MPA Program Life Advice

As you might remember from my last post, I'm taking 3 classes through the University of Colorado, and one of them is an elective called Managing Conflict & Change. The main reason I signed up for this class is because it seemed so helpful for literally anyone to study, not just public managers. Who among us couldn't benefit from a little more conversation and reading about how to handle conflict situations and major change processes? After all, both are unavoidable.

This is a snippet from one of our online lectures this week. Technically, it's a list of "rules of thumb" for change agents, but it struck me as a lovely little set of advice for just about anyone. So here's my advice, as a newly born change leader, in case any of you might be encouraged by it in your various endeavors right now.

• Stay alive - no self sacrifice. You won't be any use to anyone if you're dead and burned out.
• Start where the system is - diagnose and understand.
• Work downhill.
• In terms of managing, be at the top when you can, and at the bottom when you should.
• Be a coach to help others solve their own problems.
• Facilitate, don’t “carry messages”, when there is conflict.
• Organize, but don’t over-organize.
• Don’t argue if you can’t win: Win/lose strategies deepen conflict and should be avoided.
• Load experiments for success.
• Light many fires - don’t just work in one subsystem.
• Experience is invaluable - learn by doing.
• Understand patterns of interdependency.
• Think fast and act fast, but still reflect on your experiences. This is the best way to learn.
• Want to change.
• Accept responsibility; blame no one.
• Don’t wait for perfection - just good enough is good enough.
• Surround yourself with people.
• You can’t make a difference without doing things differently.
• Keep your optimistic bias.
• Be patient.
• Be ready to seize the moment!

Happy Wednesday, friends!