Friday, October 24, 2008
Why I am running for the Island Trust
400 words are just not enough to explain why I would be good for the trust and why that would be good for the community. I have long been a supporter of the trust even though I often disagree with them on decision-making, long term effects and process. My background experience in teaching, counseling and diving has developed within me certain skills that would be useful to the Trust.
‘Active listening’ is the ability to put aside your own view point long enough to really listen and understand the other person’s concerns. I find that only by suspending our own view points or believe system can we really understand what the other person wants and why.
Realizing that what we do today will still be affecting people long into the future. This skill helps me in not taking the easy fix, but instead to look at many ways of doing things and choosing the one that I believe will best meet the needs of today and still be valid 30 years from now.
I developed an instinctive distrust of bureaucracies because they very quickly forget that they were invented to serve all the people, not just those who agree with us or share our cause. In most agencies it is easy to turn into a bureaucrat and become more rigid and less helpful.
I have learned well in the area of creative problem solving, it was one of the things I taught at college. Instead of labeling a request as a problem, or outside Trust policy, sometimes redefining the problem, giving everyone a different perspective, allows you ways to use the system. This again goes back to how well you have listened.
I have learned that progress is inevitable and it leads to change and development.
It is the Trusts job to try to encourage development that will be good for the island’s future and discourage that which will have negative long-term effects.
I am against the bridge but realize that to continue with ferries we really need two, not just one and we have to find ways to lower the fares.
So, if you believe the Trust has become a little rusty and fixed in their views then give them a booster shot of common sense, long term planning, active listening and creative problem solving – vote for me.
‘Active listening’ is the ability to put aside your own view point long enough to really listen and understand the other person’s concerns. I find that only by suspending our own view points or believe system can we really understand what the other person wants and why.
Realizing that what we do today will still be affecting people long into the future. This skill helps me in not taking the easy fix, but instead to look at many ways of doing things and choosing the one that I believe will best meet the needs of today and still be valid 30 years from now.
I developed an instinctive distrust of bureaucracies because they very quickly forget that they were invented to serve all the people, not just those who agree with us or share our cause. In most agencies it is easy to turn into a bureaucrat and become more rigid and less helpful.
I have learned well in the area of creative problem solving, it was one of the things I taught at college. Instead of labeling a request as a problem, or outside Trust policy, sometimes redefining the problem, giving everyone a different perspective, allows you ways to use the system. This again goes back to how well you have listened.
I have learned that progress is inevitable and it leads to change and development.
It is the Trusts job to try to encourage development that will be good for the island’s future and discourage that which will have negative long-term effects.
I am against the bridge but realize that to continue with ferries we really need two, not just one and we have to find ways to lower the fares.
So, if you believe the Trust has become a little rusty and fixed in their views then give them a booster shot of common sense, long term planning, active listening and creative problem solving – vote for me.
