Organisation: The Government Outcomes Lab
Having strength in depth describes having many high-quality players that can be used when necessary. Strength in depth exists in many places and themes, so how can it be harnessed? The centralised, command and control style has been criticised as ineffective and prone to being siloed. Collaboration holds promise, both between those formally charged with delivering interventions, and with those in communities that have the local knowledge to coordinate efforts effectively.
This session examined how collaboration can bring enhancement to delivering outcomes for people. It included presentations on collaboration method, including a brief discussion of a new playbook for cross-sector collaboration. The following five in-depth presentations examined collaboration methods across a variety of international and policy contexts, such as health service provision, social impact measurement and development financing.
The audience were encouraged to consider ahead of the session how satisfactory the state of collaboration is in their area of work and what has been limiting the harnessing of many actors.
The session featured discussion with the audience to help solve the burning issues with working collaboratively. At the end of this conversation, we aim to help collaboration to be stronger in a range of contexts by reaching a better understanding of why it hasn’t been happening as much as it could.
The focus shifted towards harnessing collaboration and local knowledge. Presentations highlighted the strength of community-driven approaches in delivering public services and emphasised the importance of cross-sector collaboration. Ian Taylor from the GO Lab shared insights from a playbook on cross-sector collaboration, emphasising leadership, trust, power dynamics, organisational culture, and learning. Jane Gaukroger and Sabena Jamel from Cultivating Wisdom stressed the need to shift attention from contracts to character, promoting wise collaboration that allows for healthy disagreement. Mila Lukic discussed the reimagining of public services through people-powered partnerships, emphasising community-driven, strengths-based, holistic approaches. Jo Bundell from Place Matters and Anna Powell from Collaboration for Impact Australia highlighted participatory approaches, emphasising the importance of involving those with lived experience in the design of change initiatives, revealing radical and unforeseen opportunities. Celeste Brubaker spoke about democratising development financing, bringing local communities to the centre of creating lasting change, and addressing the issue of funding not reaching local organisations. Finally, Mike Davis from Davis Pier focused on improving the measurement of placed outcomes.