Events at the NCSL Spring Forum
April 24-26, 2008
Washington, D.C.
Thursday, April 24
Network Luncheon
Many thanks go to Dennis Brown, of the Equipment Leasing and Finance Association, for hosting an informational luncheon about the Network Alliance. Dennis worked with Alliance Chair Jackie Clark to invite state government relations professionals who were interested in learning more about the Network. Network board members Rep. Rosie Berger, Sen. Capri Cafaro and Rep. Peggy Welch discussed the value they’ve received from their experiences with the Network, as did the NCSL past president, Sen. Leticia Van de Putte. The current Alliance sponsors in attendance talked about why they believe in supporting the Network and the benefits of doing so. The group also watched the Network video, Resolution: Women, Power and Change in America.
Have You Heard? A Women's Health Networking Reception
More than 60 legislators and legislative staff gathered to relax and talk about the health policy issues that were hot topics during the 2008 session. Bonnie Washington, the Vice President for Health Policy with Novartis Pharmaceuticals, the sponsor of NCSL's project, welcomed attendees. She talked about Novartis' commitment to supporting NCSL's work with legislators who devise innovative public policy solutions for some of the biggest women's health challenges, including supporting patients living with chronic diseases, reaching underserved populations, and ensuring that women are adequately represented in major medical studies. NCSL is pleased to introduce legislators to the project who have not previously been involved, and we hope that you will continue to visit the website and call us with women's health policy questions. Visit the project website for more information.
Friday, April 25
Mentoring: Getting Good Guidance
Cosponsored with NCSL's Legislative Effectiveness Committee
(l-r: Rep. Berger, Sen. Van de Putte, Marti Harkness, Rep. Tingelstad)
Mentoring programs can give legislators and staff important help in adjusting to life in the legislature. A mentor can help you learn the ropes, avoid pitfalls and begin building the types of relationships that you need to be successful. This session emphasized how to make your mentoring programs practical and valuable.
Moderator: Representative Kathy Tingelstad, Minnesota
Presenters: Senator Leticia Van de Putte, Texas
Marti Harkness, Staff Director, Office of Program Policy and Governmental Accountability (OPPAGA), Florida
Representative Rosie Berger, Wyoming
Sen. Leticia Van de Putte shared some of the differences between legislative mentoring programs in various states and emphasized how crucial it is for a freshman legislator to learn from someone who’s ‘been there.’ Among the important things for a mentor to explain are expected behavior and decorum, how to work with the other legislative body, how to balance legislative work with constituent work, tips for talking to the media and how to use one’s legislative authority to convene a group of people to work on an issue.
Marti Harkness discussed his office’s comprehensive mentoring program for new staff. The purpose of a workplace mentoring program is to help a new employee become familiar with the work environment and proficient with the work skills so that he or she can work efficiently, productively, and contentedly. All new employees at OPPAGA are assigned a social mentor, who helps them through initial orientation activities and acclimates them to the workplace environment, and a skills mentor, who introduces them to actual job tasks and evaluates initial performance. Marti cautioned against common mentoring mistakes, including overemphasizing tradition and history, and being patronizing, cynical or divisive.
Rep. Rosie Berger, a Network board member, said that the task of a mentor is to find the greatness within people and to help them realize it. A mentor should be accessible, trustworthy and interested in what their protégé has to contribute. Mentoring can strengthen the legislative institution, improve policymaking and improve constituent services. Mentoring relationships have been a successful component of the Wyoming Women’s Caucus, as members have been able to put aside party differences to work on institutional skills trainings.
The Legislator-Citizen Connection: How to Run a Great Town Hall Meeting
Cosponsored with NCSL's Legislative Effectiveness Committee
Trainer: Frank Spillers, Co-owner, Global Horizons, Iowa
Frank Spillers, the co-owner of a consulting company in Iowa, described the advantages of conducting legislative town hall meetings that emphasize citizen discussion and the role of listener for the legislator. The town hall meeting can engage a broad group of citizens in a thoughtful discussion of an issue and identify common ground on that issue. In Frank’s view, these community conversations are not public hearings, lectures or the presentation of clear-cut plans. Rather, they offer a chance for citizens to talk with each other, working through the issue and weighing pros, cons, strengths and weaknesses. This approach helps groups reach more satisfactory and collegial results, with citizens feeling a part of their future. Town hall meetings should be a place where people feel welcome, comfortable, understood and appreciated.
Frank offered examples of deliberative questions for facilitators to use at town hall meetings:
Personal Stake:
- How has this issue affected you personally?
- Has anyone had a personal experience that illustrates this problem?
- Within your family or circle of friends, is this an important issue?
- What makes this issue real for us?
Value:
- What things are most valuable to people who support this option?
- What is appealing about this option?
- What makes this option a good idea - or a bad one?
Fair Hearing:
- What do you like most/least about this choice?
- It sounds like you feel strongly in support of/against this choice. What about this choice troubles/appeals to you?
- What is the strongest argument against/in favor of this choice?
- Phrased in a positive light, what seems to be most important to those who are attracted to this choice?
Costs & Consequences:
- What would result from doing what this option proposes?
- What could be the consequences of doing what this option suggests?
- What costs are at stake and can we live with them?
- Would you give up_____ in order to achieve_____?
- What trade-offs are you willing or not willing to make?
Tensions/Conflicts:
- What do you see as the tensions between the options?
- Where are the conflicts that grow out of what we've said about this issue?
- Why is this issue so difficult to decide?
- What are the "gray areas?"
- What remains unsolved for this group?
Common Ground:
- What direction seems best, or where do we want to go with this?
- What trade-offs are we willing to accept? What trade-offs are we unwilling to accept?
- What common ground can we detect in this group to provide guidance to policymakers?
- What are we willing to do as individuals or a community?
- What actions did you hear that you sensed we could not accept or live with?
- What seemed important to all of us?
- Have we come to some common ground to support certain actions? What are those actions?
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