City councils are comprised of diverse and often strong personalities. Often relationships can become strained and maintaining professionalism and civility difficult. In this article, Dorothy Burton outlines a pyramid model she developed to address this issue called SIFT. It is designed to foster communication that is more productive; help individuals influence group dynamics in order to move issues forward in a more positive way; and equip leaders to more quickly sift through emotional minutiae in order to respond in a manner that will defuse rather than ignite heated debate.