The UK Government's programme to "break down the barriers between the public and government institutions" seemed in official good heart with the launch of a first annual review of Together We Can, and some well-orchestrated presentations. Now I think it's time to loosen up.
The TWC magazine showcases a host of good stories about active citizens engaged in regenerating their neighbourhoods, and a dozen Ministers contributed their signed commitments to the review document. The Community Channel is this week broadcasting stories of civic pioneers making a difference in their neighbourhoods. Civil servants with community and neighbourhood concerns are now housed together in the Department for Communities and Local Government, making joined-up action more achievable.
The launch event last week had a panel of Ministers and partners on show to introduce the report and answer questions from Press and various others associated with the programme. I have to declare an interest - I was at the launch with Drew Mackie because we have funding for the Engagement Game.
Amidst the fairly standard Q and A there were two interesting interventions. One came from a community activist - "a volunteer, just someone off the street" - who recounted the experience of his organisation in trying to get follow-on funding for their work on the TWC Guide Neighbourhood programme. They did the rounds of local government and public agencies, received encouragement and promises of decisions shortly. "We waited, and we waited, we called ... but nothing came of it". The familiar grassroots cry about government: if they ask, they don't listen, if they listen they don't deliver.
Edward Andersson from Involve followed up, very politely, with a question about capacity building. This is the prescription for any perceived under-achievement by community and voluntary organisations and volunteers. Edward asked something to the effect that if engagement and collaboration required new attitudes and skills, maybe Civil Servants could have their capacity built too? I know this is on the Government's agenda, but we didn't learn anything to our advantage on the day.
There was an announcement about the Every Action Counts scheme that will invest £4 million over three years in helping community groups get involved in small-scale environmental action. There will be direct support, including advice from more than 1000 Every Action Counts Champions. The Environment Secretary David Miliband couldn't get to the TWC event, but the Department's official responsible, Jill Rutter, gave it a good send off. I felt there was some real enthusiasm there, and the programme has an impressive range of partners.
The chance to network before and after the set-piece event was really useful, with Civil Servants doing their best to be helpful within the limits of discretion, and no doubt still working out how the new arrangements will operate.
However, I did still feel some slight dissatisfaction. On reflection, I think it was because for all the talk of WE this was so obviously an US (government) event. I think that reflects a major difficulty implicit in TWC. It has to face in so many different directions. While the most visible aspect is about promoting collaborations like Every Action Counts, behind the scenes the effort is on getting 12 Government departments to collaborate. Each has budgets to defend, procedures to follow, styles of doing things - and politicians to promote.
In a government famous for its obsession with control, nothing must be out of place - so the default way of organising is tidy, and that of communicating is broadcasting.
I left wondering what a WE event would be like. No top table, more time for conversation, real faces instead of video clips, and better ways to make connections and develop ideas that would help take things forward. The TWC conferences offer some of those opportunities, but even those are highly choreographed.
I feel it's worth raising these issues of style, because that's often where "the barriers between the public and government institutions" really exist. I'm currently re-reading Patrick Lencioni's excellent Overcoming the Five Dysfunctions of a Team and the associated Field Guide. You can download the deceptively simple model that underlies the work. It's a triangle - as you'll see if you click the image - with different levels. I think they are relevant not just to teams, but also to wider collaborations.
The main message is that collaboration requires trust and commitment, and you'll only get this if you are prepared to entertain some conflict and also to show some vulnerability.
Few politicians do vulnerability, and most are desperately keen to show a united front when presenting their partnerships. We all know, of course, that behind the scenes it isn't like that. The media tries to find the cracks in the facade, while we citizens become more and more disillusioned with the protestations that all is well.
At the launch event, the Minister for Local Government and Community Cohesion, Phil Woolas, said that surveys showed an increase of trust among citizens in recent years. I think Together We Can is one of the best hopes that Government has for building on successful collaborations and developing trust ... if it can loosen up a bit.
Update: I've just spotted that Demos has an official response to the TWC annual review. They conclude there is plenty to celebrate, but "some parts of the government machine are still undermining these efforts - new forms of accountability and better support for the professionals undertaking this work are needed for participation to become the expectation rather than the exception."
Comments