Alumni Profiles - Navigating Complex Challenges

City manager Torry Edwards finds voice for building partnerships.

 

"I may be going into a high-pressured meeting or dealing with a citizen's concern or solving a day-to-day problem. Whatever it is, I say to myself, 'How can I articulate this so it's received and understood by the listener in a way that we can achieve the best results?' That's the new lens that's been created by CCL's Navigating Complex Challenges."

- Torry Edwards
Assistant City Manager, City of Terrell, Texas

Assistant city manager Torry Edwards could see the wave bearing down on Terrell, Texas, a small town 20 miles east of Dallas, even before the Texas legislature formed three new cities along Terrell's fringes to handle the advancing urban sprawl.

He even had the solution — a regionalism model that would integrate the four cities' resources and protect each one's interests.

Participating in the Center for Creative Leadership's (CCL^®) Navigating Complex Challenges experience gave him the focus and the voice to effectively communicate his vision.

"Before Navigating Complex Challenges,I would get bogged down in some of the technical relationships instead of keeping the big picture in focus,"Edwards says."The real value I took away from the course is the ability to develop a concise, compelling story to summarize a complex concept without getting into the technical minutiae."

Designed for leaders facing a complex and unique business challenge with no clearly identified solution, Navigating Complex Challenges emphasizes assessment of a leader's role in navigating the challenge and provides techniques for managing the challenge within the context of the organization. After 12 weeks of 360-degree personal and organizational assessments, individual coaching (by telephone) and a three-day in-class course, Edwards had the tools and confidence to connect more effectively with the key players working through the challenges confronting Terrell and its new neighbors.

Beyond convincing his own town's leadership of the value of establishing an inter-city partnership for growth, Edwards had to communicate with the councils and managers representing the three new cities in a way that inspired cooperation. In addition, the public had to be kept informed and assured.

"Basically, we were sharing our story so our elected officials would clearly understand and vote to approve our project, "Edwards says. "These other entities looked at me to provide them leadership in terms of navigating their own complex challenges. With these relationships, we're literally building cities from the ground up. The challenge is getting through the politics to tell your story to every entity so they understand the benefits of regionalism.

"Edwards credits his CCL experience with enabling him to share more effectively his city's growth management strategy when he was invited to testify before the Texas Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Relations. He also used his new skills to persuade the Texas state government to establish legislation that will assist Terrell in future growth management.

Focusing a complex issue clearly in his mind and then crafting a compelling story that leads others to move forward are skills Edwards uses daily to perform more effectively as a city manager. "In city government, you literally don't know what you'll be confronted with on any given day," Edwards says. "I may be going into a high-pressured meeting or dealing with a citizen's concern or solving a day-to-day problem. Whatever it is, I say to myself, 'How can I articulate this so it's received and understood by the listener in a way that we can achieve the best results?' That's the new lens that's been created by CCL's Navigating Complex Challenges."

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