Micromanaging, priorities, aginners were topics at Fort Smith board retreat

Ron Holifield conducted an almost 7-hour retreat Saturday (April 16) with the bottom-line purpose of encouraging the Fort Smith Board of Directors to make decisions that are vision driven, evidence based and focused on long-term gains.

Part of that encouragement included Holifield suggesting that a fully functioning board of directors working for a corporation or a city does not micromanage the paid employees.

Holifield, with Keller, Texas-based Strategic Government Resources, previously served as assistant city manager in Plano, Texas, as well as city manager in Garland, DeSoto, Farmersville and Sundown, and on the city manager’s staff in Lubbock. In 1996, he left city management and purchased Government Relations Specialists which he grew into the 49th largest lobby firm in Texas, before selling it to an employee. Holifield was paid $5,000 for his work prior to the retreat, his facilitating the retreat, and follow-up work.

MICROMANAGING
During the retreat, held in the visitors center at Lake Fort Smith State Park, Holifield used a boat analogy to make his point. He said the temptation of an unhealthy board is to “leave the pilot house and go tinker in the engine room.” He said when members of a board take their hands off the pilot-house wheel to go down to engine room, “the ship begins to go in circles.”

Holifield interviewed the directors and the directors conducted an online “Team Dimensions Assessment” report with Holifield prior to the retreat. City Director George Catsavis did not participate in the phone interviews, online assessment and did not attend the retreat. (The City Wire will follow up Monday on why Catsavis did not participate.)

“That is a huge issue based on the interviews you provided,” Holifield said of the board micromanaging city staff. Continuing, Holifield said if the board will “quit jacking around on the little decisions,” they will create time to “focus on the big stuff.”

Holifield’s assessment did not get an objection from the six city directors — Andre Good, Don Hutchings, Philip Merry, Kevin Settle, Steve Tyler, Pam Weber — and Fort Smith Mayor Sandy Sanders. Only two members of the public attended the retreat — David Harris and Richard Griffin.

EFFECTIVE BOARDS AND AGINNERS
According to Holifield, following are the characteristics of effective boards:
• Takes a broad view of complex issues and doesn’t seek perfection on every issues;
• Helps keep organization focused on mission, vision and core values;
• Emphasizes strategic planning and priorities;
• Holds staff accountable; and,
• Willing to lead despite opposition, but with a good evaluation of the cost of decisions.

He said the “two great challenges” to effective board action are CAVE men (Citizens Against Virtually Everything) and “Articulate Incompetents.” CAVE men and women place greater emphasis on highlighting problems than finding solutions, Holifield said. He said it is easy to succumb to the CAVE message because “those who destroy will always outnumber” those who build because building is more difficult.

The articulate incompetents “make doing the wrong thing sound so right,” he said. The job of the board is to not allow the articulate incompetents to paint a picture of the world that is not evidence based.

Holifield also said the “aginners,” a combination of CAVE men and articulate incompetents, will often dumb down the decision-making process to “the here and now” instead of what is good for the long-term.

“The aginners may be right, but the board has to decide if they are right for long-term reasons and not just the here and now,” Holifield said.

The population of almost every city is comprised of 20% of people who love the board and individual board members no matter what they do, 20% who will not love the board no matter what it does and 60% in the middle who are more focused on getting Johnny to the soccer game on time than what the board is doing.

Furthermore, he said if one person shows up at a board meeting to complain, it is an issue, but if three people show up with the same complaint, “it becomes a mandate from the people.”

He challenged the board members to not let a small, vocal minority guide the direction of a $200 million entity. A $200 million business would not automatically change company policy just because three customers complained.

“The bottom line is you are on the board of a $200 million corporation. You gotta act like it,” Holifield said.

‘HATE FILLED’
Holifield said he has worked within or consulted local governments for 30 years and has never seen this “kind of hate-filled environment.” He said the increase in citizen anxiety is part of the problem.

“Most of the dynamic we have going on today is rooted in fear,” he said, adding that humans have a natural tendency to “interpret the unknown in the scariest possible scenario.”

In that environment, one of the biggest challenges of a board is to “protect the integrity of the process” because that protection creates an environment in which significant disagreement one one issue doesn’t create long-lasting divisions. He said one of the best boards he worked with “fought like cats and dogs,” but when a decision was made, they “stuck together and closed ranks because the integrity of the process” was more important than who won the debate.

“Unfortunately, our political discourse has become more about wins and losses than good civic leadership … that plans for 50 years down the road,” Holifield said.

BOARD INTERVIEW RESULTS
Holifield said he was pleasantly surprised at the “expression of anxiety” about not working well together from the six Fort Smith directors who participated in the phone interviews. He said that they are worried about it means they recognize the problem and want to fix it.

“That’s real positive. Very helpful,” Holifield explained. “A ton of elected bodies would kill for this kind of across-the-board response.”

He then outlined six common themes from the interviews with the six directors and Mayor Sanders.

• Board operating rules and processes
The board wants more “thoughtful dialogue,” with the ability to “disagree effectively.” They also want to quit focusing on small issues and personal agendas and eliminate “gamesmanship with each other.”

• Building the trust of citizens
The board members realize this starts with building trust with each other, seeking higher accountability from staff to perform at the highest levels and more effective citizen communications.

• Operational effectiveness
Several board members discussed the need to review the city’s hire-fire authority, and the operational effectiveness of each city department needs to be assessed.

• Governance structure
The board wants to clarify the role and responsibility of mayor and board in relation to the authority of the city administrator.

• Economic health
Higher wage and high-tech jobs are needed in the area, according to the board interviews. The city is not effectively engaging younger professionals, is not doing all it can to use Fort Smith history to promote tourism and needs to do more to develop the riverfront and make downtown Fort Smith a destination.

• Specific projects
Projects on which the board should devote more time include the U.S. Marshals Museum, sewer drainage issues, the Fort Smith Convention Center, the 1% prepared food tax issue and sidewalks.

BOARD PRIORITIES
The six directors and Mayor Sanders then identified more than 20 priority items for the city in 2011 and beyond.

Priorities, in no particular order, included:
• Quality of place issues designed to address young professionals;
• Pursuing a “Vision 2020” plan;
• Ben Geren Park improvements in conjunction with Sebastian County;
• Clarifying the city’s role in regional economic development;
• Funding and construction of Interstate 49;
• Fire station improvements;
• Recruiting higher-wage, higher-tech jobs; and,
• More riverfront and downtown development.

The board agreed to gather within the next 30 days for the sole purpose of clarifying and prioritizing the list.