Civic Academy
The Five Lenses
D · Draft — not verified Not line-checked against the Navajo Nation Code. How we verify →
Five ways to think about any idea — a candidate’s answer, a chapter proposal, a news story. The lenses never judge a person and are never scored. They are questions you carry with you; you do the weighing.
1 · Transparency & accountability
Who answers for it?
Who is responsible, and how would progress be measured and verified? A strong idea names an office, a report, a number someone has to stand behind. If no one can be held to it, no one will be. (The Transparency, Accountability & Reporting lesson is this lens at full depth.)
2 · Root cause
Symptom or source?
Does this address the underlying problem, or only the symptom? Patching a waterline is good; asking why waterlines keep failing — funding, jurisdiction, maintenance capacity — is where lasting fixes live. (The Why People Stay Sick lesson is this lens at full depth.)
3 · Culture — K’é / Hózhǫ
Does it strengthen who we are?
Does it strengthen kinship, restore balance, honor future generations? An idea can pencil out and still pull a community apart. This lens asks whether the way of doing it is as sound as the thing being done.
4 · Collaboration
Who has to work together?
Who would need to work together — and does the answer name them? Chapters, divisions, the Council, federal agencies: most real problems cross desks. An answer that names its partners has been thought through; one that assumes cooperation usually hasn’t.
5 · Prevention vs. damage control
Before or after the harm?
Does it prevent harm, or only respond after it? Both are needed — but a government that only does damage control never gets ahead. (There’s a full lesson: Prevention vs Damage Control.)
How to use them
While reading an interview answer, pick one or two lenses that fit the subject — not all five, and not every answer. A two-paragraph answer can’t carry all five lenses, and that’s fine. The lenses are for weighing ideas; your reactions (👍😐👎❓) and answered-checks are for the answers themselves. On every interview page, a “five lenses, in brief” note sits under each answer so you never have to leave the page.
Goes with: How to weigh what a candidate says · Did They Answer the Question? · The Threads
Your voice: today’s Corner question · all surveys, by subject · the data so far.