A Crack in the Door in Congress? Looking for a Evidence of a Shift

I was once hired to help a group of organizations work together after years of squabbling and rivalry. The goal was to convince the organizations, which focused on similar mental health issues, to communicate smoothly, stop competing for money, and spend less time stepping on each other’s toes. Oh, and this had to be done through a two-day workshop. Yup, totally impossible.

All I could do was open the door a crack for the executives involved to change the way they related to one another. I helped them identify some shared motivations for the work they do. Then we used those motivations to generate just a few modest projects they agreed to pursue together—projects that allowed them to model behavior they might hope to repeat in the future.

So, can such a change happen with the partisan rancor Washington?

Uh, I have no idea. But I know what kind of evidence to look for. Does the door open a crack? Does something happen that causes rival sides to talk in terms of shared emotions and motivations? Much as some may wish it, I doubt the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords is such an event. But it has some of those elements. (Members of Congress rallying around a colleague, hoping to turn down the rhetoric level that leads nut cases to think violence is OK.) Do influential politicians on both sides of the aisle start to focus on a few shared goals – no matter how modest? We’ll see.