Negotiations and Civil Discourse at The Georgia Legislative Leadership Institute
Athens, Georgia – NICD’s Legislative Program Team joined both freshmen and alumni of the Georgia Legislative Leadership Institute (GLLI) for a workshop paired with negotiation role-playing exercises. We were glad to join GLLI for the third time as they train Georgia’s legislators in a summer between sessions. The program, run by the Carl Vinson Institute of Government at the University of Georgia, uniquely lets freshmen legislators work through their first session before beginning the full training program. This ‘letting them know what they don’t know’ allowed NICD to work to bring the class of lawmakers closer together and build their already-growing legislative negotiation skills.
The Building Trust Through Civil Discourse workshop was facilitated by Angela Angel, Mike Mrowicki, Roger Katz, and Toni Boucher. All of these experienced facilitators led portions of the personal journeys and discussions of how these legislators could create a more civil legislature. The discussion among the freshman was particularly impactful, with one member calling it “Transformative for this class.”
After sharing personal journeys and identifying the barriers to civility in the Georgia Legislature, the GLLI freshmen shifted into a role-playing exercise relatively new to the Legislative Program. Set within the state of “East Virginia,” the exercise is designed to teach legislative negotiation skills as the participants compromise on a state budget for the coming year. The session divides participants into groups of six and assigns each person a role with backgrounds, beliefs, and negotiating positions predetermined for their character. The ensuing discussion involves these legislators finding the compromises they can agree on to achieve final passage. The GLLI freshmen found their footing quickly, and learned to look for creative solutions through the session because, while creative solutions might not always succeed, they certainly won’t if we don’t look for them.
On Saturday we brought the legislative negotiation exercises to 22 GLLI alumni, who incorporated some new best practices for negotiation into their tool kit, and achieved rare unanimous passage in many of the negotiating groups. These alumni worked hard to achieve a level of consensus that wasn’t required, and we were glad to see the dedication to engaging differences in the exercise.
The programming Friday evening also included a visit to the University of Georgia Football Stadium, to which we are obligated to say: Go Dawgs!
Thank you to the incredible folks from the Vinson Institute at the University of Georgia for having us! It was an incredible pleasure to work with Georgia legislators, and we’re hoping we can return to meet with a new class of legislators in 2027!
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About NICD, the National Institute for Civil Discourse
NICD works to build the nation’s capacity to engage our differences constructively. In 2011, the University of Arizona created NICD after the Tucson shooting that killed six people and wounded another thirteen, including former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. In the weeks prior to the shooting, Congresswoman Giffords was already in discussion with the University of Arizona about creating a center that would focus on improving the quality of discourse. The galvanizing power of that event brought together founding honorary co-chairs George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton and an impressive bipartisan group of other leaders to honor Congresswoman Giffords’ vision.
NICD’s State Legislative Program is one of our most important programs that creates and strengthens bipartisan relationships through mutual, trust-based, and effective communication in state legislatures around the country.
NICD offers Americans a variety of opportunities and resources to engage differences constructively at https://civildiscourseinstitute.org/.
