UNCG: News from the Network — February 2010

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UNCG Annual Meeting 2010

UNC SOG

From Reactive to Proactive: Implementing Collaborative Governance in Changing Times

Co-hosted by the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill's School of Government and North Carolina State University's Natural Resources Leadership Insitute

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Meeting Locations - Siena Hotel / UNC School of Government

The full program (59KB PDF) is available as PDF and is detailed out below.

More information on participants' centers / programs are available via the PCI Directory.

Survey: 6 Quick Questions for You in Preparation for UNCG Chapel Hill

For those of you attending the conference - and even for those who are unable to attend this year (and we will miss you!) - we have 6 Quick Questions related to one of the plenary sessions, “Accountability Standards and Collaborative Governance Principles for University Centers” – Chris Carlson (PCI), Elaine Hallmark (PSU, Oregon Consensus), Jill Purdy (WSU).

PLEASE RESPOND TO CHRIS CARLSON BY FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12!

6 Quick Questions for You in Preparation for UNCG Chapel Hill

Background: Beginning in 2008, the Network began looking at the kinds of administrative principles and standards that could be developed to guide the work of member Centers and promote accountability, understanding, and confidence in their programs. We also began to examine the principles that need to underlie collaborative governance practices.

Jill Purdy, the University of Washington’s Milgard School of Business, Elaine Hallmark of the Oregon Consensus program, and Chris Carlson have been leading the effort.

Jill produced descriptions of the standards organizations commonly adopt to guide their activities, as well as principles for collaborative governance practices. UNCG held an October teleconference during which we discussed them (you can view the notes from the call).

Now we need your help and feedback to take the next steps.

At the upcoming UNCG meeting at Chapel Hill, we will continue this discussion and would like information and examples from your centers to use in this discussion.

We need your responses to theses 6 quick questions by Friday, February 12th.

Please email them back to Chris.

  1. Openness/transparency with regard to information about your mission, activities, administration, and finances YES___ NO____
  2. Conflict of Interest YES__ NO __
  3. Confidentiality YES __ NO __
  4. Other Policies, such as:
    • Ethical Standards YES __ NO __
    • Practice Standards YES __ NO __ Please Identify what kind _______
    • Faculty or Students Codes YES __ NO __
    • Other (please specify)
  5. Does your university prescribe or define any standards that govern your Center’s operations? YES __ NO __ If so, what kind?
  6. Are there any strictures on adopting standards for your Center’s operation? YES __ NO __

Thank you.

Sunday evening, February 28 - Siena Hotel

4:30pm – 6:00pm Steering Committee Business Meeting

6:00pm – 8:30pm   Opening Reception and Dinner

7:00 – 7:30 - Update on UNCG Initiatives - Bob Jones (UNCG Steering Committee), Greg Wolf (PCI)

7:30 – 8:30 – Exchange Session

 Strategies for Coping with Tough Economic Times – John Stephens (UNCG Steering Committee) and Table Hosts - Paul Biderman (UNM, Collaborative Governance Consortium), Susan Jeghelian (UMASS Boston MODR), Susan Schultz (UT Austin CPPDR)

At tables, small group discussions on specific strategies / techniques programs have used successfully to maintain or expand performance of their mission in tough economic times, followed by questions, consulting with each other, and brainstorming about new ideas for coping.

Monday, March 1 - UNC Chapel Hill School of Government

7:00am – 8:00am Breakfast (Siena Hotel)

8:00am – 8:30am Travel to School of Government from Hotel (van transport provided)

8:30am – 8:45am Welcome – Co-hosts, John Stephens (UNC) and Mary Lou Addor (NC State Univ)

Dean Mike Smith, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, School of Government

Dr. Ed Jones, Associate Director and State Program Leader; Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Community and Rural Development, North Carolina State University Cooperative Extension

8:45am – 10:15am Plenary 1

Accountability Standards and Collaborative Governance Principles for University Centers – Chris Carlson (PCI), Elaine Hallmark (PSU, Oregon Consensus), Jill Purdy (WSU)

Collaborative processes are adjuncts to traditional democratic processes. As such, they have to measure up to principles of good democratic practice. And centers that provide forums and facilitation need to be accountable for how they carry out these practices. We have reviewed six sets of principles related to collaborative governance. Following upon this past fall's web / teleconference discussion of the principles and standards, we will continue to work toward establishing a set of principles and standards for UNCG members to ensure the sound practice of collaborative governance.

