* SEE CURRENT SITUATION CLEARLY *
Rise Above Personal Involvement
And Get The Detached Overview:
* FOCUS ON KEY AREAS *
To Gradually Improve Your Situation
And Move Towards Addressing Your Concerns
* TAKE ACTION *
Based On A Strategy
* BUILD ON GAINS *
By Leaving A Way Out
* SEE CURRENT SITUATION CLEARLY *
Rise Above Personal Involvement And Get The Detached Overview:
Size up your current situation. Look at it from different angles.
What do you see happening now and where is it headed? Look for opportunities
as well as problem areas.
Have each member of your Steering Council give their view of what you
are facing. Make a summary of the most important aspects of your current
situation. Re-evaluate as conditions change or as new information comes
in.
You Are Trying To See Your Situation Clearly Without Reacting Emotionally.
EXAMPLE: A project that could have serious impacts was proposed for
a rural
area. By the time people first found out about it, there were only
a few days
left in the official comment period. Although the issue had the potential
for involving a large number of people, there was not enough time to
organize
<clear overview>.
* FOCUS ON KEY AREAS *
To Gradually Improve Your Situation And Move Towards Addressing Your
Concerns
In any situation there are a number of forces at work. Some aspects
are working towards improving your situation (ie: in the limited comment
period example, the potential for a lot of people becoming involved
could work
to improve your situation). Other forces may be working against improvement
(ie: time running out in the comment period could seriously limit your
ability
to mobilize your support). A change in the balance of these forces
could move
the situation in a new direction.
In a Role Playing Strategy Session look for key areas to focus on that
could change the balance. Be creative. Play with many different approaches
(Often even impractical ideas can lead to insights that may be useful
for
developing more practical ones). Look carefully at the probable consequences.
You have limited energies and resources so you will want to focus on
key areas that have a realistic chance of improving your situation
over time.
EXAMPLE: To deal with the pressing problem of the limited comment period,
a
group formed and focused a major part of its energies into trying to
find some
way to get the comment period extended <improve situation>.
* TAKE ACTION *
Based On A Strategy
Make decisions based on accurate and well documented information.
Because taking action often involves a series of steps, you will need
to work
to develop a Strategy (plan of action) that can move you step by step
towards
your goal of changing the balance in a key area. Carefully test your
proposals in a Role Playing Strategy Session to find the best plan.
Revise
and retest your proposals until you are confident they will have the
desired
results before taking any action.
EXAMPLE: After researching regulations related to public involvement
in the
review process, the group found that a copy of the Environmental Assessment
for the project should have been available locally and was not. After
a Role
Playing Strategy Session, they decided to raise this issue in the press
and
work with local and state agencies <strategy> to put pressure on
the Siting
Agency to grant an extension of the comment period to comply with the
law.
* BUILD ON GAINS *
By Leaving A Way Out
Your goal is to work through incremental gains to move your Adversary
(and/or the Decision Makers) into a position where they will have to
deal with
your concerns. That is, into a position where they will realize that
it is
more in their interest to work with your group to address your concerns
than
to continue as Adversaries (see Resolution By Strength). When they
reach
this point, it is to your advantage to make it easier for them by working
to
give them a face saving way out (see Resolution By Negotiation).
Once you've made gains in one area, you can begin the process again
(Guidelines) as you move towards having more of your concerns addressed.
EXAMPLE: With the support of the local government, the involvement of
State
agencies, and wide coverage in the local press <gains> the Agency
proposing
the project had little choice but to grant an extension of the Comment
Period
<way out>. Not only did the group gain the time they needed to begin
to raise
their concerns, but they also gained recognition and credibility by
having the
public involvement issue resolved in their favor <build on gains>.
By
focusing on a key area, they were now in a strong position to raise
concerns.
EXAMPLE: REGIONAL OFFICE (Decision Makers):
>> SEE CURRENT SITUATION CLEARLY: A group made repeated attempts to
raise
concerns related to an environmental issue with the Regional Office
of the
Environmental Department but made no progress.
>> FOCUS ON KEY AREAS: After reevaluating their situation and contacting
other groups involved in the issue, it was learned that the decisions
related
to this issue were being made at the Department Headquarters in the
State
Capital and not at the Regional Office. The group worked to find the
people
in charge of the issue at the Headquarters and refocused their efforts
on the
people actually making the decisions.
