ray garubo - promoting a positive image for elected officials

Political Harmony Group, LLC Raymond Garubo, Ph.D. 1

California Contract CitiesAssociation

The 31st Annual Conference October 14-16,2011

Oxnard, California

Tell Us Something NewPromoting a Positive Image For

Elected Officials & City Managers

Ray Garubo, Ph.D.


California Contract Cities Association

“We know what we do.

We know why we do what we do.

What we don’t know is, what what we do, does”.

(Michel Foucault)

What “image” of duly elected representatives of the people do we portray? How do our individual and collective actions affect others? Can our “image” be improved?


Tell Us Something NewPromoting a Positive Image ForElected Officials & City Managers

Session Objectives:

Present why image is important and review

techniques to improve image

of staff and elected officials.



Role Play

The objective of this simulated council meeting role play is to act out differing council person behaviors seen in city council meetings and to use this information for political analysis.

Remember all players are acting the roles provided them, and not demonstrating what they would necessarily do in the same situation back home.

Audience: Please fill out your observation forms. Role players do not know the contents of this form



ROLE PLAY

Blissful Valley California

City Council Meeting of Friday, October 14, 2011•

SCENE:

The Consent Agenda is called for a vote and one council person requests item #8 STAFF DEVELOPMENT CONSULTING SERVICES AGREEMENT be pulled for discussion. This is a $25,000 agreement to provide staff development to various departments of the city, under the direction of the city manager. It is in response to repeated requests by the Council to improve customer service. The vendor is well established and has successfully provided similar training to other cities in California and elsewhere.



Debriefing….

Audience feedback

Role players read aloud their scripts



What did our audience say? The Observation Form.

This meeting was well conducted.

The Mayor displayed good leadership.

Officials appear to be sufficiently knowledgeable.

All possible viewpoints were discussed.

Misunderstandings were well managed.

Did any voting seem to create a “grudge mentality”?

What would you have done differently?



• The source of my information

• Personal focused research since 2005

• Research literature from Master’s theses and Doctoral dissertations.

• Interviews with council persons and city managers.



Why is image important?

Your image affects the public’s opinion which in turn affects policy discussion and adoption. What’s new are the results of research conducted by the partnership of academics and practitioners: If they trust you, they will go for it.

Affects community support, especially support for proposed change. What’s new is the research from psychology, social psychology and political sociology which suggests that all persons have difficulty handling ambiguity and do not defer gratification. If they trust the change agent; know this person to be ethical and has the collective best interest at heart. It used to be called stewardship.



Is political discord or lack of council harmony affecting the quality of city manager applicants? Perhaps

At least 11 cities could be looking for new city managers in 2011 and early 2012 (San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 9/17/11).

. Indicators for city manager applicant selection:

“Political climate” of the city

Complexity of the job

Geography

(source San Gabriel Valley Tribune, 9/17/11)

What’s new is the criteria of “climate” being added to the list headhunters are talking about openly now.



Warning signs city manager applicants use:

Long council meetings (alleged symptom of systemic conflict)

Arduous deliberation of who is next mayor

Over focus on the Minutes

Argument of how much time citizens should be allowed at Public Comment section

(Source: Telephone interviews with current & former city managers 2010-2011)



Image Management…

Conflict management

“Conflict, an inherent by-product of people coming together to make decisions, is not necessarily a bad thing. Instead, as researchers of group dynamics have asserted, it can lead to better decisions. If left unchecked, however, it can lead to serious negative consequences” Unchecked translates into council people getting bad “reps”. THIS hurts the collective image.

(Ihrke & Niederjohn, Journal of Public Affairs, 2005)



Image Management…

Conflict

..is difficult to resolve but it can be managed. And the public wants rational, professional conflict management. Otherwise, they lose confidence in us. “all they do is fight all the time” (field notes)

our nation was founded upon conflict.

There are several excellent well rated conflict management programs which the Council and Staff could subscribe. Look at:

Constructive Conflicts: From Escalation to Resolution by Louis Kriesberg, 2003.



• Image ManagementCommunication

• The glue that binds all human endeavor. • Important to conveying intent, meaning, action, evaluation

and improvement in public behavior and political action.



Image Management

Communicating your demeanor (it’s the little things)

In meetings put down laptop screen when someone is addressing you.

Facial expressions, intended or unintended ,send “messages”

Constituents of other cultures ascribe erroneous meaning to your countenance. What’s new is the advice to use humor and casualness sparingly.



Every city council person and every city manager have a “relationship responsibility” . The group’s image is everyone’s issue.



Image Management

Ethical Conduct

Ethical conduct will improve public trust which in turn improves policy and administration.

The Temple City

City Council

&

Commissioner Protocols



Temple City Council & Commissioner Protocols

Setting a Higher Standard….

Openness

Fairness of Process

Ethical Decision Making

Efficiency and Accountability

Enforcement



Image Management

through improvement of political harmony

No, political harmony is not an oxymoron. Disagreement is one of this nation’s founding principles. Disorder is disagreement gone negative.



Image management..

The six dimensions of political harmony

Effective Communication Conflict Management Ethics and Public Trust Requisite Knowledge Financial Management Appropriate Leadership



Political harmony dimensions were developed from the research from 2000 to 2005.

