Government Collaboration is Central to the COVID-19 Response
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Alex Pattakos
April 15, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is causing an unprecedented global shock on multiple levels. Among its many implications, the pandemic presents extraordinary challenges for the broadly defined community of stakeholders in public administration and public policy. These challenges are existential in nature for they call into question the very core essence and operational legitimacy of our various societal institutions.
Importantly, the call to public service during this uncertain time reaches well beyond the various roles and responsibilities of government per se. It highlights that no one person, group, organization, jurisdiction, sector or nation can combat the pandemic successfully on its own. In this time of need, humanity’s capacity, i.e., its willingness and ability, to work creatively and collaboratively is being put to the test. It will take a concerted and collaborative effort by everyone across the political, economic and social/cultural spectrums to overcome the pandemic. This effort must be grounded in more than good intentions.
This demands more than just a coordinated response; it requires the authentic commitment to meaningful values and goals—what the world-renowned psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl called the, “Will to meaning,”—by all stakeholders. Only by putting meaning first will we be able to rise above politics as usual and the will to power and, instead, reach for authentic collaboration.
At this time, we are reminded of the recommendations in a recent report from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service that outlined a roadmap to the future and described what it called a, “Deep-seated transformation,” for the federal government. It shares the following insight: “We learned that for the government of the future to flourish, agencies must develop more robust and broad-based connections—doing a better job of working with one another, collaborating internally, engaging the public and establishing ties with stakeholders from outside government.”
In a recent article for Government Executive, Donald F. Kettl of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas wrote that, “The real power of government action lies in connecting the dots among the parts of government that share responsibility for important things. No single agency can own anything that really matters. Good agency managers know how to make connections with partners and stakeholders to get things done.”
So, how do we bring people and organizations that we need together in a meaningful way? What are the key drivers of collaboration, especially insofar as advancing the notions of “good government” and the intergovernmental imperative are concerned?
Let me respond to these questions by drawing upon my personal experience both as an academic researcher and practitioner in the field. I had the honor to collaborate for many years with my mentor, colleague, and most of all, my dear friend, the late Professor Robert Agranoff, an American political scientist, public administration scholar, and prolific, award-winning author. Bob was a Professor Emeritus at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs where he had served in a number of leadership roles, including director of the Public Affairs and the Public Policy doctoral programs, chair of the Policy and Administration Faculty, and associate dean. He was also a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Among his many scholarly contributions, Dr. Agranoff was a pioneer in the field of collaborative public management and intergovernmental management. In this regard, Bob and I coauthored numerous articles in the professional literatures of political science, public administration and public policy, as well as published reports of our research on intergovernmental affairs in collaboration with federal, state and local governments in the United States. Our seminal monograph, Dimensions of Services Integration: Service Delivery, Program Linkages, Policy Management, Organizational Structure, which was published by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW), now the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in 1979 helped frame the 1981 White House Conference on Aging and develop the, “Allied services approach,” within DHEW and DHHS.
Based on our pioneering work on intergovernmental management, we identified and isolated a set of factors that proved to be determinants of collaboration within and between governments, as well as in relation to the nonprofit and corporate sectors (e.g., public/private partnerships). Despite being first referenced years ago, these factors are still very relevant today (especially in our digital age as well as in response to COVID-19), three of which are primary to collaboration:
- Frequency of contact: Maintaining regular contact, characterized by authentic communication, between the parties is a necessary criterion to build trust and a collaborative infrastructure.
- Awareness of Interdependency: Creating an awareness that no party can solve critical issues on its own.
- Mutual Benefit: Addressing the, “What’s in it for me?” question (Demonstrating that collaboration will result in a win-win outcome is essential to its ultimate success).
Meeting these three criteria is largely dependent on whether the parties in the proposed relationship are motivated by the will to meaning as opposed to the will to power. My research and consulting experience have shown that when the intended collaboration is designed with meaning first, the likelihood that the parties will transcend their self-interests and go to a higher, common ground increases significantly.
Author: Alex Pattakos, a former ASPA National Council member, is a founder of a think tank, Global Meaning Institute (www.globalmeaninginstitute.com). He is co-author with Elaine Dundon of two international bestselling books on the human quest for meaning: Prisoners of Our Thoughts, based on the wisdom of the world-renowned psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, and The OPA! Way, inspired by Greek philosophy, mythology, and culture. He is recognized internationally as the leading authority on applying Frankl’s System of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis to work, the workplace, and organizations in business and government. His passions include advancing meaning in public administration, public policy, and government/public service. He may be contacted at: [email protected]
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Government Collaboration is Central to the COVID-19 Response
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ASPA as an organization.
