Ideas and tips to get along and get stuff done------------ --- January 20, 2023
If you're an elected leader, THANK YOU!

January marks the start of many terms of elected office: legislatures, town and city councils, school boards and the like. It's a fitting time to pause and honor these people who are "putting themselves out there" to serve the rest of us.

If you are a new leader, this video (ABOVE) from the Maine Municipal Association
is a great resource. Hosted by veteran elected leader Jill Duson. Thank you Jill!

I like to think of elected leaders not as power grabbers but rather as public servants. Serving in any elected office is a hard job. You get criticized from all sides, by design, and the work is woefully uncompensated. It's a labor of love. Elected leaders are almost always driven by their desire to make their communities better rather than their desire to feather their own nest, a criticism they are constantly defending against.

You may not agree with your elected leader but you know what, at least that person is "in the ring," taking hits, and publicly fighting for a better future. If YOU are an elected leader, thank you. 🙏🏼 🙏🏼 🙏🏼
Some resources for elected leaders

Strategic Government Resources has developed a Servant Leaders Resource Library. Extensive and recommended.

Check it out > > >

SGR also hosts a Servant Leadership Conference which you can attend online next week: January 26 and 27.
I will be a featured speaker, coming to you live from Forth Worth, Texas! See the agenda here.
Robert's Rules Explained

Here's a video I made from the floor of the Maine House of Representatives about how Robert's Rules are designed to foster inclusivity.
Free Training Wednesday, January 25

Really good meetings are rarely accidents. They require thoughtful preparation, deliberate facilitation, and aligned follow up. These three things don't need to be arduous or complicated, but they need to happen. I'll explain how to do them in super simple ways.

After some basic training on key ingredients for good meetings we will have a little talk show. I will invite a few people from the audience to be my special guests! Maybe you if you want. And of course I will take your questions about all aspects of meeting facilitation. Just 50 minutes. After the session I will provide each participant with handouts and Highlight Notes.

Should be fun. And educational. I hope you join me.
There are Many Models for Shared Decision Making

Since the release of my new book, many of you have written to me with some version of: "Hey Craig? Have you heard about ________?" I love hearing about different ways to make collaborative decisions. Certainly, mine is not the only way.

Here are two very different models that I thought you would appreciate, one from the world of science and one from the world of activism. I learned about each of these from fans.

The Momentum Model for Hybrid Organizing
Designed to build social movements that change public opinion and institutionalize wins on the most pressing justice issues of our time, this living model contains foundational frameworks and practices as well as core tools to deploy based on a particular movement context. If consider yourself a movement organizer, I think you will want to check this out. Here's about the model. Here's about the organization behind it.

Structured Decision Making for Natural Resource Management
Based in decision theory and risk analysis, Structured Decision Making is an evidence-based approach for careful and organized analysis of natural resource management decisions. It recognizes the role of scientific predictions in decisions and deals explicitly with uncertainty. If you consider yourself a collaborative decision maker with an interest in natural resources, I think you will want to check this out. Here's all about it.
Together We Decide
Gets Personal

My book - Together We Decide, An Essential Guide for Making Good Group Decisions - is actually several books in one. It's a how-to guide, for instance. Some say it's a call for cultural change. Yet it's also an autobiography. It's a lot about me. MY story.

Much of my story is told right in the first chapter.

Yet my story shows up throughout the book. My editors pushed me to tell stories from MY experience. If you've ever ever been in a meeting with me, you might recognize one of these stories!


And I would like to hear how the book speaks to YOU. It's been out for a couple months now. Many of you have checked it out.

What do YOU think of the book?
The stories? The lessons? The call for cultural change?

I've set up a brief anonymous survey right here. Or if you prefer, reply to this email.


TOGETHER WE DECIDE has been an Amazon Top 10 Bestseller in several categories. It's An Essential Guide for Making Good Group Decisions.

To Help You Get Along
Written and published by Craig Freshley. Thanks for walking along with me.
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