Working with people is frequently difficult and complex and the rules of engagement aren’t always easy or quick to learn – except sometimes....
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The solution to “unfixable community input” is learning how to fix it. Fixing it through collaborative governance isn’t just a feel-good theory; I think it’s becoming imperative to the survival of democracy, or at least to recreating credibility for government. Rebuilding public trust will require power sharing between government and ...
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In last month’s newsletter, we mentioned that flaws – mistakes – are forgivable, but bad intentions are not. People who work in and with the public sector are usually motivated by the best of intentions; it’s usually why they choose to get into this line of work in the first ...
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Public participation is grounded in the premise that people who are affected by a decision have a right to have something to say about that decision. I’ve generally presumed that we, in America, shared a fundamental belief that the public’s interest is the foundation of a functioning democracy. And that ...
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I know I talk too much. We all talk too much. We’re in a period of time where everybody has an electronic bullhorn in their hands all the time. Everybody’s talking and damn few people are actually listening. So, we talk about active listening here quite a bit; a necessary ...
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It’s common to think that for me to win, you have to lose. That may be true in sports, but not in most other areas. There’s an old axiom in the sales profession that says, “you can get what you want if you can help the other guy get what ...
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Is it that we just don’t want to deal with or talk with people who think differently, we don’t need to, or that we’ve forgotten how? Actually, I’ve come to realize that it’s all of the above and more; there is no one easy answer. Some people are just so ...
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Most people like to avoid conflict in their lives. Sure, some people get their jollies from chaos (and media feeds on it because it attracts an audience and produces lots of revenue), but the rest of us don’t go out of our way to invite the pain and confusion that ...
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Almost all of us have moved our work online and, thankfully, we’ve maintained our ability to connect in the best alternate ways possible. I can’t imagine where we’d be if the pandemic and lockdown had occurred before our current video and connection capability options. But as game changing as Zoom, ...
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