The Role of Constituent Input in Public Organizations
This point came up when I was living in Washington, DC. The Convention and Visitors Association was conducting a survey to solicit Washington residents’ ideas and feelings about what it means to live in DC. It was controversial in the economic development and cultural resources community because, maybe, the Bureau should’ve already known the answers to its own questions.
This is a tough one, because there are a lot of issues to consider. Undoubtedly, it was a fun and rewarding exercise for people with deep emotional and cultural connections with the District to participate in the survey. Washington has an astonishing cultural heritage and an excellent array of quality of life assets. These include Duke Ellington, Marvin Gaye, Discord Records, Henry Rollins, Go-go, DJ Kool, the nation’s oldest private art museum, America’s largest urban park, the country’s most technologically advanced rapid transit system, a wonderful, well kept turn of the century housing stock, the nation’s largest per capita LGBT population, it’s oldest Ethiopian community and countless other redeeming qualities. However, why did the Association have to ask?
For some of us, the professionalism of the Association was immediately taken into question. It’s the Association’s job to market the city as an exciting cultural Mecca where people want to visit, work and live. The people that work at the Association failing to deeply understand DC’s great cultural heritage and attractions, is like a cardiologist not knowing where the aorta is. It’s unacceptable. Both people should look for new lines of work. However, is a customer survey a valuable component of customer service for an organization like the Association? Do surveys have roles in public organizations?
In the private sector, businesses constantly want the feedback of their customers. Many business people will tell you: “our customers know more than we do.” I get a sense that the Association was using this type of logic when they decided to embark upon the public survey.
But private businesses are not leadership organizations, in fact many are more than happy not to be trend setters. Many of the most successful businesses have been built using others ideas and after the initial fad has fizzled. They’re asking customers how to make it better, not how to make it.
Public organizations have a categorically different roll. They lead constituents and processes. The clearest example of this is legislative representatives. Yes, they pay attention to polls, which are survey findings, but I have never seen a representative issue a constituent poll herself. And even if she were to issue a survey, it would only cover individual issues or topics, and not the core product. Would a representative ever ask constituents questions like?
Would you prefer that your representative be a consensus builder or an advocate?
Would you prefer that your representative speak candidly or deliberately?
Would you prefer that your representative serve a limited number of terms or gain greater legislative experience?
These are not questions that public officials, and leaders, ask. These are answers that they need to know. Which of these two types of constituent and customer engagement do you feel is a better match for a public organization like the Washington DC Convention and Visitors Association?
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