>> TAKE ACTION: Following this new approach, the group concentrated
on
developing a good working relationship with the people in the Department
Headquarters <strategy> and got specific answers to their questions
<gains>.
>> BUILDING ON GAINS: After focusing on and working closely with the
people
making the decisions, the group was able to make real progress towards
increasing public involvement by getting public hearings and a comment
period.
EXAMPLE: SOLID WASTE ISSUE (Need To Refocus):
>> SEE CURRENT SITUATION CLEARLY: The County Legislature was proposing
a
trash incinerator as a solution to the County's solid waste problem.
A group
formed to raise concerns because they thought too little effort was
made in
considering alternatives.
>> FOCUS ON KEY AREAS: At first the group focused on health related
issues
concerning the incinerator emissions. But information related to the
health
effects was inconclusive and the community did not respond to these
concerns.
After re-evaluating their situation, the group decided to refocus on
the issue
of the cost of the incinerator and the long term indebtedness that
the county
would have to incur. Weren't there more cost effective alternatives?
>> TAKE ACTION: Raising the cost issue struck a responsive chord in
the
community. In addition, it was found that the contracts to run the
incinerator also required that the county would have to guarantee certain
levels of trash (for years into the future) or pay large penalties.
This
could discourage recycling efforts. These issues were raised in the
press and
before the Legislature <strategy>.
>> BUILD ON GAINS: With serious questions about cost, long term indebtedness,
and the need to guarantee waste levels, the group worked to get the
legislature to vote to delay the bonding for the project until more
cost
effective alternatives could be explored <way out>.
EXAMPLE: SITING COMMISSION (Early In The Process):
>> SEE CURRENT SITUATION CLEARLY: A commission had begun the process
of
siting a Nuclear Waste facility. The criteria for siting the facility
were
being publicly evaluated before any specific site was chosen so when
the
final site was chosen no comments could be made on the site selecting
criteria. A few people in a remote rural area (a likely site), decide
to get
together to try to lessen the likelihood that it would be put in their
area.
>> FOCUS ON KEY AREAS: Since moving Nuclear Waste to remote sites would
involve more travel on secondary roads and more exposure to road hazards,
the
group decided to focus on transportation issues. Review of siting criteria
showed risks associated with transportation may have been underestimated.
>> TAKE ACTION: The group worked through people with a background in
science
to present the position that no site could be considered safe unless
it was
rated safe in both on-site and transportation factors. To widen support,
the
group worked with local government agencies to raise these issues.
>> BUILD ON GAINS: Based on the information presented, the Siting Commission
changed criteria making transportation factors a more important consideration
in site selection <way out>. By focusing on key areas early in the
process,
the group was able to influence critical aspects of site selection.
This
resulted in a better selection process and excluded many areas (like
theirs)
with poor road access <gains>.
EXAMPLE: LOW ALTITUDE FLIGHTS (Let Your Adversary Organize For You):
>> SEE CURRENT SITUATION CLEARLY: A low altitude flight group realized
that
they would have a serious problem organizing people who were widely
scattered
in a number of rural towns in the flight path. The group needed a method
of
letting people know they would be in the flight path and of getting
them
motivated to take action.
>> FOCUS ON KEY AREAS: In Role Playing Strategy Sessions, testing a
number of
different approaches, they came up with the idea: if the people in
the flight
path could be overflown and experience the effects of the flights (while
the
comment period was still open) then a lot more people would become
involved.
>> TAKE ACTION: The group worked with the County Legislature to ask
for a 2
week period of test flights so people could comment on the real effects
of the
Flights before the project was approved (rather than commenting on
a study of
the probable effects of the flights in the Environmental Assessment).
The
group also worked to raise the issue in the press.
>> BUILD ON GAINS: After increased pressure, the military eventually
agreed
to a 2 day period of scheduled and announced demonstration flights
<way out>.
These flights lead to a massive reaction by people in the proposed
flight path
with the result that many more people became involved in the issue
<gains>.
< SUMMARY 11 > << GUIDELINES FOR EFFECTIVE ACTION >>
-------------------------------
* SEE CURRENT SITUATION CLEARLY *
Rise Above Personal Involvement
And Get The Detached Overview:
* FOCUS ON KEY AREAS *
To Gradually Improve Your Situation
And Move Towards Addressing Your Concerns
* TAKE ACTION *
Based On A Strategy
* BUILD ON GAINS *
By Leaving A Way Out