Cityscape • February 2022 • League Column

Many years ago, I was given and read the book How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie. It has some great concepts for handling people, even if you don’t fully subscribe to his ideology. With a new position at work and my position as mayor and the League President, I thought it was time to reread the book to enhance my perspective in these roles. There are some great concepts that I would like to discuss. Let’s start with the fundamental techniques in handling people:

As I read this, I thought about the people I supervise and how to apply these principles in life. I thought of how to incorporate them into how we run our cities and encourage community involvement.

The first two principles are all about encouragement and lifting up people. We certainly must be appreciative and publicly recognize the work people do. Beyond that, the appreciation must be sincere!

As we face changes in our communities, newly elected officials, new staff, new volunteers, be sure to show appreciation to the people moving on. Do you have a mechanism for thanking your outgoing council? A length of service recognition for staff or volunteers in your city? Many employers have milestones that are recognized by additional benefits.

It’s also important to recognize the milestones of volunteers. If we want to retain active community leaders – volunteers as well as staff – we need to let them know we appreciate them. We need to do it privately as well as publicly. A great way to do that is the Governor’s Volunteer Award.

The third principle is unique to every situation and person. I’ve really been working on this one lately. Carnegie gives some fabulous examples of this principle.

As you begin new relationships with incoming people, be sure to look for what motivates them and help them look for what motivates the citizens they are representing or leading. When asking someone to do something, start with what’s in it for them. List the benefits they receive and the reasons they would want to do it. When you ask someone to serve on a board or recruit new volunteers, did you remember to tell them what they would get out of it? Another way could be when you send nuisance letters, maybe focus on the benefits they will receive by fixing or cleaning their property.

I hope you find that including kindness and personalized motivation in the narrative will encourage and engage more people in various processes and projects. I think we can all relate to this old saying by Stephen Grellet that Carnegie quoted:

I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness that I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.