Policy Consensus E-News — January 2007

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2007 Minnesota Legislature Strives to Work More Effectively

Three years ago, frustration with gridlock and partisan bickering led former Minnesota Senator Sheila Kiscaden to conceive a workshop for legislators interested in building better relationships with colleagues. She organized a planning committee that worked with PCI, the National Conference of State Legislatures, and the Humphrey Institute of the University of Minnesota to plan a conference on “Beyond Bickering,” which was attended by 60 legislators. In 2006, building on the 2005 conference, the committee, together with the same cosponsors, conducted a workshop on how to make the legislature more effective and 95 legislators participated. This year, the committee and the Humphrey Institute organized a conference, “One Minnesota, Our State, Our Future," that was attended by 190 of the 201 members of the legislature!

The purpose of this year’s conference, according to Kiscaden, was “to build relationships and try to move forward as a legislature in being more effective in how we work together.”  Following the conference, participants commented on how good it was “to be in the same room at the same time, listening to the same thing,” she said.

In addition to the goal of collaboration, the conference also focused on some of the broad trends likely to affect the state.   Among the highlights were presentations from leaders in the business sector who challenged legislators to work together on issues such as early childhood care.

Another panel included former Minnesota governors Wendell Anderson, Arne Carlson and Al Quie, and former U.S. Representative Martin Sabo.  The panelists emphasized the need to include one another and those from the private sector and citizens in planning for the state’s future.  “There’s no reason you can’t build panels that include people other than legislatures and start to plan,” Governor Carlson said.

Governor Quie echoed Carlson’s words of inclusion.  “Go where the people are.  Don’t invite them to come in to testify to you, because that’s uncomfortable for them.  So go where it’s uncomfortable for you,” he advised.  “Bring the two sides in when there is division and get them to testify together in front of you so that they can interact and you can listen to them.”

Kiscaden expressed hope that the legislature would continue to hold workshops to provide legislators with the tools to building consensus.  Currently, she and other planners are examining ways to institutionalize such workshops, and Kiscaden expects that the legislature will include funding for future conferences in the budget.

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Moe’s Advice to Legislators: Ask People What They Think

What can legislators do to create a more civil climate for working out issues?  Roger Moe, who for 22 years served as the Senate Majority Leader in Minnesota, has been thinking about this a lot over the past several years as he watched the growth in polarization and partisanship.

According to Moe, four magic words can help lead to successful collaboration. They are, “What do you think?”  In asking this question, leaders place themselves in the role of listeners as they try to figure out how to work with one another and their constituents.

Roger Moe has been working with PCI over the past two years in providing workshops to legislators on how to get beyond bickering. As Moe prepared for discussion workshops for Texas and Wisconsin legislative leaders, he considered what drove him and others to seek leadership roles.   Moe described the “enormously fulfilling” process of being asked what he thought about bills, issues, and outcomes of debates.  “That’s constant reinforcement,” he explained.  “People take what legislators are saying seriously and as fact.”

In order to bring citizens into the process of governance and to relieve tension in debate, he encourages legislators to turn around and pose the same question to each other and to their constituents.  Asking this question is a technique that serves both legislators and citizens.  “It compliments them,” Moe said, “and lets them know that their opinions are worth something.  It also educates the asker.  As a legislator I would sit back and listen and try to glean common themes from what people had to say.  If you can find common themes or denominators in what people from different sides have to say, you can find the basis for resolution.”

Roger Moe was recently featured along with other former state leaders in an article, “Partisanship in the New Legislature,” in the January 2007 issues of NCSL’s State Legislatures magazine.  He currently sits on the board of PCI.  Moe will continue to educate leaders on his four magic words when he participates in a March workshop for Ohio legislators in Columbus sponsored by the Ohio Commission on Dispute Resolution.

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PCI On-Line Forum: Join a Discussion on How to Incorporate Training in Collaborative Processes

As part of PCI’s new bulletin board for university-based centers and other programs involved in promoting collaborative governance practices, PCI Forum will host the first of its moderated discussions from Monday, January 29th to Friday, February 9th.

The topic of the discussion is “Incorporating Training in Collaborative Processes: In Search of Best Practices.” Steve Smutko will moderate. Steve is at the Department of Agricultural & Resource Economics at North Carolina State University and directs the Natural Resources Leadership Institute. He is both a practitioner and a teacher/trainer in collaborative problem solving.

Questions to consider are: How do we help stakeholders learn how to collaborate?  How does one fit education opportunities into a deliberative process?  What skills and concepts should be taught?

Contribute your experiences and lessons you have to share with others over the course of the two weeks.  PCI Forum can be accessed through the PCI website.

Contact the PCI for more information.

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PCI to Hold Conferences for University Centers in April and June

This year PCI will hold two workshops for university centers on the east coast and west coast. As we have done for the past ten years, these workshops provide university centers, and other state programs focused on collaborative problem solving, an opportunity to build their capacity with regard to the services, research, education, and training they offer to public leaders and others for the use of collaborative approaches to governance.

The first workshop, on the west coast, will take place April 26th and 27th in Seattle. The Ruckelshaus Center, a joint effort of the University of Washington and Washington State University, will host the conference in partnership with PCI.

The workshop will begin at 9:00 am on Thursday, April 26th and continue Friday, April 27th from 9:00am to 2:00pm.  An opening reception will be held the evening of Wednesday, April 25th. Watch the PCI website for registration information.

For university programs on the east coast, PCI is planning a workshop in conjunction with the Association for Conflict Resolution’s Environment and Public Policy Conference. While dates and location are not firm at this writing, we expect the meeting to occur in June. Watch the February E News for more info.

Contact PCI for more information.

 

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