Political Acuity in Municipal Administration

Peter P. Constantinou, PhD

Why is this important?

• Conflict

• Workplace tension/harassment

• Inefficiencies

• Better public services

He just doesn’t get it.

• a way of thinking and behaving; putting information and skills together to better guide choices and behaviour in a given context, to accomplish your goals and objectives

Constantinou, 2016

Political acuity is…

Adapted from Hartley, et al., 2013 4

Environmental Issues

Political factors

Organizational dynamics/politics

Personalities

Informal

Formal

Political Acuity Training/LearningPersonal and Interpersonal• Emotional Intelligence• Self-Awareness• Networking• Public Speaking• Influence• Building Trust and Rapport• Conflict Resolution• Negotiations• Leadership• Effective Communications Skills

Reading People and Situations• Organizational Design and Behaviour• Body language• Active Listening• Personality types (Myers Briggs, True

Colours, etc.)

Stakeholder Engagement and Strategic Alignment• Stakeholder Engagement• Stakeholder Management• Partnership Building and Management• Building Strategic Alliances

Environmental Scanning• Strategic Thinking and Planning• Critical Thinking• Risk Assessment/Analysis• Issues Management

Political Blind Spot

Not consciously seeing the extent to which informal influence and external factors shapes

the decision-making process

How do we get it?

Mayor/Council

City Manager

Division Heads

Directors

Managers

Political-AdministrativeDichotomy

Staff

Good Public Policy

Set priorities &make decisions.

Provide good information & advice for informed decisions.Implement decisions.

Policy making in government

Input Politics Output

Adapted from Easton

11

Politics

12

Put yourself in their shoes

Decision-day exercises

Decision Day

• Increase the policing budget

• Increase the EMS budget

Decision Day

• Fund social housing over-haul repair and new development in Toronto

• Fund a relief line for the Yonge Subway in Toronto

What keeps councillors/mayor up at night?

What do you do when a counsellor calls you outside of

the chain of command?

Understanding and dealing with optics

Typical approach

• Pre-reading

• Political Acuity Self-Assessment Tool

• 1 or 2 day workshop

– Work through all 4 modules

– Tools, exercises, break-out sessions and role play

• Optional

– Creation of mentorship circles

– coaching

Thank you!

Peter@politicalacuityinstitute.ca