Supervising in a Political Environment
The void between elected officials and government-employed technical experts widens with each layer of management. The gap often creates a separation between reasonable policy decisions and the individuals employed to implement and enforce those policies. This separation intensifies when a new cadre of elected officials begins to fulfill campaign promises and develop relationships with individuals and community groups.
Workers are seldom aware of the delicate relationships between elected officials and the constituencies that support them - citizens, taxpayers, voters, and campaign contributors. Elected officials are seldom able to connect water pipes, plan urban developments, or engineer highways. In the real world, elected officials and senior managers need the technical expertise of professionals, paraprofessionals, and skilled labor - just as much as workers need designated leaders.
- What does a manager or organizational leader do when her or his personal values and passions are at odds with policies or practices they are expected to implement or enforce?
- How does an organizational leader balance Technical Expertise (for which they may be highly skilled and elected officials are often clueless) with Political Expertise (for which they are often clueless and elected officials may be highly skilled)?
- How does a first-line supervisor, manager, director, or department head cope with the inherent conflicts of (personally) supporting a particular political philosophy or ideology and working for elected officials whose "politics" differ dramatically from their own?
This interactive workshop helps first line supervisors, managers, and directors learn the ethical boundaries of exercising their technical expertise within an often politically charged work environment. Participants learn how to balance technical skills with political skills – and to do so without violating chains of command. They learn how to develop personal relationships with policy and decision makers, so that policies may more closely match internal capabilities.
An elected official from the jurisdiction in which the workshop takes place is invited to join the session to present her or his assessment of the underlying technical and political issues.
This session is instructed by a management consultant who covered government and politics as a reporter for a metropolitan daily newspaper (eight years) and later served as a municipal government manager.