Strategic Leadership is a Joint Process

I attend Council meetings representing the operational side of City government. I like the open debate and the related give and take. I understand that this can be troubling for Council representatives when trying to accomplish the desired result and have an administrator interfere in a rather Socratic approach. The goal is to have a full and complete debate that hopefully provides a well defined problem and an effective solution. I believe that staff has prepared the best plan possible and defend it as such. However, the desire is to use this process to provide strategic leadership in identifying public value.
The second phase is to develop processes that are effective at achieving the desired outcome and then be efficient. Efficiency without effectiveness is still a waste of money, labor and effort. Sometimes you just have to give on efficiency to reach the public value. This is sometimes a trying area where the Council may demand to achieve the public value and the efficiency and fails to see the mutually exclusive nature of the conditions.