By Alex Pattakos
April 15, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) is causing an unprecedented global shock on multiple levels. Among its many implications, the pandemic presents extraordinary challenges for the broadly defined community of stakeholders in public administration and public policy. These challenges are existential in nature for they call into question the very core essence and operational legitimacy of our various societal institutions.
Importantly, the call to public service during this uncertain time reaches well beyond the various roles and responsibilities of government per se. It highlights that no one person, group, organization, jurisdiction, sector or nation can combat the pandemic successfully on its own. In this time of need, humanity’s capacity, i.e., its willingness and ability, to work creatively and collaboratively is being put to the test. It will take a concerted and collaborative effort by everyone across the political, economic and social/cultural spectrums to overcome the pandemic. This effort must be grounded in more than good intentions.
This demands more than just a coordinated response; it requires the authentic commitment to meaningful values and goals—what the world-renowned psychiatrist, Viktor Frankl called the, “Will to meaning,”—by all stakeholders. Only by putting meaning first will we be able to rise above politics as usual and the will to power and, instead, reach for authentic collaboration.
At this time, we are reminded of the recommendations in a recent report from the nonprofit, nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service that outlined a roadmap to the future and described what it called a, “Deep-seated transformation,” for the federal government. It shares the following insight: “We learned that for the government of the future to flourish, agencies must develop more robust and broad-based connections—doing a better job of working with one another, collaborating internally, engaging the public and establishing ties with stakeholders from outside government.”
In a recent article for Government Executive, Donald F. Kettl of the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas wrote that, “The real power of government action lies in connecting the dots among the parts of government that share responsibility for important things. No single agency can own anything that really matters. Good agency managers know how to make connections with partners and stakeholders to get things done.”
So, how do we bring people and organizations that we need together in a meaningful way? What are the key drivers of collaboration, especially insofar as advancing the notions of “good government” and the intergovernmental imperative are concerned?
Let me respond to these questions by drawing upon my personal experience both as an academic researcher and practitioner in the field. I had the honor to collaborate for many years with my mentor, colleague, and most of all, my dear friend, the late Professor Robert Agranoff, an American political scientist, public administration scholar, and prolific, award-winning author. Bob was a Professor Emeritus at the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs where he had served in a number of leadership roles, including director of the Public Affairs and the Public Policy doctoral programs, chair of the Policy and Administration Faculty, and associate dean. He was also a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.
Among his many scholarly contributions, Dr. Agranoff was a pioneer in the field of collaborative public management and intergovernmental management. In this regard, Bob and I coauthored numerous articles in the professional literatures of political science, public administration and public policy, as well as published reports of our research on intergovernmental affairs in collaboration with federal, state and local governments in the United States. Our seminal monograph, Dimensions of Services Integration: Service Delivery, Program Linkages, Policy Management, Organizational Structure, which was published by the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (DHEW), now the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in 1979 helped frame the 1981 White House Conference on Aging and develop the, “Allied services approach,” within DHEW and DHHS.
Based on our pioneering work on intergovernmental management, we identified and isolated a set of factors that proved to be determinants of collaboration within and between governments, as well as in relation to the nonprofit and corporate sectors (e.g., public/private partnerships). Despite being first referenced years ago, these factors are still very relevant today (especially in our digital age as well as in response to COVID-19), three of which are primary to collaboration:
Meeting these three criteria is largely dependent on whether the parties in the proposed relationship are motivated by the will to meaning as opposed to the will to power. My research and consulting experience have shown that when the intended collaboration is designed with meaning first, the likelihood that the parties will transcend their self-interests and go to a higher, common ground increases significantly.
Author: Alex Pattakos, a former ASPA National Council member, is a founder of a think tank, Global Meaning Institute (www.globalmeaninginstitute.com). He is co-author with Elaine Dundon of two international bestselling books on the human quest for meaning: Prisoners of Our Thoughts, based on the wisdom of the world-renowned psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, and The OPA! Way, inspired by Greek philosophy, mythology, and culture. He is recognized internationally as the leading authority on applying Frankl’s System of Logotherapy and Existential Analysis to work, the workplace, and organizations in business and government. His passions include advancing meaning in public administration, public policy, and government/public service. He may be contacted at: [email protected]
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