Guest blog by Lucas R. Martinez
In December of 2021, I embarked on a 6-day trek through Torres del Paine National Park, in southern Chilean Patagonia. A yearly ritual with a best friend from college, I would find a multi-day hike far from civilization to collect my thoughts, reenergize my spirit, and challenge me mentally and physically.
On that long hike in the mountains of Chile, was a fortuitous encounter with an amazing young woman who had recently decided to transition from her impressive job in the non-profit sector to obtain a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). We quickly bonded over our shared life priorities and goals. Two months later, I was working for a national civil rights organization and leading its healthcare policy initiatives. Soon thereafter, there was a realization that HKS could be a great resource to hone my policy skills and I decided to apply to the Implementing Public Policy (IPP) Program.
My path to public policy was truly unorthodox but driven by a strong desire to help others. Even with two graduate degrees, I had never taken one course on public policy. What followed my HKS acceptance, was an eye-opening experience at the right time in my career and life. Through my 7-month journey, I reinforced some good behaviors, stopped some terrible habits, and quickly incorporated new skills and techniques into my daily routines.
All my new IPP skills were put to the test when I accepted a new role in a completely different field four months into the course. My new position was in a statewide political campaign leading a newly formed department. What followed was a quick ramp up period of capabilities, resources, and personnel in an industry with a finite time period. What started with a few leads quickly snowballed into a national, multi-agent group working to quickly identify the problem, implement policy to address the problem, and make quick pivots based off successes and failures.
Although the campaign failed on election day, like true public policy, the work continues through setback and failures. Creating successes from failures, “successful failures,” is a key takeaway lesson from IPP. Lessons learned during IPP:
- Focus on problems and not solutions: Many policy neophytes, like me, instinctively focus on solutions and implementing novel initiatives while completely breezing through the analysis of the actual problem. Analyzing and breaking down the problem first will demonstrate that most societal problems are in fact complex with many root causes. From there, you’ll find that many different solutions are needed to actually address the problem. In fact, breaking down the problem will lead to an assessment of the low hanging fruits, entry points, that can be quick wins to help motivate and gain further authorization. Critically, a good problem brings people together.
- Be Humble: You’re not the smartest person in the room and you don’t have all the answers. Listening to others, and leaving your biases and egos at the door can lead to a refreshing look and insights into your policy problem.
- Follow Leads: You don’t know everything nor everyone. Implementing policy takes a village and some key villagers are connectors and conveners. These agents play a critical role in creating multi-agent groups that share risks by making the problem common to all.Be open and inclusive as your root causes may necessitate experts outside of your network/subject matter. Learning about problems from stakeholders can lead to evolving solution strategies.
- Be Trusting: You can’t change the world alone. Leadership involves taking risks on behalf of things we care about and requires sharing those risks with others. Being trusting works both ways, which is why it’s critical to create a system that enables people to do their best work, including creating psychological safety.
- Poco a Poco OR One small leap for man…: In the policy world, giant leaps typically lead to bigger failures. Taking smaller leaps, or iterative steps, is a more nuanced and strategic approach to policy implementation. Taking smaller steps allows a team to take routine pauses to learn and adjust throughout the policy implementation. Routinely ask: 1) what did we do?; 2) what did we learn?; 3) what are you struggling with?; and, 4) what’s next?
- Self-Care: Leadership is not about being a martyr, you can’t lead if you’re no longer a leader. It’s key that you prioritize your mental and physical well-being. Implementing public policy is a long play which requires you to pace yourself. If you find the work load overwhelming, consider taking smaller steps. Leadership starts with you and don’t forget that it necessitates sharing risks while addressing a shared problem.
- Accept Failures and Make Pivots: Policy implementation, like life, is a journey. There will be many bumps in the road and one must accept that there will be many failures as you address complex or complicated public policy. Like life, you must learn from these failures and make necessary pivots from lessons learned. The key is that when taking smaller iterative steps, the failures will be smaller in scale to allow you to continue your successful path.
My trek through remote Patagonia started centuries before my arrival. I benefitted from public policy that built the infrastructure and logistics needed for me to safely travel over land, air, and sea to begin my adventure. My trip launched with my best friend but led to a new network of friends and colleagues, which ultimately led me to HKS. That one fortuitous lead is analogous to the IPP course, in that it only takes one lead to open the door to other likeminded policy implementers that are singularly focused on making their communities a better place to love, work, and play. At its core, policy is about leads and lessons, but one most be open to expanding your team and creating success from failures.
This is a blog series written by the alumni of the Implementing Public Policy Executive Education Program at the Harvard Kennedy School. Participants successfully completed this 6-month online learning course in December 2022. These are their learning journey stories.