Ways to Influence Decision-Making in Shreveport

What could we do to help make things happen?

2008-02-06T20:51:00.001-08:00

What meetings should we attend? What should we do there? Who should we talk to? What do we ask them or tell them? What after that?

Influence through Building a Shared Interpretation?

2008-02-06T20:43:00.000-08:00

Isn't talking with others to develop a shared interpretation of a decision one way to influence it? And that would be part of monitoring the whole decision-making process, right?

You go to meetings, you talk about what happened with the decision-makers, you share others' interpretations, introduce them to the decision-makers, if possible, and share your interpretation with other d-m's in other locales, and, last but certainly NOT least, the general public!

So, the editorial, the letter to the editor, blogs, e-mails, and plain old socializing, should all work as forums for spreading an interpretation.

And, if the interpretation is everywhere, and established (e.g., they're going to vote on X and they're going to approve it! hooray!) it's more likely the decision-makers will feel compelled not to contradict that.

We influence, then, by watching and talking. Easy! Uh, sort of?

Influence through Shared Experience

2008-02-06T20:41:00.001-08:00

My friend said, "Get whatever decision-maker you want to influence to DO something with you." Optimally, something that supports what you want. Want a bike path, go biking with her; want a Walmart, go to Walmart with her, etc.