UNCG Collaborative Capacity Guidance Work Group Meeting #3

UNCG Collaborative Capacity Guidance Work Group Meeting #3

Agenda Packet

January 20, 2012

2:00-4:00 p.m. EST

Agenda Packet Contents

Agenda Page/Work Group Members p. 1

Work Group Charge, pp. 2

Working Draft Outline pp. 3-5

2:00 Opening (Bob) and Introductions (All)

2:05 Review of Work Group Charge and Membership

2:10 Review of Meeting #1 & #2 Summary Results and Assignments

2:15 Review of 2012 Conference Panel Presentations and Planning

2:25 Review of Project Descriptions (using template)

2:40 Review Draft Set of Organizational Components for the WG Paper

3:30 Review of Literature Review Update

3:50 Assignments/Next Steps, Scheduling Next Meeting/Agenda Items

4:00 Adjourn

Call in instructions:

Dial 866-906-9888

Participant code – 6069426

Work Group Members

· Bob Jones, FSU, FCRC Consensus Center, Working Group Lead

· Mary Lou Addor, NC State, Raleigh, Natural Resource Leadership Institute

· Marci DuPraw, SRA & NOVA Southeastern University,

· Kirk Emerson, Univ. of Arizona,

· Bill Logue, U Mass Boston Office of Public Collaboration

· Maria Placht, USACE, Institute for Water Resources, CPC

· Charlie Pou, Advisor to Administrative Conference of U.S.

· Shari Schaftlein, USDOT FHWA, Office of Project Development and Environmental Review

· Laurel Singer, National Policy Consensus Center, PSU

· John Stephens, UNC, Chapel Hill, Institute of Government, Public Dispute Resolution Program

· Debra Whitall, Ph.D., Social Scientist, U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region

UNCG Collaborative Capacity Work Group Charge

September 22, 2011

Building on a session at the June, 2011 UNCG meeting in Portland, OR, a small group of UNCG members agreed to explore whether and then how to usefully expand upon the UNCG Guide to Collaborative Competencies report to provide collaborative capacity guidance for those working within organizations in collaborative governance settings.

This should be explored in the context of the evolving understanding of collaborative governance,[1] the UNCG Guide to Collaborative Competencies,[2] and recent efforts in implementing collaborative capacity assessments[3]

Initial Draft Study Questions to refine and explore include:

1. Definitional: What collaborative capacity? What is the relationship between collaborative governance and collaborative capacity? What is the relationship between collaborative competencies and collaborative capacity?

2. What are the benefits of developing collaborative capacities within agencies and organizations and among agencies and organizations involved in collaboration?

3. What are the benefits to UNCG members of developing tools and skills to provide collaborative organizational and agency assessments that can measure capacity and facilitate processes and training to help build collaborative capacity?

4. What is the best way to conceptualize the organizational components of collaborative capacity? Do we utilize the same component organization as the Guide to Collaborative Competencies? What are other ways collaborative capacity has been conceptualized? E.g. The SRA work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recommended the following elements: Political leadership/authority and empowerment to use collaboration where appropriate; Knowledge, skills, and abilities; Time and resources; Institutional procedures that reward use of these strategies; and Organizational culture.

5. What are the range of collaborative capacity building strategies we should consider that target the organizational components of collaborative capacity?

6. What do we know about and what guidance can we offer about which work best under various circumstances?

UNCG Collaborative Capacity Work Group

WORKING DRAFT

January 12, 2012

NOTE: This is an initial rough working draft organized around the 6 assignment areas discussed at the September 15 initial meeting of the Work Group. This current draft has contributions from John Stephens and Bob Jones and is intended to stimulate discussion and contributions from other Work Group members.

“Collaboration is becoming the 21st century’s governance tool of choice and necessity.”

-UNCG Guide to Collaborative Competencies

What is collaborative capacity?

Collaborative capacity is the ability of organizations to enter into, develop, and sustain intra and inter-organizational systems in pursuit of collective and shared outcomes and goals.[4]

What is the relationship between collaborative governance and collaborative capacity?

Over the last two decades, a new strategy termed ‘‘collaborative governance’’ has developed. Collaborative governance takes as its starting point the idea that working together creates more lasting, effective solutions. "Governance" is the process by which public ends and means are identified, agreed upon, and pursued. This is different than "government," which relates to the specific jurisdiction in which authority is exercised. "Governance" is a broader term and encompasses both formal and informal systems of relationships and networks for decision-making and problem solving.[5]

This mode of governance focuses on public issues and brings multiple stakeholders from different sectors together in common forum to engage in consensus-oriented solution seeking, problem solving and decision-making:

“Collaborative governance is therefore a type of governance in which public and private actors work collectively in distinctive ways, using particular processes, to establish laws and rules for the provision of public goods… It is a governing arrangement where one or more public agencies directly engage non-state stakeholders in a collective decision-making process that is formal, consensus-oriented, and deliberative and that aims to make or implement public policy or manage public programs or assets.”[6]

It has been described as a concept that addresses the process of establishing, steering, facilitating, operating, and monitoring cross-sector organizational arrangements to address public policy problems that cannot be easily addressed by a single organization or the public sector alone. These arrangements are often characterized by “joint efforts with reciprocal expectations and voluntary participation among formally autonomous entities, from two or more sectors —public, for profit, and nonprofits —in order to leverage (build on) the unique attributes and resources of each.”[7]

What is the relationship between collaborative competencies and collaborative capacity?

