COMMUNITY CONVERSATIONS 2.0 PUTTING IT INTO PRACTICE

DATE

Name, Wisconsin Association of School Boards

The Effective Leader

“The ability to communicate across the

various constituencies of the organization

(both internal and external) is the key to

effective leadership.”

Margaret Wheatley

Organizational Effectiveness

Depends on the relationships

between and among team members…

and the staff…

and the community

The Context Is Changing

The Worldand Expectations of Public Schools Are Changing

NCLB

MCA

Grassroots Economics

Smart Networking

Strong Opinions, Strongly Held

Sick Herd

Urban Wilderness

The End of Cyberspace©Institute for the Future and KnowledgeWorks Foundation. Used with permission

Expectations of public education have changed

From inputs to outputs

All children can learn

Traditional problem solving method

Gather Data

Analyze data

Formulate a solution

Implement a solution

“Some problems are so complex that you

have to be highly intelligent and well-

informed just to be undecided about

them.”Laurence J. Peter

Solving Wicked Problems

Gather Data

Analyze data

Formulate a solution

Implement a solution

Distinguishing Technical from Adaptive Challenges

What’s the Work Who Does the Work?

Technical Apply Current Know-how Authorities

Adaptive Learn new ways The people with the problem

communicate to deliberate with

public hearing community conversation

seeking to establish/ seeking and findingprotect turf common ground

public relations public engagement

As schools and communities move fromcommunication to engagement

“The alternative to engaging with the public

will not be an unengaged public, but a public

with its own agenda and an understandable

hostility to decision-making processes that

ignore them.” Steve Coleman and John Gotze,

Bowling Together, 2002

IAP2 definition

Any process that involves the public

(community) in identifying issues or decision-

making and uses public input to make better

decisions.

International Association for Public Participation

Who are the public/community?

“The public/community is any individual or

group of individuals, organization or

political entity with an interest in the

outcome of a decision.” IAP2

Doing it so that it counts..

“Public participation is most effective and delivers

best value for effort when it is undertaken for a

specific purpose: to influence and add value to an

issue or an opportunity so that the best quality, or

most sustainable decision can be made.”IAP2

Why undertake community engagement?

Fulfill a legislative requirement

Build a bigger window of knowledge and understanding of the issue/the problem/the opportunity

Strengthen the link between your project planning and community

Why undertake community engagement?

Bridge the gap between people and policy makers and build confidence in how decisions are made

Bring integrity to decision making process and build your reputation as a leader in the community

Promote local democracy, integrity and robust and sustainable decision making

Values based

Community values

Sponsor (organizational values)

Process values (IAP2 Core Values)

Community Values…

Know the community

– What is important in this place?

– What do they care about?

– What’s going on?

District Values…

– What does your organization stand for?

– How is this communicated?

– How does this influence how the

community/others relate to you?

International Association of Public Participation

Core Values for the Practice of Public Participation

Spectrum of Public Participation

Decision Based

What is the decision to be made? Clarify theissue between the public and the sponsor:form agreement on the problem/opportunity.

Define the role of the ‘public’ or ‘community’ in relation to the decision making process – how can they contribute in a meaningful way?

Goal Driven

Identifying the ‘level’ of public participation (Spectrum).

Formulate specific goals that describe the public role.

Set specific objectives for each step of the decision making processes.

Considering Community Engagement

What do we do after we engage?

Community conversations are data

Report back to the community

The IAP2 documents

What do the core values and the promise

line of the Spectrum mean to you and your

work as a school district leader?