Crosby B.C., Bryson J.M. - Leadership for the Common Good (2005)(en)

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•Good reason to believe a powerful, winning coalition can be formed to support the solution.

Criteria related to ethical implications may include these:

•High likelihood that the solution will improve individual lives

•High likelihood that the solution will undo a system of oppression

•High likelihood that the solution will strengthen the community

•High likelihood that the solution will benefit future generations

•High likelihood that the solution will benefit the global ecosystem

•Low likelihood that the solution will produce irreparable damage or irremediable harm to some stakeholders

Amass Evidence for Evaluation

Second, decide how much time and money to put into developing evidence that can be used to assess solution options against these criteria. Consider constructing “logic models” (Millar, Simeone, and Carnevale, 2001; Poister, 2003), which clearly articulate the presumed connection among solution inputs, processes, outputs, and outcomes (short-term, intermediate, and long-term) to help figure out what evidence is necessary in determining whether or not the logic actually holds.

For example, sophisticated computer modeling may be helpful in determining which options are most likely to produce desired outcomes, but you may have resources to develop only a fairly simple systems model on the basis of the data you have gathered. At the same time, if the consequences of choosing a poor option are going to be serious, you should strive to find the time and money for thorough analysis. Military planners in the Bush administration considered a variety of solutions in 2002 for removing Saddam Hussein from power. The option they selected—armed invasion of Iraq—resulted in a fairly quick military victory but produced additional problems for which they were ill-prepared. In this case, the consequences of not thinking through a variety of scenarios for the aftermath of war were high indeed (Rieff, 2003; Fallows, 2004).

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Stafford Beer offers a compelling argument for using computer simulations to test policies: “This is to take an experimental approach to policy making, doing the experiments in the laboratory of the control room. So instead of experimenting on the poor old nation, and discovering ten years later that your policy was wrong, you can test and discard a dozen wrong policies by lunchtime without hurting anyone. After lunch maybe you will find a good policy” (1974, p. 45).

Of course, not everything can be turned into a computerized simulation. Another approach is developing action scenarios (Myers and Kitsuse, 2000; Van der Heijden and others, 2002), in which you rehearse the implications of implementing solutions. Rehearsal allows you to avoid really stupid mistakes and fine-tune solutions so they have a greater chance of success. It also keeps you from being blindsided by things that should be apparent but only become obvious after thinking through a chain of events.

There are no magic formulas for the right mix of solutions, especially what should be done by government, business, and nonprofits. Political scientist Don Kettl (2000) describes a worldwide trend of depending on government for policy making and a few core functions while farming out more and more service delivery and decision making to nonprofits, businesses, and individuals. Carol Lewis (1991) has developed an ethical analysis grid to reveal when government remedies are justified. Use of the grid helps fulfill both deontological (duty-based) and teleological (resultsoriented) obligations. Results of the analysis should indicate which proposals or options for a government remedy should be eliminated or altered on ethical grounds. A somewhat modified version of the grid she proposes is found in Figure 8.2. The process for using the grid is simply to fill it out as a team and discuss the results. It may be wise to involve others in this discussion as well. In general, Lewis’s admonition is to pursue the common good and avoid doing harm.

You may well decide that a formal collaboration among businesses, government, and nonprofits should be established to carry out some of the solutions you are considering. If formal collaboration becomes a part of the solution set, be sure to consider the transaction costs of establishing and maintaining it in your evaluation of its usefulness. (Chapter Eleven offers more guidance about managing formal collaboration.)

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Don’t forget that art can be part of the solution set. Fiction, film, sculpture, music, drama, and documentaries all have the power to assist and enact a new way of dealing with a public problem. The AIDS quilt that toured the United States for many years comes to mind, as do the growing number of feature films depicting the romantic lives of older adults.

Constructing and Communicating a Compelling Vision

All your research and evaluation may come to naught unless you develop a compelling vision that helps people see what a better future will be like and how to get there. We offer four suggestions for doing this.

First, remember that a compelling public vision is essentially a communal story that links past, present, and future. It helps community members think about what should be preserved and what should be created. It illuminates public problems and their causes, while projecting feasible and inspiring means of achieving solutions that can produce a better collective future. You can use such methods as future search and scenario building to develop a vision—a convincing story of why and how policy change should be enacted. Ideally, the story helps policy makers feel compelled to act on the issue and advance the common good.

