The Critical Role of
COLLABORATION in Government
Table of Contents What is it?
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Why it’s important
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Benefits
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Things to consider
Case study: FEMA
Conclusion
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About GovDelivery
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The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: What is it?
What is it? Collaboration has always been a part of doing business on a federal, state and local level. County and city governments must work with state and federal agencies to implement programs. Cross-agency collaboration is critical for public safety, law enforcement, public health and other vital services that cross jurisdictions. And with the development of cloud solutions, citizen collaboration and engagement with government has become more pervasive across the country. In order to deliver value to the public, government organizations need to adapt to new technologies that allow connecting with stakeholders, government contractors, private sector businesses and other agencies in innovative ways to better communicate and collaborate. Collaboration refers to working jointly with others, especially in an intellectual endeavor or to interact with an agency with which one is not immediately connected. For government, collaboration can take on a variety of tasks and forms, from sharing data, documents and photos to facilitating discussions and initiatives between various individuals or organizations.
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The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Why it’s important
Why it’s important: strengthens relationships
helps meet objectives
increases engagement
share ideas
breaks down barriers
Collaboration topped the GovDelivery Digital Trends Survey as the number one trend taking center stage in 2013 and as government organizations continue striving to do more with less, collaboration software is becoming increasingly more important. Collaboration strengthens relationships and connections of all types while helping programs and initiatives increase engagement, meet mission critical objectives and drive value for organizations. Collaboration software is also critical to breaking down barriers between organizations, partners, citizens and stakeholders. Collaboration provides the flexibility to innovate and communicate across organizations, communities and geographic locations, giving individuals from all over the opportunity to share ideas, information and resources that may otherwise not be communicated. Collaboration also supports transparent and open government initiatives. On his first day in office, President Obama signed the Memorandum on Transparency and Open Government, ushering in a new era of open and accountable government meant to bridge the gap between the American people and their government. On December 8, 2009, the White House issued an unprecedented open government directive requiring federal agencies to take immediate, specific steps to achieve key milestones in transparency, participation and collaboration. Collaboration provides government agencies with an opportunity to open up about what they are doing, allowing people access to information about what’s going on in government and providing them with an opportunity to participate in the discussions and decision-making as well.
The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Benefits
Benefits: Community-building collaboration tools for government come with a wide variety of benefits.
Connect more widely: Collaborative platforms can help strengthen the relationship and connections between a government organization and consultants, other government organizations, and the public. Wide and deep community connections are beneficial for organizations looking to reach and impact the maximum number of stakeholders. Collaboration breaks down silos and connects decisionmakers to stakeholders regardless of physical or geographic locations.
Increase public engagement: Collaborative platforms foster two-way discussions between the public sector and citizens. Online discussion forums and questionnaires drive public engagement by bringing stakeholders into the conversation. Secure online communities enable information to be efficiently and easily received and shared between colleagues, citizens, businesses, government partners, and more.
Encourage free-flowing communications: Conversations allow organizations to make better decisions with more input. Collaborative tools and websites provide platforms to ask open-ended questions and pull in answers from unexpected sources and perspectives. Collaboration allows government agencies to better serve the public through improved awareness, engagement and participation in government.
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The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Benefits
Reduce costs by streamlining information flow and resource allocation: Online collaboration and document sharing help to distribute best practices, improve response time, and clarify decisionmaking to increase efficiency. Organizations with effective collaboration are able to respond to critical needs and strengthen the overall community by sharing strategies that work.
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Combine traditional-style tools with interactive tools to gain useful data: Community platforms offer tools like events, surveys, polls, forums, integrated threaded messaging, blogs and moderating capabilities to encourage higher levels of engagement. Establishing collaborative groups online can help form digital workspaces and project teams that can uncover useful insights and data to further meet mission goals.
Improve organizational culture to embrace change and adapt to collaborative work styles: As communication and collaboration shifts to a more mobile and technology-focused workplace, government collaborators will need systems that accommodate different ways of creating and sharing information. Cloud-based platforms often offer consistent upgrades and customizable implementations to allow flexibility.
The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Things to consider
Things to consider in choosing a platform: It’s clear that government agencies and employees can benefit from widespread implementation of collaboration platforms, however when compared with business-to-business or business-to-consumer platforms, government collaboration communities have additional requirements to consider.
The Federal Information Security and Management Act (FISMA) was enacted in 2002 and is crucial for organizations to keep top of mind when considering collaboration software. FISMA requires each federal agency to develop, document and implement an agency-wide program to provide security for the information and systems that support the operations and assets of the agency. As such, government organizations need collaboration software that is certified and accredited to withstand the rigors of FISMA.
A variety of individuals may want to partake in government collaboration, making both accessibility and usability of collaboration software important features to consider. Agencies need a tool that is both user-friendly and 508-compliant to meet the needs of any users with disabilities. There are a variety of collaboration software options, but it’s important to select a platform that everyone is comfortable using and one that integrates with the most basic and widely used form of communication-email.
The right collaboration system doesn’t just provide an online space for conversation. It should provide the flexibility to integrate with other communications technologies, such as email and mobile, to increase awareness of the community and allow members to access and interact with the community via the most popular communications methods.
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The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Things to consider
Collaboration software tailored towards government organizations should offer traditional intranet-style collaboration spaces as well as interactive tools such as events, surveys, polls, blogs, comments, moderating capabilities for community managers, and forums integrated with email threading for users in the field. Additionally, the right tools should offer the ability to gather useful data for initiatives and drive engagement to measure the success of collaboration efforts.
