Democracy is founded on the ideal that there is active participation of citizens in politics and civic life. And without it, the results can be devastating. The quote “The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy” by French Philosopher Charles de Montesquieu comes to mind every time either a failure of government to engage effectively or the public to participate fully frustrates me.
Government and the bureaucracies that deliver their directives generally don’t do themselves any favours in this regard. Our lack of collective strategic long-term thinking and our failure to actually identify the problem or impetus paralyzes organizations. This is not generally intentional. Every council I have been on for nine years has had good intentions and has made public engagement and communication a priority; there have been improvements and significant changes over the years. But it’s time for an upgrade, a transformation if you will. Enter Open Gov 2.0.
I want to thank Editor Christine Endicott for suggesting a name change for this council column so that we can better reflect a modernization of our discourse and force council to explore issues from a more transformational perspective.
We talk a lot about change during an election: change for the sake of change; how and why we manage change; “I’m running for council to bring about change!”
Change is inevitable... transformation is complex.
I recently read a Harvard Business Review article that outlines the failure of corporations to differentiate between change and transformation.
It’s a common oversight of which we’re guilty as well. Here’s an example. Over the past few years, the District of Squamish has put considerable effort into executing a well defined process and shift in the way we go about engaging and communicating with the public. We’re on Facebook and Twitter, our website has been upgraded and packed with information, we live-stream and archive all meetings of council, and we advertise the works and services of DOS through various internally developed printed communication and in print and online media. These initiatives were well defined in a strategic plan and our staff is focused on their execution. We managed the change admirably.
But have we achieved our goal? Is anyone really satisfied with our level of public participation and engagement?
Change focuses on well defined shifts and tasks. But transformation is about a range of intentions that are interdependent and intersecting with the goal of organizational reinvention. As the Harvard Business Review article outlines, transformation calls for a new cultural doctrine and a completely revised performance evaluation. It’s iterative and experimental. It focuses on external collaborations and partnerships, and it requires us to be more flexible and dynamic. It is as much a process of discovery and experimentation as it is of execution.
Council is looking to be a more open, engaging, collaborative and ultimately transformational government. And we can’t do it without you.
