 What are the characteristics of an effective, locally elected official? Attending meetings, sitting on committees, and making decisions on the community's behalf are just some of an elected official's responsibilities. Effective elected officials are those who have a wide range of knowledge, life experiences, and skills to bring to the council or board table. They have an understanding of their community's issues, so they are informed and open to differing perspectives. They understand the role of an elected official and the procedures and legislative rules that apply to local governments. They have integrity and are honest and demonstrate strong ethical principles. And they understand that a healthy democratic local government needs committed, ethical, and informed elected officials. If you're going to be a politician, you have to represent everyone from a student to an older person, rich and poor, and businesses, small and large, but you have to be open to listening and having that dialogue. I think I've become more patient over time and that helps when you're working around a council table with people working through tough issues and trying to understand where each other are coming from. Developing those active listening skills are really important. It's often seen as very intimidating at the very beginning to take on roles of leadership, but if you've been elected or even if you haven't been elected and you're appointed to a position in a committee, your job is to help create a foundation and like the environment for a good decision. People who are the most effective in elected office are those who are accountable to the council or board and to the community. They're also accountable for their own conduct, proactive in addressing community and council and board issues by finding collective solutions and making informed decisions. Being prepared for meetings, asking questions and participating respectfully in discussions. There's a lot of talk about when you run for elected office that you need to have a thick skin. You can hear a lot of criticisms and things that are tossed your way, but instead what I found is you really need a permeable skin so you let the right information in and you keep the unnecessary information out. So I come to this from communications and it's the part of the role that I enjoy the most and certainly there are some skills that I've learned over time around how to bring people into the conversation but also how to handle people when they come at you with really strong emotions and really strong opinions. How to metabolize that without taking it on necessarily. And in fact I would say to be curious about what people think and why they might think differently than you. Take a moment to assess how you demonstrate these characteristics. Are they traits that come naturally to you or will you need to work to build and maintain them? What are your strengths and how will they help shape the way your local government moves forward if you are elected? I think it's really important to ask yourself why it is you want to do this and what it is you want to bring to your community. Knowing that there's going to be opposition, knowing that you need an open mind and you might need to adjust your thinking a little bit. Because if we can appreciate different perspectives and differing perspectives then I think we'll be better as a council, as a governing body, but most importantly better as a community as a whole.