What is Collaborative Governance?

Collaborative governance is shared decision-making between residents, community organizations and businesses, and government. This type of governance reflects a belief that complex problems are best solved when more people, with different perspectives, work together.

Vivien Twyford describes collaborative governance as an engaged process that brings “a group of stakeholders together to make decisions in a collaborative way.” It means that the deliberative decision-making processes AND the stakeholder relationships are collaborative.

Collaborative governance allows all stakeholders to be involved and heard, and it is dependent on the government engaging community members well so it is easy and fair for all to participate in community decision-making.

Community Engagement

Governments use community engagement to gather residents’ input to develop and implement optimal solutions to public issues. According to the Pepperdine School of Public Policy, the three pillars of community engagement are:

  • including everyone from all parts of the community who wants to participate,

  • ensuring that participants feel heard, and

  • continued engagement and follow through that build relationships and trust.

In good community engagement:

  • it is easy for people to participate,

  • participants receive good information so they can provide informed input,

  • the structure for collaborative conversations are agreed upon by all participants,

  • everyone receives support to develop their dialogue and leadership skills so they can participate most effectively, and

  • government uses the community input they receive to shape and implement decisions.

The City of Lawrence’s Strategic Plan commits them to community engagement to “[l]isten, share, and engage with our community to drive action and build trust in City government. We invite and welcome all community members to collaborate and innovate with us.” Our coalition believes that our City needs to improve their community engagement practices to meet this commitment.

Dialogue as a Public Superpower

Collaborative discussions are necessary for shared governance. Through dialogue, participants can seek mutual understanding and offer compromise solutions. 

When all participants embrace these three elements of good dialogue, collaboration arises more easily. 

  • Equality

  • Compassionate listening

  • Non-judgmentally acknowledging assumptions

The first requirement of equality is key because power differentials are a primary obstacle to true collaboration. As Daniel Yankelovich, the author of “The Magic of Dialogue, says, “When people are equals, they are obliged to make a greater effort to understand each other.”

The second two requirements of compassionate listening and non-judgmentally acknowledging assumptions are skills that require training and practice. Our coalition practices these so we can use them in collaborative conversations, and we recommend that these practices shape the community engagement opportunities the City provides.

Transparency, Engagement, and Accountability

Our coalition wants residents to be able to play a greater role in local decision-making. We believe this will be possible with greater transparency, community engagement, and accountability from our local governments. We ask that they:

  • provide excellent, accessible education for community members,

  • listen to community feedback and integrate it into decision-making, and

  • follow through on commitments to our community.

Our coalition commits to being collaborative in community discussions and advocating for community engagement frameworks that encourage collaboration from all participants.