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Understand Risks, Build Consensus, Make Compromises and Craft a Successful Solution Together

By Robert Ahlert
Originally Posted on The Lincoln Squirrel on February 27, 2024. Posted here with permission of the author.

When it comes to finding a solution to the Housing Choice Act riddle for Lincoln, there are many paths the town could choose to go down. When choosing which path to go down, an organization (e.g., our town) usually carefully identifies its options and the risks vs. rewards for each, ultimately choosing the option which has the lowest risk and the highest reward. The conundrum we face in Lincoln is that the reward for one group (e.g., a lot more housing in one area) is in fact a major risk for the other group (too much housing in one area). So how do we as an organization (Lincoln) move forward to make a decision when we don’t even have the same objectives?

As you probably are suspecting, the right answer is to find a compromise.

OK, but how do we compromise? How do we not end up with a solution that only 51% of the population is satisfied with?

This is where sitting down together and documenting the risks/fears that folks have is critical.  And it will get very touchy because it’s hard not to quickly dismiss someone’s fears when you think you already have the answer. This is where talking, listening and documenting risks becomes critically important. What are the risks? Can we quantify and agree on the likelihood and impact on a 1 to 10 scale for each risk? Are there any obvious mitigations?

During a workshop or series of workshops, each risk can be graded on likelihood (1 to 10) and Impact (1 to 10).  The risk can either be “Accepted,” “Needs More Info,” or “Mitigated” and a workshop participant (or participants) can be assigned to take responsibility for that action. Below are some examples from a list of risks I’ve heard on both sides of the discussion.  

Risk #1: Developers put in offers on over 50% of the parcels in the first year after maps are published.

Risk #2: Developers will not build family-friendly three-bedroom apartments or condos.

Risk #3: Traffic will be bumper to bumper on Lincoln Road from Five Corners to Codman Road, not just during the rush hours but also at other times of the day and on weekends.

These are just three examples. There are likely 50+ unique risks we could document if we had a workshop on this topic.

When faced with a decision that has a lot of risks, does leadership go ahead and choose an option that exposes the organization to potential large downside impacts, especially given that reversing this decision would be over a year away? I would hope not, especially in a consensus-driven organization like a town. This is not a private enterprise with a CEO, this is a town.

So we document a lot of risks/fears from folks on both sides of discussion. What do we do next? Now comes the really hard work. Do we decide to just accept one of these risks because both the likelihood and impact are so low? Are we aware of an immediate mitigation that we can apply that will lower the likelihood or impact? Do we need more information? How much time and money do we need to gather more info or mitigate?

If you’ve read this far, some of you are really rolling your eyes saying this is way too much trouble to go through to get to a solution to the HCA riddle. But that’s the point. By going through this trouble, we better understand risks that each other see and find a consensus solution, choosing a compromise path.

That is what Brookline did, that’s what we can do as well. On March 23rd, vote “No for Now” on the HCA-related article and then we can get to “Yes” together before December 2024 and easily comply.

Calling all leaders and/or project managers/therapists to the table!