Huntington Beach Officials Swap Jargon for ‘Social Style’

Accustomed to wrangling among themselves in bureaucratic jargon, Huntington Beach city officials are trying a new--and costly--kind of communication these days through seminars titled “Social Style” and “Personality Traits”.

The City Council has spent almost $35,000 in the last 18 months on personnel training seminars conducted by Robert D. Davis Consultants Inc. to “improve interpersonal relations and communicate more effectively” with each other and the public.

“We very seldom get to sit down in an informal type of atmosphere in order to better understand each other’s personalities so that we can perhaps work better together,” said Councilwoman Ruth Bailey, who with her colleagues voted to spend another $10,000 this week to extend Davis’ contract four months.

“Communication has always been the biggest problem,” she said. “You can send memos but not understand what needs to be done.”

Opposes Idea

But John Thomas, the only council member critical of the seminars, called them “a waste of time and taxpayers’ money.”

“I haven’t seen any changes in the council since they went through any of these things,” said Thomas, who hasn’t participated in most of the training sessions.

“I think it’s one of those freebie things,” he said. Still, Thomas voted for the contract last Monday night. “Four months is better than eight, and I knew it was going to go through anyway.”

Davis had asked for an eight-month extension of his contract at $2,500 a month to finish, among other things, “versatility seminars, communications workshop for department heads, individual write-ups for each council member analyzing their particular social style” and several follow-up workshops to be held at the council’s pleasure.

But the council decided that Davis could finish his work in half the time and voted to cut his $20,000 request in half.

190 Employess Trained

To date, 190 Huntington Beach employees, including police officers, accountants, clerical workers and planners, have been through Davis’ “social style/traits programs,” typically three daylong sessions. According to the program’s initiator, City Administrator Charles Thompson, the public benefits through more effective and better service.

Betty Barilla, the City Council’s secretary, called her three-day training “enlightening.”

“I have eight bosses and each one has his own idiosyncrasy and his own way,” Barilla said, referring to the seven council members and Thompson. “I learned to be more versatile and not take a lot of things personally.”

She said Davis divides people into four personality categories: expressive, analytic, amiable or driven.

“I was with people that I didn’t know from other departments. After talking with them during the seminar . . . be it ever so short . . . they express how you come across to them. It really is an insight and helps you to change.”

The majority of council members were equally enthusiastic. Councilman Don MacAllister, who says he was identified by Davis as “the upper quarter of the driven-type personality,” said: “I feel it has been a wise expenditure of tax money to learn better how to interface with staff. One of the key parts of his program is to identify various personalities of people so you know how to react to them.”

MacAllister conceded that he already knew he was the type of person who wants to “get the answers and get it over with” from similar seminars in private business.

Hopes It’s Worthwhile

“In the long run, hopefully, it will mean a more efficient government operation and will more than save the taxpayers the cost of the program.”

Several council members said such seminars are common tools of private enterprise.

Councilman Peter Green, a biology professor at Golden West College, said he learned that “the background and style of the person is just as important as the message.” Green added that he, too, believed the city was spending its money wisely.

“Of course, I’m in the field of education,” he said.

Robert Mandic, the council’s newly elected mayor, said: “When the public comes to the counters or deals with a department head, you hope it (the training) makes the department head and managers better able to handle more complaints and be more tolerant.”

Mandic said the sessions also have created a “better understanding with how department heads perceive us. There is a lot of miscommunication there.”

Mandic attended two sessions at the Huntington Beach Inn and another at a local college campus.