Frances Robustelli has been working in local government for over 30 years.  For over the last decade and a half she has served in executive leadership roles for small to mid-sized cities, including the City of Hayward, CA, as their Human Resources Director, City of Walnut Creek and City of Napa, CA, as their Assistant City Manager, and City of Clayton and City of San Leandro as City Manager. She is currently the City Manager of St. Pete Beach, FL.  She has extensive experience in all facets of city government, including housing and economic development, budgeting, human resources, infrastructure and facilities management, utilities and parking management, city council/commission management, and emergency management. 

How Crisis Tests Everything You Think You Know About Your Team

You're committed to developing your people, but what happens when crisis hits and you need results now? This is the tension between being patient and decisive—one of the hardest parts of leadership.

My guest, Frances (Fran) Robustelli, City Manager of St. Pete Beach, Florida, faced this challenge head-on. Just months into her new role, back-to-back hurricanes devastated her community, shutting down 90% of the city's structures overnight. Crisis revealed exactly where talent was emerging and where dysfunction was hiding—and forced her to make staffing decisions faster than ever before.

Fran's Framework for Building Healthy Organizations:

Days 1-60: Listen First

• Meet with every leadership level, especially mid-management (where culture lives or dies)
• Share your leadership style and expectations clearly
• Build trust before implementing anything new

After 60 Days: Confirm and Commit

• Share what you heard—the good, bad, and ugly
• Build team commitments together (Fran created 10, let the team vote on which 2 to measure first)
• Link new tools to what the team asks for

The Secret: Reinforcement Over Complexity

• Use quarterly all-hands meetings for accountability
• Create a clear meeting cadence around what matters
• When things go sideways, ask: "Do we have clarity here?"

Crisis reveals who we really are as leaders and the need for authentic leadership. As Fran says, "I'd rather be struck down being the real me than trying to please everybody." Her approach proves that developing people and delivering results aren't competing priorities—they're woven together.

Resources Mentioned:

• Connect with Fran Robustelli and the City of St. Pete Beach at stpetebeach.org
• Contact me to learn about building team commitments in your organization

Visit ClaireLaughlin.com and connect with me @Claire Laughlin Consulting on LinkedIn.

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