Lynn Halsey
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QUESTION 2: Not every BOE decision is popular, even when it is the correct decision. What’s the most unpopular decision that you have faced and how did you handle it?
In my past career as a media executive and in my current role in social work, I’ve made many decisions that were correct, yet unpopular. This is a hard but essential aspect of leadership. I’m going to share one example from each of my career roles to illustrate my experience with these situations.
Shortly after joining NBC Universal’s sales operations team for their local owned and operated tv stations, I began work on a wide-reaching effort to replace commercial scheduling systems with a new, streamlined process that moved operational control from the individual stations to NBC headquarters in New York. Those coworkers who were transitioning to this process had been working with the old one for decades. To say its implementation was unpopular is an understatement. I spent months traveling all over the country in an effort to demonstrate the efficiency of this new process. Most employees were reluctant to work with me, so I had to find ways to connect with them personally. I listened to and learned from them. I was respectful of their experience and knowledge. This enabled me to assess and understand their feedback, and to use that input to improve the new process in meaningful ways. There were, of course, some who I would never win over, but I made genuine connections with people whose experiences, perspectives, and goals were different from my own. I persevered with this project because of my confidence in it and my belief that it was the best choice for the success of the company. It was difficult but one of my proudest accomplishments in the five years I spent with NBC Universal.
More recently in my role as a social worker, I was facilitating an outpatient substance abuse group for women with a history of trauma. I faced a difficult situation with one particular client, a young woman with severe substance abuse disorder and a traumatic childhood. I believed that she and I were making progress together but then she did something that was grounds for immediate expulsion from the program. Allowing the client to remain in the program would have satisfied my personal desire to continue our work and it would have been the easier choice for everyone involved – but it would have been the wrong decision. I gained valuable experience when I put aside my personal feelings for the good of the group and developed the skills needed to reassure group members who felt angry and confused over their friend’s absence, without breaking my confidentiality agreement with my former client.
These examples highlight the skills and perspective that I will bring to my work as a member of the Board of Education. I have a successful track record of building consensus among groups with varying interests and setting my personal feelings aside to achieve a goal that is in the best interest of the larger organization and the community as a whole. I have the skills required to increase transparency with the community while adhering to ethical codes and respecting the confidentiality of students, families, and staff. This experience will be key as I develop productive working relationships with all fellow board members so the board as a whole can deliver decisions and oversight in the best interest of the students, the schools, and the community.