Second, ensure that the vision incorporates:

•Strong images of the past, present, and future

•Empirical information (forecasts, surveys, and models) that tie the images together (Myers and Kitsuse, 2000)

The storyline of the vision should be consistent, testable, and actionable, and lead to “a morally acceptable position.” Additionally, it should be beautiful—that is, full of “grace, subtlety, elegance, or interest” (Schön and Rein, 1994, pp. 4–5). Even in informal communication, Jan Hively offers such a storyline. For example, in an e-mail message to one of us, she wrote about the problem of ageism and the need for revolutionary changes:

What’s an example of ageism? The Census Bureau and all state planning agencies label all people under the age of 16 and over

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the age of 65 as dependents! Even the Project 2030 Report shows how the “Ratio of Dependency” will increase with the aging of the population. The entire system of public services for older adults is focused on providing health and human services to meet the needs of the frail elderly. There is an increasing need for those services, because of the increased longevity of the overall population, but the fact is that over 75% of older adults report that they are healthy and active up into their 80s. Their productivity and contributions are limited, however, by the ageism of our culture—reflected in their expectations for themselves, their children’s expectations

for them, and the barriers set up by public and private institutions based on societal expectations (timing of retirement packages, organizational frameworks for volunteering, care facilities that cultivate dependency, seniors-only retirement communities,

etc.) . . . We are seeking a revolution. The task is to shift from a needs-based system to a strengths-based system—encouraging vital involvement through to the last breath (Hively, personal communication, July 2003).

This message is a good example of using just enough data to back up one’s assertions but not enough to overshadow the passion behind them.

Third, disseminate the vision through various media: reports, speeches, books, CDs, videotapes, Websites, news coverage, posters, performances, and other art. You might make a compilation of research data available separately, as in the AAMP. As they make speeches, hold press conferences, and participate in debates and discussion, members of your coalition also act as exemplars. Thus the members of the WBCSD present themselves as the eco-efficient businesspeople they hope will be the wave of the future. African American men who are spreading the word about the AAMP are examples of the African American community’s contribution to government, business, and nonprofit organizations in Hennepin County. Several founders of the Vital Aging Network are models of productive older adults.

A report or book outlining the vision and presenting supporting examples and other evidence is often a useful foundation for the dissemination strategy. One or more drafts of the report should be prepared for review by the entrepreneurial team, coordinating

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the previous phase. The team helps its advocacy coalition develop criteria for assessing the technical and administrative feasibility, legality, political acceptability, and ethical implications of solution components. The team emphasizes the usefulness of selecting a widely supported family of solutions that can bring strong leverage for systemic change. In particular, these policy entrepreneurs pay attention to how institutions such as schools, churches, government agencies, and nonprofit organizations should be designed or redesigned to help stabilize policy change.

Throughout this phase, policy entrepreneurs seek, through the wise design and use of forums, to raise public awareness of the problem and promising solutions. The entrepreneurs aim to expand the advocacy coalition and turn the problem into an issue— a problem connected to at least one solution that has pros and cons from the viewpoint of various stakeholders. They offer a conceptual framework for understanding the issue and develop a compelling vision to prompt enthusiasm and hope for change. Finally, they want to ensure that relevant policy makers in legislative, executive, and administrative arenas are aware of a growing demand for their attention to the issue so that they will be receptive to the specific policy proposals to be developed in the next phase.

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The desired outcomes of this phase include:

•A draft policy or plan (or more likely more than one) for review by official decision makers in the next phase

•A revised proposal draft incorporating constructive modifications, prompted by stakeholder interests and concerns

•Identification of necessary resources for implementing the proposal once it is adopted

•Clear indication that the necessary coalition exists to ensure adoption and implementation of the proposal

•Shared belief among involved parties that the policy change achieves their mutual goals and is a mutual endeavor

Draft Policies and Plans

In drafting a policy or plan for consideration in a formal arena, the entrepreneurial team must constantly keep in mind which arenas are likely to have not only jurisdiction over the proposed policy change but also the most favorable political dynamics: supportive people in key positions, decision making procedures that maximize the coalition’s clout, and access rules that allow coalition members to be influential. The team should seek to tailor the policies and plans to the specific arenas considering them. For example, as Hively and her partners sought funding from the University of Minnesota for the Vital Aging Network, they were careful to include in their proposal evidence of how the network would fulfill the research, teaching, and service missions of the university. The steering committee of the African American Men Project, in presenting its report and recommendations to the Hennepin County Board of Commissioners, gave credit to Commissioner Stenglein for inspiring the project and acknowledged the support of the entire board. The report outlined specific steps that county government should take “to support the mutual success of young African American men and other stakeholders” (Hennepin County, 2002, p. 10). It also avoided putting the sole burden on county government by emphasizing the steps that other stakeholders—the men themselves, other government bodies, businesses, churches, non- profits—need to take. By linking the success of young African American men to the well-being of Hennepin County, the report