(This is a reprint of a blog post contributed to PublicInput.com)
Enterprise Public Engagement
Applying enterprise approaches to public engagement helps government increase input and feedback for better decision-making, inclusion, and efficiency.
The IBM Center for The Business of Government connects research to practice in helping to improve government and to assist public sector executives and managers in addressing real-world problems with practical ideas and original thinking to improve government. The“Seven Drivers Transforming Government” is the culmination of research with current and former government leaders that identifies seven drivers for transforming government in the years to come.
PublicInput is applying a selection of those drivers to interpreting the future of one of the government’s most important success components: public engagement.
Effectiveness
IBM Center for The Business of Government
Applying enterprise approaches to achieve better outcomes, operational efficiency and a leaner government.
Approaches to Engagement
When asked for examples of public engagement, many people may suggest a town hall or council meeting where members of the public are allotted a brief opportunity to provide public comments to their elected officials. Others may point to government initiatives around transportation or environmental projects where governments seek input or feedback from impacted residents.
Few people, if any, suggest an example of public engagement as a 24/7/365 service between the government and their constituents. On the surface, daily engagement sounds like a pretty massive undertaking. Engagement practitioners often wonder, can something like this be accomplished and what benefits can be realized for a government and a community engaged in on-demand collaboration around important policy issues.
The answer is a government with the ongoing goal of being more effective, both in terms of its operations and results.
Effectiveness
Effectivity has been demonstrated through the use of technology across government agencies –known as the adoption of enterprise solutions– to deliver mission-support services seamlessly across program and organizational boundaries.
The Future of Performance
IBM Center for The Business of Government
. . . the future of government performance relies not simply on greater efficiency, but also on increasing capacity to work effectively
How does this apply to public engagement?
We saw firsthand at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic the critical challenge for state and local agencies to effectively use technology to continue their deliberations with public officials and the community. To continue public meetings in many jurisdictions, it took emergency executive orders, supporting legislation, and a corps of talented and hard-working CIOs and IT departments across the nation. Not only was the government less efficient in carrying out the basic function of public engagement, it was also noted among many jurisdictions and governing bodies as an ineffective way to inform constituents and to solicit input on public issues.
As the pandemic continued, most governing bodies adopted some form of information and/or communication technologies to continue meetings and public engagement, even without the efficiency or effectiveness required or desired. Today, a new era of public engagement and representative democracy is emerging through the use of dedicated public engagement technology platforms.
From these platforms, governments are realizing the benefits of blending virtual and conventional approaches to public engagement that increase and diversify participation. Data collected through the use of new public engagement models to organize and centralize public governance are creating more effective processes that can be realized across multiple departments.
Positive, Significant, & Lasting Change
IBM Center for The Business of Government
To achieve positive, significant, and lasting change, government leaders must focus on sound implementation. The focus on implementation involves the meaningful integration of operations across agencies via an enterprise approach.
24/7/365 Engagement
Governments need to consider what an enterprise approach to public engagement could look like with a 24/7/365 public engagement process. It will take a rethinking of how we use technology and how we define public engagement.
It will require the government and the public to change the narrative when it comes to public engagement. Instead of being selective where public participation or comments are sought, the government should be engaging the public on issues in every department every day. This cannot be accomplished without the use of technology solutions. Fortunately, we have the technology capable of enterprise deployment.
Governments must also consider how they can be more effective through more engagement. There is a vast ocean of knowledge among the residents in a community. Many who possess skills and expertise about challenges the government faces every day surrounding public policies would offer their input or feedback if given the right mechanism to contribute to it.
At PublicInput, we agree with those thought leaders who advocate governments should constantly be thinking about how they can tap into the community’s energy and enthusiasm and leverage that with public work being performed by the government on their behalf.
Enterprise Government
IBM Center for The Business of Government
. . . enterprise government focuses on mission support and emphasizes streamlining and integration of administrative services, as well as processes and functions that share common elements.
Public engagement can be a shared service —government-wide or department-wide– as a system that can be standardized, produced, and delivered, aligning enterprise approaches with problem-solving. That is, public engagement should look and operate the same across all government sectors and agencies offering governments a centralized, organized, managed, and reported system made more efficient through an enterprise solution.
Government Transformation
IBM Center for the Business of Government
Enterprise approaches that leverage modern management and technology systems and practices can enable progress across the public sector. The evolution of enterprise government can give fresh momentum to improving effectiveness and driving transformation in government.
Adding “engagement” to public administration along with the basic framework of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness is a principal way of practicing the work of governance with more inclusion and equity creating more informed decision-making.