Collaborative competencies focus on the individual’s capacity for and mastery of effective collaboration. Collaborative capacity focuses on the organization’s network for support of collaborative efforts both within and beyond the organization. The UNCG Guide to Collaborative Competencies was focused on guiding public managers interested in improving their staff’s collaborative competence through continuing education and training. A guide focusing on collaborative capacity would offer managers and leaders guidance on how to address and facilitate political leadership/authority and empowerment to use collaboration where appropriate, investments of time and resources, the development of institutional procedures that reward use of collaborative strategies and review and changes regarding organizational culture and collaboration.

#2 What are the benefits of developing collaborative capacities within agencies and organizations and among agencies and organizations involved in collaboration?

The benefits of developing collaborative capabilities within agencies and organizations include: cost savings through the transfer of smart practices, better decision making as a result of advice and information obtained from colleagues, enhanced capacity for collective action by dispersed units, and innovation through the cross-pollination of ideas and recombination of scarce resources. (Need citations for these benefits)

#3 What are the benefits to UNCG members of developing tools and skills to provide collaborative organizational and agency assessments that can measure capacity and facilitate processes and training to help build collaborative capacity?

John Stephens First Cut

A. Follow-on to Collaborative Competencies Guide http://www.policyconsensus.org/uncg/collaborativecompetencies.html

B. Build integrated training-consultation assistance: moving from helping individuals build competence and organizations learn from particular processes and envision/build capacity to make particular projects go well

C. Develop an enhanced/additional service for UNCG members (i.e., assessing and consulting/helping develop collaborative governance capacity)

D. Gain the collective wisdom of other UNCG members (and others, possibly) to develop a practical tool

E. Measurement tools can provide ordinal/quantitative data to address questions about “return on investment” or other input-output questions/needs for efficiency and effectiveness of collaborative governance capacity

F. Importance of helping organizational cultures change and institutionalizing collaborative governance. Look beyond any particular project, or training effort to the broader needs and firmer foundations for longer-term success

G. A potential strategy to address budget cuts/constraints our clients face. Have to consider various “non-money” ways to do the same work better (in partnership/collaboration) and/or to re-think overall goals and design new work processes. Builds from individual ability and motivation to change and use collaborative competencies to organizational resilience where collaborative capacity is an essential feature.

Bob’s additions:

· An opportunity to deepen Centers’ skills and collaborative capacity and provide collaborative assessment and training services that help promote the UNCG mission and develop organizational collaborative capacity.

· Provide a venue for applied and basic research on collaborative governance.

#5 What are the range of collaborative capacity building strategies we should consider that target the organizational components of collaborative capacity?

#6 What do we know about and what guidance can we offer about which work best under various circumstances?

UNCG Collaborative Capacity Work Group- Nov 28, 2011 Agenda Packet

[1] “The (collaborative governance) framework specifies a set of nested dimensions that encompass a larger system context, a collaborative governance regime, and its internal collaborative dynamics and actions that can generate impacts and adaptations across the systems. The framework provides a broad conceptual map for situating and exploring components of cross-boundary governance systems that range from policy or program-based intergovernmental cooperation to place-based regional collaboration with non-governmental stakeholders to public-private partnerships. The framework integrates knowledge about individual incentives and barriers to collective action, collaborative social learning and conflict resolution processes, and institutional arrangements for cross- boundary collaboration.” An Integrative Framework for Collaborative Governance, by Kirk Emerson, Tina Nabatchi, Steve Balogh, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, First published online May 2, 2011 http://jpart.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2011/05/02/jopart.mur011.abstract

[2] See, http://www.policyconsensus.org/uncg/collaborativecompetencies.html

[3] See, The State of Collaboration in the Corps: A Field Perspective, Appendix B “Literature Review on Components of Collaborative Capacity in the Water Resources, Planning and Management Area, SRA, 2008

[4] A capacity for collaboration enhances the probability of mission completion and goal achievement by leveraging dispersed and diverse networked resources. (Hansen & Nohria, 2004). Collaborative capacity, as it relates to interagency collaboration, resonates in the work of a number of academics and practitioners (e.g., Bardach, 1998; Huxham, 1996; Mowery, Oxley & Silverman, 1996; Seidman, 1970).

[5]

[6] Ansell and Gash JPART 18:543–571 2008

[7]

Daniel Mazmanian & Shui-Yan Tang, USC