Government organizations also need a cloud-based collaboration platform that is delivered as a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). SaaS systems eliminate the need to install additional hardware and software that is both spacious and costly. But more importantly, SaaS platforms allow stakeholders to be access the collaboration platform from anywhere and on almost any device, because the information is stored in the cloud rather than on a computer’s hard drive.
Finally, governments need secure virtual communities and workspaces that include both internal and external stakeholders. Platforms need to provide additional security, such as multi-administrator privileges or restricted access to communities for projects that go either behind or outside government firewalls.
The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Case Study: FEMA
Case study: FEMA There are a variety of government organizations already focused on collaborating and who have utilized collaboration platforms successfully. One example of successful collaboration on a scalable platform can be seen in the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Preparedness Community, which utilizes an easy-to-use platform to engage and rally around national preparedness.
Situation FEMA’s mission is to “reduce the loss of life and property and protect the Nation from all hazards by leading and supporting the Nation in a risk-based, comprehensive emergency management system of preparedness, protection, response, recovery and mitigation.” In 2004, September was declared National Preparedness Month. Sponsored by FEMA’s Ready Campaign, National Preparedness Month focuses on encouraging Americans to take proactive steps in preparation for emergencies. As communications moved online with technological advances, FEMA realized it needed a place to bring together various audiences, both private and public across the country, to collaborate and prepare for urgent situations.
Solution In 2011, FEMA launched Community.FEMA.gov, aimed at digitally extending the efforts around National Preparedness Month. The online community initially served as an events scheduler, document hosting and collaboration space for organizers of National Preparedness Month events. The online community also helped overcome physical barriers to information sharing to better support preparedness efforts. After the community’s 2012 success in dramatically increasing outreach nationally, FEMA decided to broaden the community’s preparedness efforts from the months around September to yearlong, consistent activities, events, and campaigns, supported by FEMA and other partners. This strategic decision is helping to foster long-term engagement with key stakeholders across the country while deepening the impact of FEMA’s mission. Today, Community.FEMA.gov provides a space to facilitate communities of practice, where community members share best practices and preparedness plans with peers; join in regional discussions where they can connect with emergency preparedness personnel near them; promote and find events in their area; and get access to preparedness resources like the National Preparedness Month Tool-Kit.
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The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Case Study: FEMA
Results Since its launch in 2011, membership for the online National Preparedness Community has steadily and dramatically increased, gaining over 13,000 new members in a single year (201112) and connecting more than 37,000 members to date. The National Preparedness Community was able to accomplish such an increase by implementing best practices surrounding stakeholder acquisition, integrating multichannel communication platforms with the community and leveraging GovDelivery’s Outreach Acceleration program. By implementing key digital strategies and focusing on online engagement efforts year-round, the National Preparedness Community has cultivated and strengthened its coalition to ultimately help FEMA further meet its mission goals and make a difference in the lives of citizens throughout the country. FEMA leverages GovDelivery’s online community management capabilities to further its mission of driving preparedness and planning for emergencies. FEMA uses GovDelivery as a mechanism for growing a community where members can interact through online discussions and for encouraging deeper citizen participation through interactive event planning. The National Preparedness Community’s outreach and success in facilitating member participation has manifested itself in many forms: engagement, discussions/conversations and events. Additionally, beyond the community’s continually increasing participation and engagement, FEMA has been able to meet its mission goals: helping Americans stay safe and keeping property from being damaged. The National Preparedness Community’s large membership base has produced 1735 events, increasing engagement throughout 1500 online forum based discussions (in 2012). The National Preparedness Community’s outreach efforts have allowed FEMA’s mission to become much more widely recognized and acknowledged.
The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: Conclusion
Conclusion It’s clear that collaboration is playing a big role in government organizations’ communication efforts. As the importance of collaboration continues to grow, it’s imperative that all government organizations consider their specific needs and examine the wide variety of collaboration software available, honing in on the tools that best meet the specific requirements for government. Moving forward with collaborative efforts can help strengthen relationships and connections, while developing greater stakeholder and citizen engagement, ultimately helping achieve mission critical goals and drive value for your organization.
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The Critical Role of Collaboration in Government: About GovDelivery
About GovDelivery GovDelivery is the leading provider of cloud-based government-to-citizen communication solutions, helping public sector organizations around the world deliver citizen value and meet mission objectives. Focused on helping government organizations communicate with the public more effectively and efficiently, we offer a massively scalable communications ecosystem designed specifically for the public sector, addressing the unique privacy, compliance and security needs faced by government.
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GovDelivery’s mission is to help you make the most of your connection with the public by: • Increasing effectiveness by helping you reach more people • Improving efficiency by automating complex communications • Enhancing engagement with the public by driving mission value GovDelivery has built-in capabilities to create a secure community to help you gather and organize stakeholders on unprecedented scale, with the flexibility to innovate and collaborate nationally with colleagues, citizens, businesses, government partners, consultants, and more. Combined with our experience in dramatically increasing public outreach for more than 1,000 government organizations worldwide, your collaborative projects and civic engagement initiatives can be more effective and impactful, providing direct value to the public and creating mission value for your organization. With GovDelivery, you can eliminate the physical and technological barriers that often stifle the flow of communications and teamwork across your entire stakeholder base to more fully interact with your community in an effective, efficient and engaging manner. Leverage our public sector expertise to make your collaboration efforts more effective, efficient and engaging. Find out why more than 1,000 government organizations—including Federal Emergency Management Administration and the National Highway, Transportation and Safety Administration – partner with GovDelivery to help them communicate, collaborate and engage more deeply with stakeholders around the country. For more information on GovDelivery solutions, visit govdelivery.com.