about my county st johns county florida

The term “grassroots” is sort of like mom and apple pie.  Who can not like the private citizen who goes up against the political powerhouse?  That is the traditional David and Goliath story.  The little good guy beats the big bad guy.

“Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to implement change at the local, regional, national, or international levels. Grassroots movements are associated with bottom-up, rather than top-down decision-making, and are sometimes considered more natural or spontaneous than more traditional power structures.”  Wikipedia.

But like so many other words used these days, it is simply a label.  It carries no relevant definition to the issues at hand, so those who communicate the label out of context are allowing the listener to create their own context.

We have grassroots candidates running in state and local elections.  They are running against incumbents who have been alleged to be in the pocket of developers.

I love a good underdog story, but too often that is what they are – stories.  They are the stories leading up to the contest and typically end with the celebration of defeat of the bad guy.

What is missing for me as I look at the context of the county and state election promises, is what happens then?

What makes an individual successful in a role?

A label, regardless of the inferred context, provides no insight into what a candidate will do – what outcomes they will achieve – only what they want to do.

It is entirely possible that any candidate will achieve exactly what they set out to achieve. There are some elements that increase the odds of success.  In the profession of talent management (a growing subset of human resources), those elements are called competencies.

Competencies are defined as the knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors that contribute to individual and organizational performance.  Knowledge is information developed or learned through experience, study or investigation.  Skill is the result of repeatedly applying knowledge or ability.  Ability is an innate potential to perform mental and physical actions.  Behavior is the observable reaction of an individual to a certain situation.  (Definition of competencies)

When the individual’s competencies align with the requirements of the job or role to produce a certain outcome, the chance of achieving that outcome is significantly greater.

What are the outcomes expected of an elected leader?

That is actually a great question for us to ask right now, a few months from the 2024 elections.  I have spoken with a great many voters recently and I hear different reasons they will vote for a candidate. 

Some like that the candidate is “grassroots,” – in other words not part of the traditional power structure that has been in place seemingly forever.

Others say they will cast their vote for someone they know personally.  Both reasons are valid and appropriate.

But how do we know if the candidate can produce the outcome?

Basically, we don’t, any more than a hiring manager can predict how successful a new employee will be unless the hiring manager has incredible intuition.

That’s why diving beneath the labels can increase the chance of voting for a candidate that can produce an outcome.  What they promise and what they can produce depends upon multiple factors.

Using the theory of a competency model, perhaps we can increase our chances of a healthy state and county going forward if we consider:

• Knowledge.  Do they know what they need to know, including how the process works?  Going up against the process may seem like a David and Goliath story, but generally working the existing process shortens the time of delivery and increases the chance of making progress.
• Skills. Do they have the skills to think critically and build solid relationships based on trust?
• Ability.  Do they have the ability to look at all aspects of a decision, and not just their own personal perspective?
• Behavior. Can they represent our state and county professionally?  Will they respect perspectives that are not their own and not demonstrate by non-verbal communication that a different perspective is wrong?  Having just attended a candidate forum, is was disheartening to see the disdain some candidates openly showed for their opponents. All that says is “my way is the right way.”  That’s not what our state or county should be about.

The platform vs the outcome

Candidates running on a platform may or may not achieve the outcome on which the candidate runs.  While grassroots candidates have passionate ideals that resonate with their followers, whether they can achieve that outcome will remain to be seen.

The political “system” is strong and deep.  Power structures are in play that can shut down the most logical and well-meaning grassroots challenge, if the challenger doesn’t see and prepare for the obstacles and pitfalls they will encounter. Their knowledge, skills and abilities will help them to understand and prepare.

It shouldn’t be about the platform

I keep coming back to the fact that a political platform is one opinion. Holding political office should be about championing the entire state or county and making decisions with the knowledge, skill and ability to meet the needs of the whole.