We spend so much time worrying about the content and process of the projects and initiatives that we’re involved with that we lose sight of what’s right in front of our eyes. Never forget that ultimately we’re in the people business – the relationship business. That means building rapport by ...
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We work with very smart and very caring people doing very complex public sector jobs who do their darndest to make great decisions that benefit all of us – the public. And at the end of the day, often the hardest part of their job is getting us to ...
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When you do the kind of important, greater good work that you do, talking about first impressions or last impressions might sound pretty superficial – not worthy of consideration by serious professional people. But I expect that you realize that public engagement and conflict resolution is at its essence … ...
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We’ve talked in the past about the importance and differences between sympathy and empathy, particularly when dealing with emotional, resistant, or angry people. There’s a third component that plays into dealing with these tough situations and as public policy proponents and facilitators, we need to be emotionally intelligent enough ...
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You’re doing stressful work with stressed out people in an especially stressful time. Did I mention that we’re all stressed? I’m not trying to diminish the real challenge that many people are facing these days, but doing the work that you do is important and not for the faint hearted. ...
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One of the biggest challenges of our time is convincing people that it’s a good idea to keep themselves and each other alive. Sounds ridiculous to say that, doesn’t it? But engaging and influencing people to do what’s in their best interest is often the task of professionals working in ...
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People who are engaged in the practice of public engagement come to it from a variety of backgrounds and perspectives – communication, the sciences, community planning, engineering, sometimes politics – but those that are most successful almost always have one universal trait in common: the ability to truly empathize. If for ...
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As people become more polarized and it gets increasingly difficult to have or facilitate ugly conversations, we as the potential peacemakers have to tune in better to how we manage ourselves and respond to these encounters. This is a simple little technique that I learned some time ago and have ...
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For the longest time, the work that we do has been referred to as “soft” and I have to admit that’s always bugged me. Describing it this way sounds demeaning, and sometimes I know it’s intended to do so. The underlying attitude is that these soft skills aren’t really important ...
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In the 1950s, thousands of people died annually and tens of thousands were paralyzed by polio. People celebrated and embraced the science that developed the vaccine that quickly eradicated that disease in the U.S. But COVID-19 has produced an entirely different public reaction and health policy experts are wrestling with ...
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