State Legistlative Leaders Foundation

2007 Leaders Advanced Management Program

Solving the Leadership Puzzle: Consensus, Coalitions and Vision

Policy Consensus Initiative and Tulane University
New Orleans, Louisiana
March 8 - 11
Program Schedule

"One of the better meetings I have been invloved with.  Very informative" - Legislative Leader

In the opening session, Leaders were asked what issues keep them up at night. The same issues arose several times: taxation, education and school funding, health care. Next to the inherent complexity of these issues, the other major problem to overcome in resolving them is reaching a productive consensus among competing interests and points of view. Techniques and strategies for building this kind of consensus were the subject matter of the non-Katrina related sessions for this energetic and practical program on “Solving the Leadership Puzzle: Consensus, Communication and Vision.”

One of the more useful approaches to reaching consensus is discerning the difference between a “position” and an “interest.” Too often a person or organization’s position on an issue prevents meaningful progress towards discovering and considering the actual interest involved. Positions tend to be entrenched and public with players adopting a winner-take-all strategy frequently resulting in wasted resources, no winners, no thought, no problem solving and no resolution to the underlying problem. On the other hand, interests may, perhaps, yield to face-saving compromise and mutually beneficial and creative solutions. The question might be, what if we can get to your interest if you change your position?

Mr. Roger Moe, former Senate Majority Leader, Minnesota, led a session on the legislative power to convene and offered various strategies for being an effective convener. He said that “being a good convener is good politics” While it’s easy to divide people, the challenge is to bring people together. One piece of advice was not to start by dividing everybody up into predetermined groups (e.g., by party) to avoid convening a meeting wherein it’s clear what everybody’s position is beforehand. Mr. Moe observed that your legacy as a legislator is not going to be grounded in an issue, but rather in your relationships, your demeanor, your leadership style – you as a person.

Two sessions were devoted to understanding the personality types to which people generally belong. By understanding the type of person with whom one is dealing, one can adopt more effective strategies for reaching consensus and workable solutions.

The Honorable Hunt B. Downer, Jr., Brigadier General, Louisiana National Guard and former Speaker for the Louisiana legislature presented his account of the Katrina disaster. He began by offering his thanks to the other states for all their help after the hurricane. He then showed a briefing from Oct, 2005 so we could see where we were then and to contrast with what we saw in the next day’s “devastation tour” of the 9th Ward, St. Bernard Parish, and the National Guard installation. This eye-opening presentation on the enormity of the Katrina disaster risked overshadowing the leadership issues under discussion, but the able and dynamic speakers more than rose to the occasion.

If you would like additional information on this program, please contact Thomas H. Little at sllfthom@aol.com or (336) 856-0623.