Civic Collaboration Services

What is Collaboration? The Latin roots of collaboration are com and laborare, literally meaning "to work together". Here are several helpful definitions from thought leaders on the subject of collaboration:

  • "a process through which parties who see different aspects of a problem can constructively explore their differences and search for solutions that go beyond their own limited vision of what is possible."
    Collaborating: Finding Common Ground for Multiparty Problems by Barbara Gray
  • "a mutually beneficial relationship between two or more parties who work toward common goals by sharing responsibility, authority, and accountability for achieving results."
    Collaborative Leadership by David Chrislip and Carl Larson

Services Offered by Civic Collaboration

Strategic Planning and Process Design
The most critical ingredients for a successful multi-stakeholder collaborative initiative are a thoroughly developed plan and a thoughtfully designed process. Civic Collaboration provides a strategic planning framework specifically geared toward projects that bring together individuals and groups across organizational boundaries to work on complex issues that no one entity can effectively address on its own. The planning process includes a situational assessment to understand the context and key driving forces, and the identification and alignment of goals, capabilities, resources, leadership and strategy.

A robustly designed process begins with a clearly identified purpose or intent and an understanding of the desired impact and outcomes of the effort. Key considerations, such as representation, relationships, context, sustainability and measures for success, are all built into the design of the initiative. This design work will provide a detailed roadmap for successful implementation of the collaborative initiative.

Community Engagement
Civic Collaboration offers community engagement process design and implementation. The focus is on creating and delivering authentic, credible and robust community participation processes that help bring underrepresented voices to the table and foster thoughtful dialogue that will help diverse groups find common ground for action. Design and strategy again play a key role and the Civic Collaboration approach utilizes the most appropriate design for the desired outcomes, pulling from a wide array of engagement strategies, from tried-and-true methods such as public workshops, forums and focus groups to emerging social media and online engagement tools.

Facilitation
Effective meetings save time, reduce frustration and help participants produce meaningful results. Civic Collaboration offers meeting and event facilitation that helps foster positive group dynamics and ensure desired outcomes are achieved. From setting the tone and creating a safe environment for participation, to keeping the process moving and focusing on key issues and decisions, a well-designed and facilitated process will break through typical barriers to success, which is particularly important when the stakes are high.

Project Implementation and Management
Multi-stakeholder collaborative initiatives require skillful planning, organization and management of resources, timelines and scope. To help support the successful implementation of these initiatives, Civic Collaboration offers project management services, from developing a project plan, including refining project goals, objectives, tasks, resources and timelines, to overseeing the implementation of the project plan.