The three day foundations week kickoff sessions are done and this program is underway. It feels very real now.

I’m feeling a mix of inspiration and trepidation while ruminating on this week’s experience early on a Sunday morning. The past few days were great and there’s a lot swirling in my head, but the volume of coursework coming up is daunting. I’m going to try to write this blog post quickly, hopefully get myself over to the Y for a quick workout before my family wakes up, then find some time today to start in on schoolwork and/or work for my job.

The kickoff sessions largely entailed looking ahead at the semester, taking a broad view of the assignments due and cadence of the work, learning initial concepts, and forming into the leadership and policy teams that we’ll be working together in all schoolyear.

The cohort is filled with really impressive people that I’m a little bit humbled to be a part of. It was kind of comforting to hear a couple others mention feeling a bit of imposter syndrome during one of our closing circles, because I’m feeling a bit of that myself.

The format of this cohort program is clearly designed to foster connections among the group, especially in the small groups for those two classes. It’s been a great experience already starting to get to know my classmates, and I’m really looking forward to getting to know them better and growing together as a cohort through the program.

So much for banging out a blog post and a workout before my family got up. I now have a very sweet five year old balanced on one knee, playing Minecraft on an iPad while I finish writing. He’s snuggly as it’s a crisp cool morning in the 50s, windows open in the house, delicious sleeping whether last night.

I’ve been on PTO the past two weeks, the first of those primarily hanging out with my kids while covering the end of summer childcare gap. Then this week was a holiday on Monday, still needed to cover childcare Tues and Weds since our youngest had their first day of Kindergarten on Thursday, then at the Humphrey School Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It wasn’t exactly a vacation, but it was good to take that break to step back from work and reset my perspective while getting in some soul-nurturing family time. Next week is going to be a catchup week though, and it will surely be busy.

On top of all that, I’m also enrolled in a one credit Board Leadership Development class this semester. That class has one full day session, coming up this Saturday, with a bushelful of reading to do this week for it. I’m really excited for this class, specifically for a chance to learn from Kate Barr, but whew this is one more thing on top of a lot already.

I feel like I should wrap up this reflection and get to it. I process knowledge in a linear way and find it difficult to move on to new knowledge inputs when recent knowledge outputs aren’t yet done. But I also know that gets me in trouble sometimes. One of my overarching personal goals is to figure out how to not just thrive in this program, but do so in a way that doesn’t push myself to the point of burnout. I know from years of experience that I can make the choice to work long hours, put my nose to the grindstone, and get shit done. But I’m learning as I get older that gets harder, sleep deficits aggravate the chronic pain in my back and acid reflux in my gut, and those things subsequently interfere with my ability to focus and drag down my mental health.

I can and have been able to grind harder in the face of that for the sake of pushing through and getting work done, but that just turns into a vicious cycle. I haven’t yet really figured out how to both break that cycle and stay productive at the level I need to, especially given this precious five year old’s penchant for waking up early and following me upstairs whenever I get up early to try to find some quiet focus time. I’m working on that though, it feels like this upcoming week will be my first real test in how to manage this, and in truth I might just need to grind it out. I’m not going to beat myself up if I revert to late night work sessions because the constraints I am working within are such that those hours remain my most viable option, even if they’re problematic for other reasons.

General class notes

We began our learning with an overview of the HEXACO personality assessments that we did prior to class, and learned a bit about both moral foundations theory and values framing.

Of those two models, values framing was positioned as less-controversial and more encouraged to pay attention to. The ten basic values in this framework are:

• Universalism
• Benevolence
• Conformity
• Tradition
• Security
• Power
• Achievement
• Hedonism
• Stimulation
• Self-direction

Going back to the rider and the elephant analogy from the Perspectives curriculum, all of these values are inherently instinctual in some way.

We briefly learned about David Redish, a UMN neuroscientist who theorizes that there are not 2 systems, but a 3 or 4 system model: deliberative, instinctual, procedural, reflex.

• Procedural system can be trained, when we think about our personality traits or our values we’re re-training our procedural system

Wise words: within a team context, it’s important to present yourself authentically. Failing to do so sets the wrong expectations about how you’ll react to situations, which will impact the overall team dynamic.

Leadership foundations notes

Leadership foundations - day one

Important level-setting - the “leader” of an organization doesn’t know everything, and leadership is a team activity not a top-down mandate (borrowing that concept from Jay Kiedrowski’s class years ago). When work is done in teams, leadership happens where the work is done.

Relationships involve a set of mutual expectations, working towards a shared goal, and building trust over time.

