By Angela Andrews
What does whitewater rafting, breaking out of an escape room and taking a theoretical trip on the road to Abilene have in common?
They were all programs at the 2017 Legislative Staff Management Institute, where emerging and current legislative staff leaders learned about leadership (rafting), teamwork (escape room), group decision-making (road to Abilene), negotiation, diversity, emotional intelligence, ethics, organizational culture and effective management.
The Legislative Staff Management Institute (LSMI) is an eight-day intensive professional development program for legislative staff who are seeking the opportunity to develop and enhance their management and leadership skills. It is co-directed by The University of Southern California Sol Price School of Public Policy and the California State University Sacramento Center for California Studies.
The 2017 LSMI cohort consisted of more than 40 legislative staff. A cross section of legislative staff roles and responsibilities were represented, from IT to fiscal staff, legislative lawyers and researchers to clerks, program evaluators and leadership staff. Some were managers, others were not, but each attendee had two things in common: 1) commitment to the legislative institution and 2) a desire to develop their leadership and management skills.
Mark Pulliam, multimedia services specialist in Kentucky’s Legislative Research Commission, attended LSMI to broaden his skillset and to take advantage of a leadership opportunity that “hasn’t always been open to IT staff.” While Pulliam doesn’t have a formal management role in the LRC, he does take on leadership responsibilities when he’s tasked as a project manager for various LRC projects.
Similar to Pulliam, Sara Parrish, counsel to the clerk in South Carolina, attended LSMI for “the professional development, leadership skills, and management processes portions of the conference, and to develop relationships with other professionals in similar careers.” Parrish says her biggest LSMI takeaway is listening to others and tuning into what they are saying, so she can effectively craft her response. Pulliam credits the negotiation workshop for helping him to think about a negotiation process and the “give-and-take needed to effectively work out an issue with a group of people.”
Attending the Legislative Staff Management Institute is a profound professional development experience that stays with legislative staff for their entire legislative career, and beyond.
Parrish summarizes the lasting impact of LSMI: “I have moments almost every day where I think, “this reminds me of insert-the-memory at LSMI.” I keep my notebook where I can see it so I’m reminded of the people I met, the skills I learned, and to be reminded of the really cool network of people around the country who help our elected leaders shape policy and run our governments.”
Angela Andrews is a program director in NCSL’s Legislative Staff Services Program, which provides strategic, programmatic and administrative support to the staff professional organizations of NCSL and develop training and information programs for the nation's more than 30,000 legislative staff. She is also a graduate of the 2017 Legislative Staff Management Institute.
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