Disengaged

 

Cook County officials recently concluded their series of Town Hall Meetings on the proposed 2019 budget. According to the press release, posted on the county’s website, County Administrator Jeff Cadwell, “encourage[d] residents to engage in the budget process as Cook County works toward setting the preliminary 2019 levy . . . an opportunity to ask questions and provide input to commissioners,” as he enticingly framed it.

So why did so few of the county’s taxpayers choose to show up?

Certainly, there exists the likelihood that many of the county’s residents were not aware the meetings were being held; or, could it be because many have chosen to disengage themselves from a process they believe to be nothing more than “window dressing” . . . held, primarily, for the purpose of crafting a favorable impression: depicting the “appearance of inclusion”?

Sad to say, there are those who have come to discern there is no sense in spending any more valuable time on something that will only prove to be unproductive–recall last year’s budget proceedings when people did show up. It was a packed Truth-in-Taxation meeting during which taxpaying citizens were made to feel less than welcome, if they did not tout the proposed 2018 levy . . . a levy which turned out to be the highest levy passed–by any group of commissioners–among Minnesota’s 87 counties.

Is it any wonder people have grown disillusioned, disenfranchised and, therefore, have disengaged?

As one taxpayer expressed, “They are insulting and condescending.”

“Why bother with this, meetings, etc., when the board doesn’t respond or even attempt to make changes. Rather, they spin facts, and promote themselves,” chided another.

“They should check their egos at the door, and ensure they subjugate their own personal agendas to what the community as a whole has to say.”

“Our county commissioners are not representing the majority of people that don’t carry the same views as their own. They only listen to the few that want all the handouts.”

“Our interfaces with county government have been frustrating, to say the least. We are thinking of selling just to get away from here.”

It boils down to behavioral integrity.

Do local leaders even recognize the behaviors that have disengaged and alienated their constituents?

Tony Simons, an associate professor of management and organizational behavior at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York observes, “The notion that behavioral integrity is important should be common sense. But if it’s so simple, why is it so rarely observed?”

Simons goes on to assert, “Of all the factors that can undermine behavioral integrity, among the most dangerous is managers’ inability to see an integrity problem in themselves.”

Simons continues, “Managers often talk about empowerment without actually yielding any power. When this happens, psychological defense mechanisms activate to divert the manager’s attention from the contradiction so he can feel better about himself. The self-deception tends to perpetuate the problem.”

Simons concludes, “It’s simply good business to make behavioral integrity a continuing focus.”

Corporate executive and author Glenn Llopis, Glenn Llopis Group: a nationally recognized workforce development and business strategy consulting firm writes, “The success of a leader requires strong followership that is earned over time.”

Credibility, as we have all witnessed, is slow to build and quick to evaporate.

Llopis goes on to suggest, “Leaders are often not aware of the actions that lead others not to trust them.

“Connecting the dots for your leader[s] may be all the proof they need to course correct and turn around the attitude or behavior that is causing others not to trust them.”

Llopis strongly cautions, however, “Don’t sit around and wait until you reach the point of no return.”

Former Cook County Commissioner Garry Gamble is writing this ongoing column about the various ways government works, as well as other topics.