It All Comes Down to Relationships

John Pugleasa, Bemidji, BCLP 2003
Executive Director, Beltrami Area Service Collaborative

Finding A Clear Focus
One of the things John Pugleasa remembers most about BCLP was the opportunity to step back and evaluate his professional and personal involvements. Feeling stretched thin, he came away resolved to cut back and focus. “Focus” turned out to be running for (and winning) a seat on the Bemidji School Board. While not all community leaders are elected, John agrees that leadership necessarily results in getting involved in something. He endorses what so many advise: “Choose, don’t chase every issue that comes along.”

When John reflects on what he gained from BCLP, he points immediately to the network of skillful colleagues on whom he can rely to enrich the dialogue about Bemidji and Beltrami County. “The Blandin experience encouraged me about things for which I had no names, like framing. I came away with a language and a body of thought to support my experience. Three cohorts have gone through the same program, which provides a critical mass of people to help frame issues and advance initiatives in this region.”

Sustaining Long-Term Trust
While John has become more purposeful about how he leads, he is unwavering in his conviction that relationships like these are at the foundation of effective leadership — a lesson learned during nine years as Executive Director of the Beltrami Area Service Collaborative (BASC), a clearinghouse of public/private organizations that secures and allocates resources for services that benefit children and families.

What is most satisfying about his work is building relationships and trust for long-term partnerships. But maintaining those relationships while keeping the greater good in focus is challenging. Collaboration, by its very nature, brings together people who will not necessarily see things in the same way or have shared meaning about issues and priorities. That brings John full circle to his central point — strengthening relationships so that people can work together with what they’re dealt — listening for understanding and recognizing the legitimacy of competing interests.

Listening plays a powerful role in building trust. For John, trust is about people having faith in what you say and a belief that you have the interests of the community at heart. While on the task force studying ways to create a multi-use event center in Bemidji, a clash arose between those in the economic development sector and others with social priorities such as housing, access, libraries and the arts. “We realized quickly that it didn’t need to be an either/or proposition. We needed to help people listen to one another so that this facility would serve the community as a whole rather than more narrowly defined interests that are so often framed in opposition to each other.”

Effecting Change, Managing Conflict
John envisions himself as a behind-the-scenes leader who is able to keep an issue before a group long enough for it to become their own. When it comes to effecting change and managing conflict, he offers some additional perspectives:

• Leverage success. Show people what is being accomplished; link progress to a broader vision.

• Keep pragmatists onboard even as you are cultivating the dreamers. Build social capital by drawing on diverse perspectives, different sets of skills and abilities, and different ways of asking important questions. 

• Listen to the person who most disagrees with you. Recognize that there will always be the potential for conflict. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer. “There have been many instances in which my assumptions were wrong or the way I framed an idea or proposal just didn’t make sense. Having people involved with a variety of perspectives has always taught me the most.”

• Focus. There is never a lack of good things to do. Learn to say “no” from time to time. “What I choose to do, though, will always be measured against the difference I want to make as a community leader — encouraging people to take seriously the notion of service to the wider community.”