Having just come from a speaking engagement at the Public Manager’s conference in Baltimore, fresh in mind - the use of enterprise social networks in government. For the future of our children - we have to get this figured out! 

 

We need to get refocused on the purpose of government - making better long term policy decisions for the kids, for future citizens. The purpose is not to serve the institution of government but the people whom that government represents. And enterprise social networks can help - but will government agencies use these new innovations to improve the government processes? That is what we discuss in this week’s podcast.

 

How do we think about the role of public participation in government? What are specific ways that networks can be helpful to government agencies? What are the inflection blocks - the practical behaviors that will enable government to leverage social networks to make better choices? These are the topics of this podcast.

 

The biggest challenge in government use of social networks starts with a basic question tied to the role of public participation in the government process itself : Do we want public participation because we authentically believe that it will improve governmental processes, or do we encourage public participation because “we have to”.

 

Public participation is not suppose to support governance through perpetual polling. Its purpose is rather to provide elected officials with a diversity of knowledge and experience to help legislators and public officials to knowledgeably debate policy issues and to make better decisions.

 

The purpose of government is not to build the institution, but to serve people . Often that basic fact gets lost. Government is especially designed to aggregate information and resources necessary to make the best long term decisions for the common good on behalf of all people - its citizens.

 

Government makes policy decisions in five basic areas - projects, issues, events, rules, and legislation. By using networking, government can make improvements through public participation in all of these areas. There are 5 areas of potential improvement.  
 

The Inflection Blocks of social networks that lead to success are built on common sense. They mirror our experiences in other aspects of our lives where we invite people to interact:

 

Government is struggling with its citizens. Citizens are struggling with their government as both have very different expectations of what public participation means and should be. Government agencies are sometimes overwhelmed by citizens who voice opinions in a perpetual voting process. Citizens often have an expectation that he/she who raises the volume to the highest levels - wins. They often believe that government is an institution that can be effectively shaped to meet the needs of the few - than the long term interests of the many.

 

Enterprise social networks address these problems by enabling constructive participation designed to provide government with new and diverse information designed to expand solution choices and a better sense of possibility.

 

There is no reason that agencies should spend millions of dollars on operating studies to have 35 people show up at public hearings on issues of such great importance. There is no reason that public participation should result in a 50/50 stare down of citizens that paralyzes government from going forward. There is no reason that turning up the volume of citizen engagement should drown out the voices who constructively seek to add to science.

 

The question is not whether social networks will make governance a better process. It is whether government agencies will be a part of those networks. I would argue that government is a necessary participant in effective networks as they have the independent information that enables informed choices. A result that dis-intermediates government would be a loss for all citizens. If citizens form their own deliberative networks outside of government, valuable information and experience will be lost.

Government support for and engagement in citizen networks is critical to the competitive position of the United States. It would be a great irony if other countries used citizen networks to outcompete the United States by listening to citizens when we would not.

Listen to the podcast here.