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?
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