Four basic relationship levels:

• Level -1: negative relationships, worse than zero, not seen as equals
• Level 1: transactional relationships, involves routine exchanges
• Level 2: whole person relationships, feels psychologically safe
• Level 3: intimate relationships, involves revelation, acceptance, reciprocation, and are generally not appropriate for work settings

Concept if “teaming”

• mutual learning, shared learning
• leads to greater trust and openness
• improves collaboration and communication

A lot of these concepts are circling around the notion of work culture

Humble leadership is shared expertise

Leadership foundations - day two

On day two we had our introduction to the Adaptive Leadership Project circle process, and met in our ALP groups for the first time. We were encouraged to trust this process, not go too fast (acknowledging that we’ve got all semester to work through inquiry), and to acknowledge that there’s a lot of grey area here that will require a lot of thinking, reflecting, and figuring out where we fit.

Our first ALP circle discussion was a bit cathartic. I’m glad it was near the end of the day, because I honestly felt drained afterward. And that seemed to be how everyone experienced it. Whole group feedback afterwards included comments about how the experience was emotional, led to starting to answer our own questions, was surprising how much we opened up to each other, and that it was like journaling on steroids - with not just our own perspective on our thoughts to ruminate on but two other brains in our group contributing to that too.

Leadership foundations - day three

On day three we met in our ALP circles again, to discuss the reading on what draws managers to public sector work vs. nonprofit sector work, and more broadly to discuss our career goals. The assigned reading was published over a decade ago, and the whole group discussion was really interesting for everyone’s insights about what people thought did and didn’t hold up from that article in their own experiences. Those insights are not summarized here, but see below for notes from the article.

Policy analysis notes

Policy analysis - pre-class intro video

The Bardach textbook starts with an assumption that your audience is already defined.

Defining your audience is step zero. Potential audiences include a client, elected officials, your boss, allies, opposition

The way you frame your policy memo is very different depending on who that audience is. You need to consider the audience’s needs and constraints.

Categories of analysis:

• Descriptive - just describing
• Evaluative - what is/isn’t working
• Prescriptive - recommendation

The type of brief lies on a spectrum between Advocacy on the one end and Objectivity on the other end.

(Our policy memo assignments specifically should be Objective)

Typologies of amplification:

• Within - stabilizing, speeding up
• Out - growing, replicating, transferring, spreading
• Beyond - scaling up, out, and deep

Return to this concept often to ask if the analysis you’re producing meets the right balance of needs

Policy analysis - day one

Four actions framework, visualized as a diamond:

• Move (top) - new ideas, most often associated with “leadership”
• Oppose (bottom) - important critical viewpoint
• Follow (right) - adds on and expands on movement
• Notice/Perceive (left) - step back reflection, offer perspective

Moving and following are advocacy, opposing and noticing are inquiry.

Phrases for better Advocacy:

• “Let me tell you where I’m at right now”
• “This is what I’m thinking while you’re talking”
• “Let me tell you my reaction to that”
• “I’m uncomfortable right now, and I’d like to tell you why”

Phrases for better Inquiry:

• “How do you see this?”
• “Help me understand”
• “What am I not seeing?”
• “You mentioned the importance of _____ to you”
• “What does the word ___ mean to you?”
• “How did you decide to ___?”

Powerful question for reframing a situation: “How might we…..”

Policy analysis - day three

(There was no policy analysis course session on day two)

Policy analysis is a systematic, analytical, and informed process to consider which policy alternatives best address defined objectives.

Policy issues are complex, few people have deep understanding of how these issues actually work

Eightfold path per the Bardach textbook:

• Define the problem
• Collect evidence
• Identify alternatives
• Select evaluative criteria
• Project outcomes
• Confront tradeoffs
• Make a recommendation
• Tell your story

The clear articulation of the problem being solved will impact the measurement of impact towards solving that problem

Continually ask “why” as you drill down from the presenting problem through the structures, practices, and policies that underpin that problem, until you get to the underlying historical, social, economic issues that comprise root causes.

Problem definition is an inherently political process

• You bring your values and beliefs to the process as your frame for what problems are most urgent to solve’
• Power and politics also determine whose knowledge is deemed relevant and whose problem definitions count
• A technocratic analysis is useless without considering who will support its adoption
• Problem definition is super important for setting the agenda for the production and evaluation of solutions

You don’t want to be in a situation where solutions chase problems, they become disconnected from the problems that way.

