Business Advocacy is Balancing Act – June 1, 2010

As I sit on my deck, computer on my lap, enjoying the last of the weekend sun, I’m thinking about balance. Not the five days on, two days off kind of balance, but the kind to be struck between compliments and criticism. Between being a positive Polly and a negative Nelly.

At last week’s Super Mega Cybersocial, a discussion formed about how to blend the “more needs to be done” message with our celebrations of the IT sector’s successes. It’s a tricky act, where the players must dance between promoting the industry as a proven engine for growth and innovation and conveying the urgency of the need for further investment in research and development.

Similarly, whenever Fredericton receives a new commendation (such as our recent strong performance on the Composite Learning Index as described in Maclean’s Smart Cities coverage) someone raises a sober second voice to point out the areas in which our municipality needs to improve. Invariably the mayor gets a pat on the back and a kick in the pants, all at the same time. I wonder which leaves the lasting mark?

In politics, its more black and white. The government in power touts its accomplishments and the opposition highlights government failures. One paints a rosy picture, the other a bleak image. Rare are the times when the government highlights weakness in our provincial performance. Rarer still are the occasions when the opposition applauds any government initiative.

In the public sphere, I see mounds of negative commentary and limited positive remarks. The NB Power debate reflected this tendency, while also shedding light on the difficulty of gaining buy-in for change when the main government communication had been positive information about the utility’s performance.

In the private sector, human resources pros facilitate performance reviews and feedback sessions regularly. Typical practice is to provide specific examples of both good performance and areas for improvement. When highlighting what to work on, good managers describe clearly what great performance looks like, in terms of results as well as behaviours.

Engaged customers and citizens adding their voices to the conversation is critical. Figuring out how to cultivate those conversations to produce constructive outcomes is the key. It starts with dialogue that brings awareness to issues and needs to evolve to productive discourse on solutions for change.

As the leading advocate for our capital’s business community, the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce walks this line daily. We strive to be supportive of our councillors and ministers, while also pushing for change where our members need it. Instead of criticizing aggressively, we try to drive ideas and solutions forward.

It’s not easy and we don’t always get it right. Sometimes members ask us to call our partners to the carpet for their actions and inaction. That spurred the creation of our Barrier Busters program, where we collect stories of challenges members have faced in dealing with our municipal and provincial partners then work to better the situation. At the same time we work to praise good results and progress wherever it exists.

I think we need to go further. The chamber should become a conduit for great ideas and beneficial initiatives. To be a cultivator of conversation that goes beyond positive and negative observations toward producing viable recommendations.

Our business immigrant mentorship program is one example of a step in this direction. Having identified the need to help entrepreneurial immigrants achieve success in establishing businesses in Fredericton, we traded lobbying in exchange for the creation of a mentorship program aimed to deliver just that result.

As another example, our members identified the issue of primary health service shortages in the city, and our president’s committee is now moving beyond simply drawing attention to the issue to advocating for the establishment of collaborative care centres to address the root of the problem.

We’re constantly listening to our members to determine the next issues we should tackle. The next time you comment, speak up or join the discussion, I hope it will be to help our businesses, city and province advance. We’ll be listening, and hoping to hear more and more constructive, solution-filled debate so that our city’s Pollys and Nellys can be replaced by fruitful Freddys!

Change to by-line
Have an idea to make Fredericton better? Susan Holt, the CEO of the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce would love to hear from you at susanh@frederictonchamber.ca or on 451-9744.

To Read the Daily Gleaner Article