Council, mayor to work on communication skills

The art of effective communication is nothing new, and neither is its appreciation.

“To speak and to speak well are two things,” English playwright Ben Jonson said about four centuries ago, noting that while some merely talk, “a wise man speaks.”

Senior Pine Bluff Alderman Bill Brumett believes he, the city council as a whole and Mayor Debe Hollingsworth could progress with enhanced dialogue, from which he figures the public would likely reap the greater benefit. That’s why — with the support of Simmons First National Bank — Brumett has arranged a “Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When the Stakes are High” seminar here for the local leaders on Tuesday.

Brumett said Thursday that he expects Hollingsworth and his council colleagues — Charles Boyd, Glen Brown, Wayne Easterly, Lloyd Holcomb Jr., Steven Mays, George Stepps and Thelma Walker — will participate in the training, to be led by Sharon W. Lovoy, president of Lovoy’s Team Works Inc. of Birmingham, Ala.

SFNB is covering the event’s costs. The 7:30 a.m.-4 p.m. session will be conducted at the historic DuBocage House on West Fourth Avenue.

With Brumett’s vow that city business won’t be addressed, The Commercial and other media have agreed to withhold coverage so that the activity can be privy to only the officials.

“This isn’t designed to change anyone’s opinions on anything, but rather to help us better communicate by familiarizing ourselves with methods to allow us to better express our thoughts, feelings and ideas so we might work toward our decisions more positively,” Brumett said. “Communication is key to us being and maintaining a successful city government.

“This instruction won’t on its own resolve whatever differences we might have, but I know it will help us to improve our communication, which is a sound start on bridging gaps,” he said. “It will allow us to move forward with less dissension, and that’s not to say that some dissension isn’t good. But I do think that any group should always be striving toward more resolution and less conflict.”

Brumett stressed that “absolutely nothing concerning city business” is being hidden from the media or public.

“One of the goals of the training is for participants to be able to relate some personal feelings,” he said. “Sometimes it’s difficult for some people to do that as it is, and that hesitation might magnify itself if media representatives were present. We really appreciate the media’s understanding in our aims at being able to be more open with one another.”

Alderman George Stepps voiced agreement.

“We need some private time together so we can open up and vent or whatever,” Stepps said. “I support the public’s right to know about city business and I have gratitude for the media and the job it does, but we’re not going to be discussing city business. We’re going to be learning how to improve our communication skills, and we need to be able to do that if we’re going to be more effective in our elected roles.

“We don’t have many occasions in which we can just sit down and have an open conversation without concerning ourselves with whoever else might be near,” he said. “I think that by ourselves, we can be more relaxed and more frank and direct, and I believe that would be a great building block for everyone.”

Brumett thinks the experience will produce healthy results.

“I wouldn’t have even attempted to put this together if I didn’t think it would be worth the time and effort,” he said. “I’ve seen firsthand how these programs can help individuals and groups improve, and I like the fact that I’ve received so much positive feedback from council members and the mayor and that we’re all on board.

“I believe that the benefit of this training will be evidenced by more constructive council meetings,” Brumett continued. “I think this will enable us to be more effective, too, in our committee meetings by dissolving differences there and not escalating them as much as we may have done in the past. One of the wisest things we can do as elected leaders is to dedicate ourselves to finding established and charting new pathways that will help us to better understand one another and endeavor to establish a tone for progressive cooperation.”