EDGE: The Framework for Civic Leadership (Session 2)

This 3 hour session on Tuesday evening covered several topics.  We were asked about our expectations of the speaker.  In this manner he was reversing the expectation on the audience in order to engage them in the program.  A comment was made that this was "a room full of leaders" and that we were among our peers.  Then we were asked how this constrains the speaker.  Comments to this were that he was in a risky position as he was not allowed to fail.  Others offered that the speaker would need to be impressive but also humble and was required to be an expert as well as a facilitator.  One of the most impressive quotes that I shall take with me was - "Authority is a title and leadership is an action."  Leadership is mobilizing others to handle difficult situations.  A leader provides "protection, direction, and order in exchange for cooperation."

We talked about perspective and emotional safety.  Comfort and trust are very different from one another.  A leader needs to address a situation or issue that is uncomfortable enough to motivate change, but must be comfortable with the people in order for them to take action.  Leadership is an activity that creates action leading to progress.

We then broke up into groups with assigned factions - verbal, reflective, non-profit, authority figures, outsiders (of Newton), native Newtonians, liberal political views, conservative political views, educators, health care, traditionalists, newbies, environmentalists, etc.  Our group addressed this from the viewpoint of a non-profit.  This somewhat surprised me as both the Chief of Police and the Fire Chief were at my table.  We were to determine the core values, loyalties, and risks taken by those in a non-profit leadership position.  Values were:  model ethical behavior; safety of our clients/citizens; service to others being valued more than money; and by practicing these we achieve personal well-being.  Loyalties were dedication: to community; to the organization's mission; and to heritage and structure.  Risks of making a poor decision that faced those in this group were: loss of funding; loss of of public support/community backing; loss of resources (including quality personnel); loss of esteem/reputation; and loss of relationships.

As you can see this was a rather in depth discussion.  The approach of those who provide this training makes one uncomfortable in the beginning, but toward the end of the session one is able to understand what they were trying to get at.  I will have to miss the third session tomorrow morning as I will be attending a meeting of the Clean 19 with Newton's City Engineer & Director of Public Works, but I will attend the fourth and final session.  I hope this has given you something to ponder.