Building Consensus One by One by One.

• Author: Feustel, Bruce

The legislative arena provides some significant challenges to consensus building, but in the long run, it's worth it.

I have conflict, day in, day out, with my colleagues and the public," says Senator David Landis of Nebraska.

Sounds contentious, but resolving or dealing with disputes, disagreements or differences is politics. What's changing, according to some experienced current and former legislators, is how we deal with it. The changes generally reflect those in society.

"When our fast-food outlets are advertising for team leaders, not shift supervisors, there's a difference," says former Representative Bryan Johnston of Oregon. Former Michigan Speaker Paul Hillegonds agrees: "The notion of leaders that intimidate and dictate may have been the style of a different era. The more successful leaders of today are consensus-builders who engage the diverse parts of a committee or the body as a whole in the problem-solving process."

These experts note the enormous variety of conflict lawmakers encounter: economic, power, influence, majority vs. minority party, race, culture and values. As legislators you manage or resolve these conflicts by building relationships with your colleagues, involving everyone in the process, honing your conflict resolution skills, encouraging the legislature to support consensus building and seeking outside help when you need it.

The legislative arena provides some significant challenges. The formal legislative process starts with a bill, which states a position or approach to a problem. Problem-solving, however, typically requires the specific steps of identifying the problem, analyzing it, considering possible options and then deciding on the best solution. The bill process, on the other hand, starts with the solution.

Heavy media scrutiny also can work against consensus building. To reach consensus, legislators need to be inquisitive and open to ideas and potential solutions. With the media watching, legislators often feel that they have to have all the answers. Particularly after elections, legislators tend to lock themselves into positions on issues and see any deviation from their positions as untenable. This setting makes it all the more important for legislative consensus-builders to concentrate on relationships, processes and skills.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

Hillegonds reflects on an experience he had with his fellow Michigan Republicans when the leadership established task forces to examine legislative issues...