8.19.09
So we are having some sort of debate, I use this word loosely here, in this country on health care reform. When I can get some distance from the strong emotions I feel over the cynical level of criticism of much needed reform, I find it fascinating to watch and learn from how this ‘project’ has been maanged. It seems Obama made a strategic decision to let Congress take the lead in creating proposals for reform after watching Hilary Clinton’s more White House vision led effort fail in the 90’s. Obama laid out a few broad goals and seemed to hope that inviting Congress to take the lead would be more effective approach for reform.
Hindsight is usually easier and it seems that a middle ground may have been more effective. Rather than relying on Congress to craft the plans, Obama could have taken a much more shared leadership approach and worked directly and upfront with Congress to craft the details of the vision and plan. We now have a situation where it is hard to tell who is in charge or providing real leadership and it has made it easier for critics to create more havoc, like town hall meetings turning into spectacles rather than deliberations. An aside, having town hall or any meetings without a clear sense of a goal or objective leads to frustration.
This same dynamic is in play with new developments, whether a home project, a neighborhood commercial development or a city project. The projects that I see go well are where the leader is working closely with the staff to provide guidance and reflection and ownership. Projects that end up less satisfying are usually where there has been a more one sided planning approach taken. Either leader/developer/city dominated or responsibility given to the implementors with little leadership collaboration.
An example is where a developer comes to tell a neighborhood what they are going to do and are disappointed with often less than enthusiastic responses. Or when a developer wants to collaborate and look to neighbors for input but are not clear with neighbors about the goals and limitations and limitations of what can be changed. What has worked well is getting clear with the developer ahead of time goals, limits and expectations of working with the neighborhood and communicating this clearly to the neighborhood in meetings to continually invite the most helpful feedback and also not leave people disappointed with dashed expectations. I think we can continue to learn from these experiences and I can only hope that Obama can do the same to save a critical reform agenda.
Reflection: Notice a project that you are working on and see where being ‘collaborative’ is marginalizing some much needed leadership. Even begin to imagine how you could model some of the leadership that is needed, regardless of your role in the project.