The recent changes in the St Johns County (STJ) Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) meetings have garnered a lot of attention. I’m not sure the issue merits the amount of controversy it has stirred up, but it has stirred up a hornet’s nest and it is an important lesson about where our County is going.
Commissioner Krista Joseph assumed the Chairmanship of the BoCC on November 19. Shortly after, she communicated her intention to redesign the agenda for the Commissioners meetings. The changes were significant, including eliminating the updates on Public Safety and on ongoing County work (infrastructure delivery updates). But her proposed change to leading the Pledge of Allegiance went viral.
No longer will volunteer veterans lead the Commissioners, staff and residents in reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. This honor will be given to County staff and other veterans selected by the County. One report indicated that Gold Star mothers will also be invited to lead the Pledge.
How did we get here?
On the surface, this doesn’t seem like a big deal. But to understand the reaction, we must go back a few years. Some time in 2020, then-Chair Jeremiah Blocker invited the SJC Veterans Council, chaired by LtCol William Dudley, to coordinate volunteer veterans in leading the Pledge of Allegiance. Dudley agreed that this was a great opportunity to involve veterans in the community and made it happen.
But, LtCol Dudley received an email from County Administration after the 11/19/24 BoCC meeting notifying him that the Veterans Council would no longer be scheduling veterans to lead the Pledge. That duty would be assumed by the County. The statement indicated that the intent was to be more inclusive of those invited to lead the pledge, and would include County employees who were veterans as well as Gold Star mothers.
LtCol William Dudley, Chair of the SJC Veterans Council since 2011, was caught off guard by the change. The Veteran’s Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, led by volunteers, that supports and is supported by St Johns County with a mission of helping veterans in need. Each year, he scheduled a military veteran to lead the Pledge at each BoCC meeting, offering visibility to the veteran population and giving them a chance to honor their flag. The unexplained change didn’t make sense to him.
Social media quickly jumped into applaud the disruptive changes being made.
Disruptive Change
New leaders want to make their mark. They are excited about the opportunity to make the changes they want to make. Often, new local government leaders are elected to carry out the changes they described in their campaign platform.
That is how our government works. The people vote for the change that they want to see. Those in the majority get the opportunity to change those things that they didn’t like.
Disruptive change is an academic theory with thousands of experts weighing in on how to make disruptive change work. Change is hard, particularly for those set in their ways of how things are done. But there are things that a leader can do to mitigate the negative impact of change on those they lead.
Disruptive change is popular now. Across the county and locally, we see people fed up with the status quo and looking for change. There is value in disruptive change. There is little value in destructive change.
What is the difference between disruptive change and destructive change?
It all has to do with HOW the change is introduced. Leadership 101 says: “Be careful with making change.”
Two lessons from my time as a Marine Officer are imprinted on my brain. The first is to respect others. The second is related. They told us to NEVER make change right away when you go to lead a new unit. They said, there is nothing that will anger folks more quickly than changing what they took pride in creating.
To me, those two things are the difference between disruptive and destructive change – respect for what has come before.
All she had to do was call me and talk about it
When I spoke with LtCol Dudley about the change, I expected him to display anger and outrage over the change.
Instead, he said, “All she had to do was call me first and talk about it.” That powerful statement is at the crux of making disruptive change work for anyone in a leadership position.
Instead, the Chair of the Veteran’s Council read about it in a letter where the change was not a suggestion but a done deal.
Instead, after word got out about the change, picked up by news media and blogs, the new Chair called LtCol Dudley and, in a tone of voice that was reportedly caustic, asked to meet with him so that they could work out the issue together.
He simply told her, “All you had to do was call me first and talk about it, but at this point I’m not sure there is a reason to talk, since the decision was made.” She called back a short time later, with a slightly more conciliatory tone. LtCol Dudley repeated his statement. She called back again a short time later, in a very polite and courteous manner and thanked him for all of his work on the Veteran’s Council and asked again to meet with him to work things out. At that point, LtCol Dudley stated his only request was for her to rescind the change and reinstate the Veterans Council.
He told me that he would have loved to have had the County’s help schedule veterans for this important post. As a volunteer himself, that schedule takes an enormous amount of his time. But he did not expect to be shut out completely.
They are still negotiating.
What will the next year hold?
We all know about the proverbial pendulum. It swings one way and then at some point gravity takes hold and pulls it the other way. Meaningful change is a good thing. Otherwise, we get stuck doing the same thing over and over and not realizing the WHY.
But destructive change – that which occurs in spite of others, not with others – is just that. Destructive. It damages relationships and trust.
And it all boils down to leadership. And leadership is about building relationships everywhere, even when there is a difference of opinion.
Probably not a great start to the year, disrespecting the very veterans who gave us our freedom. Hopefully, it will get better.
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