10:15am – 10:30am BREAK

10:30am – 11:45am Concurrent Sessions 1

Exchange Session: Strategies for Developing New and Established Centers – Anat Cabili (Creighton Univ, Public Issues Collaboration), Rob McDaniel (WSU, Ruckelshaus Center), Steve Greenwood (PSU, Oregon Solutions)

Anat Cabili will facilitate an informal roundtable where participants share their experiences, thoughts and challenges in developing new or already established centers. The roundtable discussion will begin with Rob McDaniel and Steve Greenwood sharing their stories of how their centers started up or experienced major growth.Their stories will serve as a starting point for a discussion on topics such as start up phases, outreach, community education, strategy building, and more. 

Building Support without Building Consensus - Leigh Askew Elkins (UGA, Fanning Institute), Richard Whisnant (UNC School of Government)

The objective of the public input process of Georgia's Statewide Water Management Plan was not to build consensus around the content of the plan but to build support for the future implementation of a state water plan. How do you bring competing sectors, from industry representatives to environmental activists to farmers to local government officials, to the same table, and eventually develop a plan that was adopted by the state legislature? What did this process look like? How did it work? And, where do things stand now? How do stakeholder processes add or subtract value from state environmental policy reform efforts?

The Care and Feeding of Public Institutions as Actors and Agents – Sue Senecah (SUNY ESF / NY Office of Coastal, Local Gov & Community Sustainability

Public institutions play powerful roles in making or breaking the effectiveness of collaborative processes or implementation of outcomes. In addition to often being the conveners and/orfunders of collaborative processes, public institutions are also unique creatures with particular needs and feeding habits. Through her “pracademic” lens, Sue will deconstruct those needs and share processes and structures that have met them based on her many years of experience from inside diverse communities, state and federal agencies, and a state legislature on a range of complex environmental and natural resource management issues. Time will allow discussion and contribution of your insights as well.

11:45 am – 1:00pm – LUNCH and KEYNOTE DANIEL KEMMIS

“Multi-Party Collaboration as an Emergent Form of Democracy” – Daniel Kemmis

Dan Kemmis is the former Mayor of Missoula, Montana, and a former Speaker and Minority Leader of the Montana House of Representatives. He currently serves on the boards of the Northwest Area Foundation and Philanthropy Northwest.  He is the author of Community and the Politics of Place, The Good City and the Good Life, and This Sovereign Land: A New Vision for Governing the West. This speech will explore some of the democratic implications of collaboration. How does it fit with traditional democratic theory and practice?  What does it add?  What are its democratic shortcomings?

1:00pm – 1:15pm - BREAK

1:15pm – 2:30pm Plenary 2

Collaborative governance competencies - Steve Smutko (Univ of Wyoming, Ruckelshaus Institute)

UNCG has developed a set of 12 competencies including leadership, dispute resolution, management, and public engagement skills that public managers and planners need for the practice of collaborative governance. Steve Smutko from the University of Wyoming will lead a discussion on  these competencies, how to teach and learn them, when they are needed in whichprofessional roles, and where such training is available.

2:30pm – 2:45pm – BREAK

2:45pm – 4:00pm – Concurrent Sessions 2

Theory and Teaching civic organizing and civic engagement – Palma Strand (Creighton Univ, Public Issues Collaboration), Mat Despard (UNC, School of Social Work)

Two scholar/practitioners from separate centers and different disciplines--law and social work--describe their work in research, teaching, and practice to further the field of civic engagement and citizen participation. They focus on how to teach both theory and skills. Brief separate presentations will be followed by a structured discussion between the presenters with a whole-group discussion rounding out the session.

DEBATE: Developing “standardized courses” among UNCG members: Pros and Cons – John Stephens (UNC School of Government), Frank Dukes (UVA, Institute for Environmental Negotiation)

Follow-up to Plenary #2 - debate begins with Frank and John, and then others can join in.  As UNCG approaches federal agencies for collaborative governance training, how will they know what they get from each UNCG member? Should a sequence of courses be developed with similar objectives, but different teaching approaches? OR should a standard set of courses be branded as “UNCG courses” so as to appeal to the need for ease of understanding and comparable content?

4:00pm – 4:15pm – BREAK

4:15pm – 5:30pm – Concurrent Sessions 3

Collaborative Governance + Public Engagement Process - Developing Vision for Future of MA Forests – Susan Jeghelian, Bill Logue, Loraine Della Porta (UMass Boston, MA Office of Dispute Resolution)

The Massachusetts Office of Dispute Resolution (MODR) is working on a statewide collaborative governance process with a public engagement process on developing a vision for MA Forests which balances often competing interests including wilderness protection, ecosystem health, recreation, commercial uses. Focus: What are we learning about connecting collaborative processes and public engagement processes in a high-conflict setting?  How do we support public officials and citizens in a robust public processes? What lessons can be learned about organizational competence, trust, the influence of technology, and values laden decisions? How do these compare with other processes?

