Real-Life Decision Making
"You must have really good decision-making skills, because the course of
action and the strategy you adopt can make or break your goal," says Louise
MacNaughton, a government relations officer.
"You have to be able to make good decisions. The key to it isn't just communication
but also judgment -- you have to have good judgment and good ability to make
a decision based on your judgment.
"The main decisions you make are around strategy and messaging -- how to
package what you want to accomplish in a way that the message will be understandable
and acceptable to the end recipient you're giving it to."
You're a government relations officer for a large university with several
campuses and colleges. Its government-built dormitories on campus are getting
old and overcrowded.
When grappling with funding issues to build more, you realize it would
be most economical to contract the task out to the lowest-bidding private
company. However, because the university is a public institution, you have
to introduce a bill in the legislature to allow universities to engage in
contracts with private companies to build dormitories.
You take the matter to the capitol when the legislation session begins.
There you find you've got strong support on one side of the legislature and
a lot of opposition on the other.
Among the opposition is one particular politician who's very powerful.
He insists the building of campus property should remain publicly funded,
and the university will have to cut in other areas to devote more of its budget
to the construction.
As you work out your differences with various players, you realize a few
of the people behind you will have to spill some blood for you -- take a political
risk in the hopes your bill will pass. If it doesn't, it could hurt their
relationships with other legislators and even harm their upcoming re-election
chances. In other words, they may not be keen to listen to or support you
in the future.
You have to make a decision on whether you're going to fight or fold on
the issue. Are the risks worth the costs? You don't want to strain your friends
or embarrass them on a vote. You have to decide how bad you want this bill
passed.
There's a lot of pressure from the university to pass it, but can you come
back next year and get it after working on your case a little more? Do you
pull the plug on the bill or decide you're going to run over your opposition?