When Getting Along Is the Profitable Thing To Do

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About eight years ago in Philadelphia,  a global shipbuilder took over the port space that sat empty after the U.S. Navy ceased its shipbuilding operations in South Philly.

A consortium of local colleges was organized to help the global firm as it addressed a bevy of rules and regulations as well as cultural fault lines. These jobs were a precious prize for a proud blue-collar city whose middle-class workers were stuck in a revolving door of unemployment after manufacturing jobs began to disappear.

 One of the workforce development specialists assigned to the task force told me that many cultural issues arose. The global executives, for example, were puzzled that local companies spent money to train workers to get along and treat each other with respect.

“They simply expected workers to get along and support each other,” the official confided, when I asked about group's challenges. "They didn't understand why there might be problems."

Cultural competency, which is the ability to work well with diverse groups and peoples, often is viewed through a social lens. If American workers are going to compete in global markets, this nation has to look closely at the monetary costs associated with racial, ethnic, religious and community divisions. As the economy sinks and credit tightens, those expenses are going to be magnified. How do we explain to the multinational corporations that we stand ready to sacrifice their profits in order to safeguard our right to offend each other and protect self-interest?

All of us are traveling these rough financial seas together in the same leaky boat. As the gushing waters enter our craft, we have a decision to make: Will we cling to familiar language and comfortable ways or break free and emerge from it as a highly skilled team of collaborators?

Welcoming cities which are open to new cultures and fresh ideas may very well find they have a competitive advantage in the global arenas. That’s a theory that’s been advanced by many business officials for more than a decade. But does this emotional connection drive economic growth? Or is it the other way around?

The “Soul of the Community” study funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation seeks to collect the data to answer that question over the next two years (the first year of the study is already finished.) The study is focusing on the 26 cities where Knight Foundation’s founders previously owned newspapers. The ultimate question: can investment in civic engagement lead to more jobs and greater economic stability?

 “This is a new way of looking at how engaged residents create successful communities,” said Paula Ellis, vice president for strategic initiatives at Knight Foundation. “The data provide new insights to leaders focused on improving the long-term economic well-being of their communities beyond the immediate challenges of the financial crisis.”

The communities vary in population size, economic levels and how urban or rural they are. Gallup randomly surveyed a representative sample of nearly 14,000 adults from Feb.1 through April 27, 2008, by phone. The following communities were included in the survey: Aberdeen, S.D., Akron, Ohio, Biloxi, Miss., Boulder, Colo., Bradenton, Fla., Charlotte, N.C., Columbia, S.C., Columbus, Ga., Detroit, Mich., Duluth, Minn., Fort Wayne, Ind., Gary, Ind., Grand Forks, N.D., Lexington, Ky., Long Beach, Calif., Macon, Ga., Miami, Fla., Milledgeville, Ga., Myrtle Beach, S.C., Palm Beach, Fla., Philadelphia, Pa., San Jose, Calif., St. Paul, Minn., State College, Pa., Tallahassee, Fla., Wichita, Kan.

The study finds that it generally takes at least three to six years for residents to feel highly engaged in their community. The challenge is to identify strategies for engaging residents early after they have moved in. By helping residents connect to others, cities might be able to entice them to stay and help to promote the community within their networks.

The study found that in some of the larger communities such as Miami-Dade, Philadelphia and Detroit, the key emotional connector was openness (the sense of welcoming to diverse people). “This is important to know in a large city that has struggled to achieve its full potential in attracting diverse newcomers,” said Matt Bergheiser, Knight Foundation program director for Philadelphia.  (Philadelphia and Detroit have had a declining population  while other major cities, which are more attractive to immigrants and creative workers, have experienced booms.)

The Knight Foundation community program directors plan to share the study’s findings with community leaders and citizens. They hope to use the data to help create transformational change in their communities.

Gallup and Knight Foundation will conduct the second wave of the survey in spring 2009. The additional data will help show the impact of the economic crisis on emotional community-citizen engagement.