How Co-Creation Can Transform Government
When we think about government today, we feel it has a bad reputation. It’s perceived as slow, old, and has a small attention span. We feel this when we deal with our taxes or when we have issues at the DMV. It’s not easy and not always remembered as a positive experience. In result, we become disenfranchised with government because the friction we get leaves a bad taste in our mouth. It’s a bad taste that lasts. However, there’s good news and it’s that government is changing. We’re now seeing ways co-creation, a collaborative design approach, is promising to improve and develop better experiences in government.
At this year’s SXSW 2016 Conference, President Barack Obama talked about how people interact with government as he dedicated a whole keynote to this very topic. Our president explained, “An anti-government mentality grows if people feel frustrated because they’re not getting good service.”
The Government Experience Problem
A negative mentality grows because government’s interactions and solutions don’t measure up to the delight we come to expect with everyday touch points such as the ease of buying a cup of coffee at Starbucks or planning a trip to Hawaii through a great travel site. So we ask ourselves, how exactly can government respond and improve experiences to serve its citizens? How do citizens and government adapt together to create a stronger relationship? Also, how do powerful startup companies enter the mix as entities that can amplify positive change without dealing with public policy barriers? The last question is one that’s been getting big attention lately and also one I’d like to focus on here. But let’s unpack the government experience problem a little bit further.
The experience problem government faces today is caused by being outpaced by technology and not offering a competitive and collaborative framework to create delightful experiences for all. It faces pressure on two fronts specifically: 1) individual citizens who expect great service from private and public sectors equally and 2) disruptive companies who are willing to create better service but can’t because of government and policy constraints. As evidence, just look at the many “shared economy” problems with AirBnb and Uber we have today.
In this article, I hope to shed light on these factors and also propose an experience framework for how private companies can act like design thinkers and engage better with government through steps of co-creation. But let’s first look at what we mean by co-creation.
Co-creation is the engine that enables real change.
Co-creation is the process that involves input and collaboration from multiple stakeholders, groups and actors toward a mutually valued outcome. It has been part of the design practice for many years and is not a new idea within the creation of great products and services. Design companies like IDEO, and frog have been beacons for social good and have effectively used co-creation as a key ingredient to involve users in the process to uncover important human desires, needs and goals throughout the lifecycle of design and production.
However, what we’re now witnessing is a pleasant evolution of how co-creation has gone outside the discipline of design consultancies and into the public and private “non-designer” space. Just as design firms are being acquired at much faster pace, the idea of co-creation has also become an expedited force in ways companies and institutions are trying to do business with each other.
We now hear public leaders, like Obama, who want us to help build the first “user-centered” government through civic and company engagement. We hear success stories with digital ethnography tools like Neighborland and digital crowd-funding tools like Kickstarter operate under the philosophy that it is people who come together collaboratively that create the most exciting end products and experiences. We also learn about the radical collaboration method happening at Stanford d.school where co-creation fuels the creativity and learning process for individuals interested in embracing design thinking. These services have their own form factor but with the spirit that co-creating will result in a wider human, educational and economic benefit.
As another example, one of the most exciting business policies to launch this year are new federal regulations that will go into effect on May 16, allowing new streams of web-based financing for businesses. These results will allow larger groups of people the ability to start businesses together, essentially allowing broader ownership of equity.
At the heart, it’s co-creation that underlies this movement, the idea of multiple participants creating shared value. Co-creation is ubiquitous as it is mainstream. It’s the engine that enables flexibility, real change for people and provides huge benefits of collaboration and value creation of services otherwise not attainable. Technology alone cannot provide this value because we must first know what people really want and allow for a collaboration model that addresses human needs in a user-centered way to get us there.
Government is the next frontier of co-creation.
Now that government leaders and private businesses alike have recognized the value of co-creation, how do we take the next step into creating new experiences that integrate 3 primary groups within our community, social and economic society — 1) Government 2) Business and 3) Citizens.
Having attended a recent SXSW panel discussion titled “How to Disrupt Government” hosted by Cris Turner, Head of Govt. Affairs for the Americas at Dell, I’ve recently discovered a potential framework for how we can begin to think about this as it relates to the government and business relationship.
