Managing Across Local Government Boundaries

Collaboration Was Implicitly Mandated

Local government officials strongly agreed that collaboration is the “right thing to do” (86%). For these local government officials, collaboration as a management strategy is congruent with community values about how public problems should be solved, how public work should be done, how the public should be served, and how taxpayers’ money should be spent. Equally notable were responses pointing to organization or jurisdiction cultures as valuing a collaborative approach.

Collaboration to Improve Outcomes

Local government managers see collaboration as a highly effective approach to increasing performance and, for some, a successful way of solving complex public problems and accomplishing their missions (84%). The need for better outcomes as a reason for collaboration came through loud and clear (81%). It included goal and mission achievement, better results, greater effectiveness, increased capacity building, better service delivery, more efficiency, and more sustainable solutions. In this context, local government managers describe the changing nature of public problems as requiring new approaches. In particular, the complexity of problems, the interdependence of missions, and the need for decisions to be informed by stakeholder perspectives are drivers of collaboration.

Moreover, collaboration is seen as an important mechanism to leverage or coordinate scarce resources, such as funds, time, staff, expertise, as well as knowledge, new perspectives, and networks. For some, the need for more sophisticated, innovative products leads them to collaboration. Developing such products requires multiple actors, shared information, ongoing idea generation, and collaborative problem solving.

Collaboration to Improve the Problem-Solving Process

Local government managers said that collaboration builds a richer process for working together and solving problems (69%). Managers described it as achieving consensus, compromise, integration, and teamwork. Collaborating, they said, improves problem solving by bringing in a diversity of ideas, broadening options, catalyzing boundary spanning, and focusing on needs. The collaborative process builds ownership of ideas and commitment to implementation, thus yielding more durable and sustainable results. A significant by-product of the collaborative process is organizational and trans-organizational learning.

Collaboration to Build Better Relationships and Credibility

In a similar vein, local government managers use collaboration as a management strategy in an effort to build alliances and relationships that will help them and their agencies (77%). Successful collaboration, they reported, builds the credibility of the players.

Explicitly Mandated Collaboration

The idea of explicitly mandated collaboration manifested itself in different ways and was mentioned last by local government managers as the reason for collaboration (32%). Here, they most often mentioned legislation, policy, other levels of government, or elected official directives as mandates for collaboration.

People and Their Relationships

Local government managers’ responses to this question centered on leaders and on the collaborators themselves. Leadership is viewed as a strong catalyst for collaboration among the local government managers surveyed (74%). This may take the form of a new dynamic local government manager with a vision for innovative thinking, a political leader who is on board, or a lower level staff member who can see the advantages of collaboration. Individual partners may also be catalysts: Local government managers pointed to partners with shared missions who seek mutually beneficial solutions as positive forces for collaboration. The attitude of the collaborators, described as openness, willingness, frankness, belief in shared interests, and a desire to serve the greater good, was seen as motivational. For some, past success, positive experiences, trust, and past relationships with “players” contributed to the desire to collaborate. Still others point to a personal desire to learn from others and expand their networks as catalysts.

The Need to Achieve Results

Local government managers reported that the need to achieve results with scarce resources and develop integrative solutions to complex issues motivates collaboration (66%). They see collaboration as an opportunity for local governments to leverage resources, identify duplication, and coordinate efforts. The nature of the public problems they face; that is, complex, cross-organizational, and cross-sectoral; also prompts a collaborative approach. Furthermore, respondents described instances where both parties achieve results as powerful catalysts.

A Sense of Urgency

For some local government managers, a strong sense of urgency, current crisis, or threat from external forces catalyzed collaboration (42%). Others described needed services not being delivered as motivating collaboration. While past success with collaboration was a catalyst for some managers, others pointed to failure with other approaches as motivating a willingness to try collaboration.

Directives From the Top

Respondents described mandates, legislation, and directives from elected officials as catalysts to collaboration (32%). Inferred directives, including community values, organizational culture, and personal values, were again discussed but this time as motivational catalysts rather than reasons for collaboration.

Organizational Supports

The fifth category of catalysts to collaboration concerned organizations (28%). Leadership has already been mentioned as a significant catalyst, but sometimes leadership is not enough. Respondents said that a local government’s governance structure can be a catalyst for collaboration if organization design, distributed governance, and work dispersal are conducive to collaborative efforts. Another aspect of collaborative-friendly governance mentioned by local government managers was the dissemination of research findings and other information about local government work that are essential building blocks of a collaborative effort. Equally important, local government manager collaborators said that incentives for those participating are crucial motivators.