Distance education experiences – reach, impact, money, and learning – Rob McDaniel (WSU, Ruckelshaus Center), John Stephens (UNC, School of Government), Carolyn Penny (UC Davis, Common Ground)

Distance education may be critical in serving audiences limited by travel and cost considerations. What kind of material has been taught that contributes to understanding and skills of collaborative governance? Is this an area where separate online pieces can be developed, but shared or packaged among UNCG members?

5:30pm – Dinner - Arrange for dinner in groups to local restaurants

Greg Wolf will lead a group in providing feedback to keynote speaker Daniel Kemmis on his work on “Multi-Party Collaboration as an Emergent Form of Democracy” during dinner

Tuesday, March 2 - Siena Hotel

Breakfast 7:00am - 8:00am – UNCG Business for all members

 8:15am – 9:45am – Concurrent Sessions 4

Getting things done: Using Collaborative Governance for Policy Implementation – Steve Greenwood (PSU, Oregon Solutions)

Why collaborate for implementation?  How does collaboration differ in implementation versus policy?  Selection of shared case studies from Oregon.

Building Capacity for Cross-Sector Collaboration in Hawaii – Kem Lowry (Univ of Hawaii, Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution)

Discussion of a foundation-funded effort to extract the wisdom of senior practitioners to create "strategy maps" for organizing and implementing effective cross-sector collaborations.

University – Community relations: Incentives for centers to be involved – Bob Jones (FSU, FCRC Consensus Center)

Bob Jones will share the work his Center has done in examining and strengthening the relationships that the Florida State University Systems have – or, in some cases, have not – built with their surrounding communities.  The FCRC Consensus Center conducted a series of interviews across the Florida State University System with university presidents on how they view their institution’s role in engaging with their communities and then produced a report with a series of recommendations.

9:45am – 10:00am - BREAK

10:00am – 11:00am – Plenary 3

Collaboration among Centers and between Centers and Other Organizations – Anat Cabili (Creighton Univ, Public Issues Collaboration), Paul Alexander (Regis Univ, Institute on the Common Good)

Collaboration among UNCG centers and between centers and other organizations in our communities and states can help us fulfill our centers’ missions as well as create value, especially in these tough economic times. Anat Cabili and Paul Alexander will facilitate an interactive session aimed at sharing stories, insights and lessons on this topic, as well as kick off initial conversations on collaboration opportunities between UNCG members.

11:00am – 11:15am – BREAK

11:15am – 12:30pm – Plenary 4

Collaborating with other Collaborators:  Possible shared work with partner organizations – John Dedrick, (Kettering Foundation), Nancy Thomas (The Democracy Imperative)

12:30pm – 1:30pm – Lunch  

Opportunity to provide feedback to Daniel Kemmis on “Multi-party Collaboration as an Emergent Form of Democracy”

1:30pm – 1:45pm – BREAK

1:45pm – 3:00pm – Concurrent Sessions 5

And Justice for All: Straight talk about democracy building and social justice – Nancy Thomas (The Democracy Imperative), Wendy Willis (PCI)

In this session, we’ll take stock of some of the forces that are driving democracy-building work: efforts to engage individuals in public life, to promote deliberative, citizen-oriented politics, and to increase social, political, and economic equity and justice. Is this a happy alliance, or are there underlying tensions? How do we describe and resolve these tensions? In this session, we’ll name it, talk about it, and work to overcome divisions that could weaken democracy-building efforts.

Leadership Training and Collaborative Governance Skills – Mary Lou Addor (NC State, Natural Resources Leadership Institute), Dr. Rick Morse (UNC, Public Executive Leadership Academy), Cyndee Patterson (American Leadership Forum, Lee Institute)

Three established leadership institutes compare their missions, goals, successes, and challenges in preparing various clientele from the public, private, and non-profitsectors for a world in collaborative governance: The Natural Resources Leadership Institute, NC State University Cooperative Extension; The American Leadership Forum, Metro Charlotte, NC – The Lee Institute; The Public Executive Leadership Academy – School of Government, UNC-Chapel Hill

3:00pm – 3:30pm – Closing

Next Steps - Bob Jones (UNCG Steering Committee Chair), John Stephens (UNCG Steering Committee Vice Chair), Greg Wolf (PCI)

Conference Evaluation – Sarah Giles (PCI)

3:30pm  Adjourn

 

Please send comments and suggestions.