Yesterday, I wrote about the importance of conversational collisions (dot 3512), that serendipitous interaction that occurs when two people run into each other and can begin to engage. Collisions won’t be happening with the newest member of our city council — who thinks she is able to be effective living a thousand miles away as a snowbird each year. Participating virtually in just the meetings for three months each winter seems to be good enough for her without any further involvement or first-hand experience of what life in our city is like.
And there is nothing in place to prohibit this. No guidelines about in-person attendance. No provisions against moving out of state for a quarter of your term. No responsibilities for council members outside of meeting attendance, however loosely “attendance” is defined. An attempt failed to put something in place to address this retroactively, so she skates by.
Every organization should have fundamental operating practices on the books — things that seem like common sense but are better for everyone if they are clarified in advance. Reactionary policies can feel like personal attacks whereas addressing responsibilities and norms upfront can save angst and resentment down the road.
The time to put guidelines and expectations in place is before you need them. Once someone does something outside the bounds once, it becomes a precedent. It’s much easier to prevent deviations than it is to undo them.
