flexible training that works for diverse teams and complex operations.