Serious People Grappling with a Serious Issue

On Saturday morning I attended a planning retreat sponsored by the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (PRTC).  The goals of the retreat were to review service and funding challenges. 

First, some background. PRTC provides commuter bus service.  PRTC is a multi-jurisdictional agency representing Prince William, Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties and the Cities of Manassas, Manassas Park and Fredericksburg. 

I will not bore you with details of the objectives, but rather discuss the process and the participants.  

Approximately 45 people attended the retreat.  Attendees included local elected officials, state elected officials, PRTC board members and alternates, PRTC staff, and several other people from various stakeholder organizations.  In addition, five speakers from the pubic and private sectors were invited to offer local and regional observations.  

One key component is the PRTC staff retained a team of professional facilitators.  As one of the five speakers, I appreciated that the facilitators drafted my PowerPoint and requested a pre-discussion to gain my perspective.  Based on our discussion, the PowerPoint in another section was revised.  In fact, I believe I saw the 4th draft of the PowerPoint used during the retreat.  The background materials sent out a week before were very helpful. The agenda was clear, complete with time allocations per session.  The list of attendees was broken down so you could tell who was who and with which organization. You could tell considerable time and resources were expended for this retreat.  

It is what happen after the five speakers presented that truly impressed me.  The elected officials were engaged. Other participants offered suggestions and questions.  The facilitator and the PRTC chair kept the group on track and equally important, on time.  My sense was these people were serious about the problems and serious about the potential solutions.  

Often times I hear constant and uniformed complaints from people who do not vote or rarely participate in the government process. They complain about the service, the cost, the delivery, the resource allocation, etc.  You probably experienced it too.  

On this day, 45 people gave up their Saturday morning to learn, exchange ideas, discuss, and hopefully resolve several complex challenges.  As a group, they listened, they took notes, they asked, they commented, they offered ideas.  And at the end, agreed to do this again. 

This is how government improves.  Good people (elected officials, private sector and stakeholders) seeking viable solutions.  Consider it the "blocking and tackling" of good government. It is often unseen and seldom noted. But it makes a difference on so many levels. 

Dependence on Electronics

Unlike most people, I do not take my cell phone with me everywhere I go. I do not access it except for news and a couple of social media sites.  In fact, I turn off the 4G when I am at work.

My Kindle is a different story.  A Kindle is an electronic reading device. 

On the other hand, I usually take my Kindle with me when I think I might have time to read.  So I take it to work almost every day, and when I go places and think I might have some free time. For example, when I take the Metro into DC, I usually take my Kindle and read.  Or when I take the VRE train I take my Kindle.  It allows me to take a break.  

However, on Friday I opened my Kindle and got a disturbing message.  It was something like "battery is critically low".  So I plugged it in for over 18 hours and no change. I could not get access to my books or business magazines.  It really concerned me.  

In addition, I went on line and found several excellent suggestions.  One was doing a hard reset.  I found out I had not held the switch long enough. I also called the Kindle help number. She was very helpful and offered the same advice. 

In the end, the hard reset worked.  However, it was a trying time.  My Kindle is my lifeline to business publications and my books.  I realized how dependent I am on that device.  

Cell phones (if you pay for it) and most other devices have alternatives or backups. For example, if you are trying to access other websites and your laptop is not working, you can try another one.  Redundancy is a very positive aspect of technology today.  Of course you must do backups of your hard drive (frankly I am surprised how few people actually do this).

My Kindle does not offer an easy way to access content from another device.  Yes, I can buy one, but I will have a wait of several days for it to arrive.  Unlike a new phone, which you can generally buy a new one on the same day the old one is lost or stops working.  

Reading is a passion for me personally and professionally. Not having it readily available was a shock and made me feel uncomfortable.  It would be like the only library in a city where I lived burned down.  No access to books, magazines and journals for me or anyone else.  

Unfortunately, I do not know the answer. My Kindle is at least 8 years old. I love it. Unlike most tablets, it is not back-lit so the battery lasts for days or even weeks if you do not turn on the 3G service. I like the brand and the selection of books, magazines and journals. In addition, I can underline key points or quotes, and clip articles.

Of course I will persevere when or if it happens again. Now I realize this is a minor concern to most people. In many respects, they are right.  However, I ask you to go without something you have that gives you pleasure.  It can be a real challenge. 

The Importance of Mentorship

Forbes magazine did an excellent series of stories on mentor ship.  It is one of the most comprehensive sets I have encountered.  It is titled "Secrets of the Trade: Mentors, Protégés and Guides for Growth." And a very valuable secret it is too.

You will find pieces on the types of mentors, examples from several disciplines (boxing, college coaching, business and NASA), career advice and even how to find a mentor. 

For the economic development profession, this is a very important point. I was very fortunate to have a mentor who was patient, understanding, and enjoyed teaching. Equally important, he is a leader is the profession.  He was also my first boss, Wayne Sterling.

Wayne used to say economic development is the second highest calling, right behind helping one find God.  I think he is right. Helping someone find job is so important in ways I cannot describe, but definitely know. 

From a practical stand point, my mentor helped me understand the politics of projects, the way key stakeholders look at a project or initiative, how to frame discussion and decision memos, a succinct document is far more preferable, and read about business and industry (they are your customers). In addition, he taught me that empirical data is superior to almost anything else and that the client's perception really does matter.  Finally, and most important, economic developers must justify decisions by others (after all, it is their money).  

Economic development is not a typical profession. If you look at an overwhelming number of college and university catalogs, you will not see courses taught in economic development.  We do have week long courses and even EDI.  When you take your first job and it is in economic development, you will find literature, but the practical nuts and bolts are missing. Mentor ship can bridge this gap. 

Mentor ship is designed to help new employees navigate uncharted waters.  A mentor will help you with short cuts, time savers and be a sounding board for your challenges.  Experience counts.  Good mentors share it. Mine certainly did. 

We talk a lot about mentors and continued education, but as a nation and as a profession, I see it lacking.  Mentoring takes time and energy, but well worth it.  It needs to be structured.  Perhaps a challenge is people do not know how to be a mentor.  On the other side of the coin, perhaps the mentoree needs to understand the value of his/her mentors' time.  I think of unsuccessful intern programs as I write this sentence. 

However, I suspect an additional challenge in the economic development profession is the lack of a critical mass.  Usually, the number of economic development professionals in a city or county is limited. An exception is the location of the state economic development program.  

So, is it necessary for a mentor to be in the same profession? No, but a complimentary one is certainly desired.  As a profession, we need to develop mentors and mentoring.  

In conclusion, I am a better economic developer and a better person because of my mentor. My hope is all economic developers have the same experience. 

Link to the series:

http://www.forbes.com/secrets-of-the-trade/