Biggest Challenges Faced by a District Representative at Placer County
Frank's biggest challenge stems from the negative perception people often have of government work, where assumptions are made based on title alone, despite the reality of striving to uphold the Constitution and ethical standards. The role demands separating "the issue from the human," navigating people's trauma and stress while holding oneself to a high standard to ensure everyone feels heard and valued, despite the negativity often portrayed in the media.
Government, Public Service, Conflict Resolution, Emotional Intelligence, Ethics
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Frank Udvarhely
District Representative
Placer County
Sacramento State University
Business Management & Admin, Finance
Coaching, Speaking & Writing, Government & Public Sector
Business Strategy
Pell Grant Recipient, Worked 20+ Hours in School, Transfer Student
Video Highlights
1. Navigating public perception and criticism as a government employee, especially when people hold preconceived notions based on your title.
2. The importance of separating the issue from the human element when addressing complaints and criticism, recognizing underlying pain or trauma to effectively help people navigate stressful times.
3. The responsibility of representing others and upholding a higher standard, similar to how a company manager or owner is responsible for the livelihoods of their employees, ensuring everyone is heard, valued, and feels important.
Transcript
What is your biggest challenge in your role?
It's no secret that I work for the government, and the government isn't always favored by at least 50% of the people. We're a non-partisan office, thankfully. I don't have those types of policy discussions, and we're not necessarily involved in those bipartisan or partisan discussions.
But it's still difficult because people assume that because of your title or what you do, you must be one thing or another. We're all humans. Many of us are learning on the fly, or we're getting information at the same time you are.
Thankfully, there are lots of checks and balances, like the Brown Act. You're not allowed to discuss things behind closed doors. Many of us truly uphold the Constitution and stand by its meaning. As citizens, we strive to keep our morals and ethics going and display generational learnings.
It's difficult at times even to answer a question. We get a lot of complaints and criticism, but deep down, you hear the human element. People might be hurting, not necessarily because of what's happening now, but because of something that happened in the past.
You have to separate the issue from the human, the trauma from the belief structure or their cause and effect. Once you drill down into that, it's a beautiful thing because then you can help people navigate through stressful times.
It's stressful in itself to make sure you're holding yourself to a higher standard because you represent other people. Much like a manager or owner has the livelihoods of their employees depending on them, we have a similar situation.
We want to make sure everyone is heard, valued, and feels like they matter and are important. Despite what you might see in the news, that's entertainment and a lot of it is clickbait. It's not really like that behind the scenes.
Advizer Personal Links
www.intelligentchoicetraining.com, LinkedIn/fudvarhey