I spent last week approaching people in India to ask if they could be interviewed by me. I've come across some really exciting looking collaborations, and hope that the key organisers have the time to spare to see me. I've been sending them this 'blurb' about my Fellowship:
What can central government do to be more effective in promoting collaborative working between government agencies, and those who are working with government? In order to answer that question, I am travelling to the USA, Canada and India, tracking down inspiring examples of collaborative working, and interviewing the key actors involved. My interviews focus on what it is like to work collaboratively at federal, state and local level, between Government agencies, with nonprofit or private partners in Government, and with those who don’t work with Government but who work on issues for which the UK Government typically takes responsibility. What made the collaboration successful? What were the hardest moments? How did you deal with conflict? How did those more senior and junior than you, or in Government, help or hinder your efforts?
In October and November 2010, I visited the USA and Canada. I interviewed around 65 different leaders, officials, politicians and community organisers, over a period of 4 weeks, including:
- A judge, a probation officer, a psychotherapist and a data analyst, in a collaboration which had halved the rate of detention of juveniles (and cut costs) in one county in New Mexico
- A Chief Operating Officer, a director of training, a regional government director, a citizen-centric think tank, and the senior lead on partnerships in Service Canada (which has saved money by offering a combined service to deal with Canadians’ pensions, birth certificates, and welfare benefits)
- The Director of the Education service of a Canadian town, who had used collaborative working to massively improve literacy rates for primary school aged children
- A Director of a charitable foundation promoting partnership working between academics and activists working on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons
- The Comissioner for Corrections and the Deputy Mayor of New York, who had collaborated to get prisoners jobs and houses on release from prison
What am I looking for? The most important aspect is that the interviewee needs to be engaged in a collaboration with 3 or more other organisations, all working towards the same end, which should be of social benefit.
I am interested in my interviewees’ unique perspective. That means I ask about their experience and their stories. Those I interview do not need to prepare a presentation or prepare answers to questions. Interviews tend to take about 60-90 minutes. Ideally I would like to meet people from more than one organisation or department involved in the same collaboration.
There are themes that are emerging already about collaboration, and also some key differences depending on the maturity of the collaboration, the personalities of those involved, and the context in which they operate in. My interviews have led me to reflect on the role of strong leadership, of the need for the leader to be flexible, of the importance of relationship over contract, and culture change. I am looking forward to find out how different or similar things are in India. I plan to be in Mumbai between 3 and 8 May, and in Hyderabad and Bangalore between 16 and 19 May.