My thanks to Margaret Findlay and Sam Olivito for helping me refine the survey (in your folder). A national random sample of 2,500 mayors tested the survey items which were found to be statistically reliable. Sample return rate 11%. (Summer 2006)



Before tackling image management find out how people are perceiving your harmony index. (Measure before you meddle)

The six dimensions of political harmony use 30 questions to measure them. They are statistically calculated to yield data on opinions of elected officials, staff, and the public.



How the six dimensions look from the point of view of

Elected officials

Staff

Public



What we found that is new:

Through factor analysis, the overriding dimension that drives all others is:

Ethics and Public Trust

Effective Communication and Conflict Management have a statistical effect on

Requisite Knowledge

Financial Management.



1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

5.5

6

3 3

4

5 5

4

City Manager

City Manager

Strongly Agree

StronglyDisagree



1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

5.5

6

3 3

3.6

5.45.2 5.2

City Council

City Council

Strongly Agree

StronglyDisagree



1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

4

4.5

5

5.5

6

3 3

4

5 5

4

3 3

3.6

5.45.2 5.2

City ManagerCity Council

Strongly Agree

Strongly Disagree



What’s new: Moving away from anecdotal evidence to statistical reliable data. Benefits of measuring:

1. Public, Staff, and Council are taking proactive approach to more civil and inclusive local government.

2. They are gathering data to use to improve systems and processes.



What’s new are now the stakes:

Representative Democracy

What’s new is the current generation doesn’t like delegation of authority.

People want their representatives to govern directly.

“Don’t tell me who to call at City Hall. You call”!



All city councils are interdependent policy and administration action groups with formal and informal relationships.



• But this is how you are described by….

• Yourselves• The Press• Staff• Public• Headhunters• Political consultants• County officials• Other councils



Labeled as……2-1-2



• Or……3-2



Or…..4-1



What’s new is that this numerical label “sticks” and defines the council to everyone.

Citizens and business owners seek out “powerful and influential council persons”. The 5 fifths model is not deemed accountable enough. There is tremendous pressure on council persons constituents to “do” something.



Most “powerful” city council person



Sources of Power:

Power of the Position

Reward power

Coercive power

Legitimate power

Information power

Power of the Person

Expert power

Referent power

Rational power

Charisma power (source: French & Raven, most cited and applied power theorists.)



What’s new is the “person power” is more powerful than the “position power” because the latter is bogged down in regulatory restrictions.



Well, as graduate students often hear professors admonish: So what. Who cares?

You already know how all this works:



Council/City Manager Partnership

Whether the Mayor is appointed or elected, she/he has a special relationship with the chief administrative officer.

What is the essence of this relationship between the mayor and the city manager?

Appointed OR Elected Mayors have a unique role

City Managers have their own distinct roles



CM



So City Managers must conduct themselves to the benefit of the entire municipality and the Council do the same. Lone wolves don’t help too many. It’s the “pack” that is effective.

We know this.

What we didn’t know is this is not a sole endeavor. It won’t work just from one person. All have to combine efforts. Even regionally.

What happens across the county affects all of us.



Research is demonstrating that if this relationship is ethical, cordial, respectful, considerate, and polite, the likelier will be the resolution of conflict.

• "There was certainly some philosophical differences," he said. "Probably the biggest challenge was between what was governance and what was administration. That would be the only rub I would suggest that there was over the years that I've been city manager.“

former St. Albert city manager (Canada)



The Wisconsin Study

City councils are specific subjects of empirical study.

City council conflict is:

a. Function of the form of government.

b. Function of electoral system (district versus at-large)

c. Subject to the nature of small group psychology

d. Based sometimes on past experience that cannot be forgotten.



OK, what’s going on with the public? National

“Occupy Wall Street” State

Raiding local funds Local

“Did you or did you not get a car wash at city expense”? (Actual question from citizen during public comment).



Public sees governance and administration coupled and not separate. (The Politics-Administration dichotomy of Woodrow Wilson)

Municipal Management

Council Manager



People are using local government to voice their general concerns…the only forum they see as accessible….

It is easier and more convenient to address a Council than Congress or the state legislature.

“Theory of Issue Substitution”

I can’t do anything about Washington, but I can go to a council meeting and give ‘em hell about an item I can do something about. (Morton Deutsch, misattributed versus veridical conflict).



“Political Transference”

In a therapy context, transference refers to redirection of a patient's feelings for a significant person to the therapist. These feelings can be positive or negative.

In a political context, transference refers to the redirection of frustration and anger at politicians of larger units of government, to local city council persons. They are more accessible and can be coerced into listening to alleged grievances. The council becomes the therapist, so to speak. (opinion)



How public is advised

How to Affect Local Government.

1. Attend Public Meetings, especially council meetings, and speak at them.

2. Write Letters, not emails.

3. Make Phone Calls.

4. Vote.

5. Distribute Circulars.

6. Start a Web Site.

7. Make Campaign Donations.

8. Write Letters to The Editor.

9. Organize and Protest.



Current local issues:

Claremont: Wilderness Park hours

Walnut: military imposters at civic events

Calabasas: Threat of West Nile virus; CANLT



Summary & Conclusions

Think Macro as well as Micro. Go beyond the specific local problems that

interested you in public service. Remember your image is being defined all the time

in lots of contexts Communication improvement and conflict

management based upon ethical conduct are your strengths.


“It takes a great deal of courage to stand up to your enemies, but even more to stand up to your friends”

(J.K.Rowling, bookreporter.com)



Thank You

“Live long and prosper”

(Leonard Nimoy Dr. Spock)

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