"Can we see great things coming out of the region under our current setup?" asks Michael Paul Williams in a December column, which looks back at the failed 1961 attempt to merge Henrico County and the City of Richmond.
Presumably, Williams is asking if the region might look different if there was a change in the political process. I'm not sure Richmond's problem is entirely structural.
Over the past five weeks -- since losing my job and deciding to start my own business -- I've been having conversations with people. Lots of people. Well over 100 at last count.
I've had conversations about life, about work, about new business ventures. And I've had an awful lot of conversations about our region -- and about a need for different conversations to build a different community in the Richmond region. Those conversations have been with civic and corporate movers-and-shakers, as well as friends and peers and residents of the region whose stake in the notion of change is nominal at best.
I've yet to met with anyone who wasn't interested in seeing "great things" come out of the Richmond region. Oddly enough, while I was talking to each of them, few of them were talking to one another.
Peter Blanchard -- the "Who Moved My Cheese?" guy and an expert in leadership and culture -- uses a model called Situational Leadership (SL2) in his work. Essentially, SL2 suggests that at any given task an individual demonstrates a certain level of commitment and a certain level of competence. Commitment and competence are a measure of an individual's developmental level -- different developmental levels require different amounts of direction and support to accomplish tasks.
Blanchard's developmental levels -- D1 through D4 -- can be applied to organizations and communities, as well.
I'd diagnose the Richmond region as being at D2 in the art of community conversations -- with low-to-variable commitment and low-to-moderate competence at engaging the broader community in important conversations.
If it were entirely a question of competence, it would be easy to change course. Richmond's problem -- not a surprise to many, I suspect -- seems to be a lack of commitment to a broader community process.
But when I refer to Richmond's lack of commitment, who am I referring to? The political elite? The business class? Corporate citizens? Civic associations? Individual residents of the city, or the region?
I wish I could say. Some, or all, of the above.
But we'd still not be at the heart of the matter.
Blanchard's developmental levels are accompanied by supervisory levels -- how a supervisor or leader can help an individual or group move through their particular hurdle.
Two problems here. First off, helping a community move through commitment issues is no easy task. More importantly, the competent leadership required appears to be lacking. Lacking in competence, and lacking in will.
Which brings us back to the notion of great things being done.
Perhaps what Michael Paul Williams ought to be asking is whether great things can emerge from the region with the current leadership.
Jim Crupi said we should pull more chairs to the table. I'm beginning to wonder whether we should just order a new table altogether. The old one's looking a bit wobbly.