Tips from Bardach on defining the problem:

• Pose the right questions
• Policy analysis is prospective not retrospective
• Quantify, specify, clarify
• Ask why
• Consider root causes and context
• Is your presumed change of causation sound?
• Is the problem you defined really the problem, or is it further upstream?
• Keep your definition descriptive
• Specify the context where your problem arises

You first need a problem statement, then evidence to back that statement up.

When articulating alternatives, present them in neutral terms.

Standard criteria for determining success:

• Efficacy
• Efficiency
• Equity
• Sustainability
• Feasibility

All policy problems are in competition with each other for prioritization and resourcing

Good policy analysts consider the impacts of one policy on other policy areas

Two components to efficiency: costs and benefits

You may not be able to accurately estimate an exact cost, but should be able to articulate relative costs of options compared to each other

As a policy analyst, it’s part of your job to decide which aspects of a criteria to focus on.

Qualitative research notes

Qualitative research - pre-class intro video

Research is the systematic investigation of a topic, finding evidence, and developing recommendations

Iterative cycles

• design cycle
• ethnographic cycle
• analytic cycle

Inductive reasoning = develop hypotheses Deductive reasoning = test hypotheses

Key differences between qualitative and quantitative research:

• objective - develop hypotheses vs. develop results
• data collection - primary data collection and small sample sizes vs. secondary data collection from large representative samples
• type of analysis - interpretive vs. statistical

Qualitative research - pre-class ethics video

Basic tenets of human subjects protections:

• Informed consent
• Self determination, free to quit at any time
• Minimize risks of harm
• Strict rules around anonymity and confidentiality

Projects conducted as part of a research methods class are IRB exempt as long as they meet these criteria:

• researcher obtains CITI certification
• participants cannot be minors or part of a vulnerable population
• the research can’t cause any harm or risk of harm
• interview data must be anonymized
• any personally identifiable information must be redacted and stored separately
• all data must be destroyed after 3 years
• results may not be published without IRB approval (and then re-doing a bit of the research under the terms of the approved project)

Qualitative research - day one

The high level semester plan will be Design -> Observe -> Iterate -> Interview -> Final Analysis

Our research topic can be broad and may be connected to other projects

Active listening is the key skill we need to learn and practice. Other important skills include close observation, and recognizing patterns and problems.

Ways to use qualitative research in your leadership:

• Observe, listen, interpret
• Attune to meaning, process, context, behavior dynamics, motivation

Qualitative research is good for helping determine:

• meaning and significance
• perceptions, values, and beliefs
• processes and dynamics

Ask a lot of questions like why, what, and how

Strength comes from exploration

Qualitative research - day two

Literature review

Importance of literature review

• To discover if anyone else has studied this question.
• To validate that nobody else has studied the same question using the same method
• To determine if there is scholarly debate in the literature on this topic, and where your inquiry fits into that debate
• To examine if there’s a gap in this literature (i.e. nobody has studied this question) and why that might be the case

Evidence quality rules of thumb - hierarchy of quality (high to low):

• peer reviewed articles
• gov’t reports
• non-partisan org reports
• news articles
• partisan / advocacy org reports

Search strategies:

• Use keywords
• ̃Backward search - use references in the back of articles to find other related articles
• Forward search - use the “cited by” link in Google Scholar to find articles that have cited your article of interest

Research ethics

Send informed consent document up front, then also ask for consent again right before clicking the record button

All interview data is your responsibility to keep confidential - keep it in a password protected file on your password protected laptop. Must be a personal device, work computers are prohibited

Have a plan B for questions in your interview - if the participant is unfomfortable or not forthcoming, have strategies prepared to minimize risk and pivot to another line of questioning on the spot

It’s ok to send your participants the question list up front

You cannot interview anyone for whom there are unequal power dynamics. You have to be aware of context.

Plagiarism - no definitive rule, but rule of thumb is phrases of five words or more taken directly from a source without attribution

Ideas can be plagiarized too, when paraphrasing a complex piece of writing be careful to not cross the line

Start thinking about a plan for your interview

• Do you want to interview people with the same or different point of view?
• Whom do you propose to interview?
• Is it logically feasible and are there ethical issues to consider?
• What kinds of things do you expect to learn from the interview data?

Social desirability bias - people may not be forthcoming with a controversial point-of-view

Go into your interviews with an open mind, your initial assumptions may not be validated, and you may come out with a changed perspective.

Saturation point - when you’re hearing the same thing in interview after interview, that’s time to stop that line of inquiry and shift to analysis

When you are interviewing, that is your participants time to speak. When you are writing, that is your time to speak.

You’ll be surprised once you start interviews just how much people want to share their life experiences and perspective.