Through the panel discussion, I gathered key insights from speakers and organized a method for how private businesses (e.g. AirBnb, Uber and Lyft) should be thinking about approaching and interacting with government in order to collectively align on decisions that benefit all three groups; private business, government and public citizens. This guiding framework would also apply to any business that hopes to disrupt, but do it in a beneficial way, with government involved and on their side. Just as working with end customers for product and service design, public co-creation is about recognizing the needs and issues within government and aligning them to form product with policy.
What I’m about to mention below can be interpreted as a government specific framework with descriptive principles. I want to share these in hopes of helping startups ground themselves in a bit of reality when trying to launch big ideas and avoid a huge pitfall of policy backlash that could cause them major headache.
It’s easy to cite negative examples of backlash, one being Uber and Lyft recently pulling out of Austin, TX, a popular emerging tech and startup city. It’s ironic to think that a forward-thinking and collaborative city such as Austin encounters resistance on an innovative ride-sharing service that could incredibly soften its traffic and infrastructure problems. The important issue to understand here is that it’s about communicating, talking and collaborating with the right leaders and citizens, in the right way, in order for change to happen. It’s not just about delivering great technology and product design.
The recent insights I was able to gather from SXSW 2016 came from leaders who served and talk directly with government. I’ll get to their names in a moment, but let’s recognize how a good conversation with government should start.
It’s first by understanding with whom you’re speaking with.
Learn about government before you launch products and services to the public.
Before moving ahead, you should first recognize what government’s character and persona looks like. Today’s government is an institution that is often overloaded and, as I mentioned earlier, under-resourced when it comes to dealing with public issues. Because of this, their attention span is often small. They cannot amplify their responsiveness to meet every need, all the time, for every company or person.
Despite this, government does want to listen to you as a business. They value company and people’s stances on issues, policies and appreciate solutions. They especially respect this when private businesses and products align with policies that they’re trying to address over time. The key to creating a good relationship with government is how communication and proposals are delivered and how companies can co-create with government to go through a process together. More on that specific technique in a minute.
The key to creating a good relationship with government is how communication and proposals are delivered and how companies can co-create with government to go through a process together.
The thing smaller companies don’t recognize is that government actually listens even when companies think they’re not. Government hears about company efforts, PR and positions through the media. They see things happening in the public eye that potentially affect policy even if a private company is not directly interacting with them. It’s important to assume, big brother is always there.
One of the most resistive things private companies can do is decide to fully take on government around issues they want to win. In this way, private companies may try to win public support and form larger groups or associations around issues to win the public opinion. This may give initial leverage but is ultimately counterproductive. Government will recognize this as resistance and may even shut down any future conversation. So what can we do to ensure a more long-term positive relationship?
We need the right steps to co-create with government
After listening to key participants in the government space at the SXSW 2016 conference, such as Bill Flores (U.S. Representative), Dyan Gibbens (Trumbull Unmanned) and Cris Turner (Head of Govt. Affairs for the Americas at Dell), ideas were shared to generate mutually beneficial outcomes for all parties involved who want to make a change. Those ideas were captured in a three step co-creative government framework.
In order to be a successful public business, you must align with government by taking appropriate actions and behavior when trying to launch products and services that may require legal or public policy support.
Here were the three key steps that emerged:
Step 1: Engage On The Front End
One of the first steps involving government in your new product or service that may require their support is to engage early and on the front end. Private companies need to recognize they must initiate the conversation by contacting their policy makers and parts of government before things happen and not after. The reason is that it looks proactive and that the intent is to involve government in decisions rather than asking for “after-the-fact approval”. Or worse, defending a position after a public policy has been violated.
When contacting government, make sure you stick to issues that will unite your private company or startup with larger dialog or challenges government is having. This will put you in good standing and show that your teams are paying attention to relevant issues and trying to align on higher ground. In doing so, it’s best to meet face-to-face with officials and not just through letters or emails. When communicating, much like in private executive practice, you should be succinct in getting your point across when talking about your issues and company needs. Don’t meander. Discuss solutions that take policy forward.
Step 2: Work With All Stakeholder and Policy Makers
After initiating first steps and being proactive, make sure to work with as many stakeholders and local policy makers as possible. Seek out common causes of public problems and issues that mean something to both your private company and government officials as well as influencers of policy.
As you seek other participants in the process, identify government individuals that are easy to talk with but also resistant. Understand their individual needs, especially those that may be harder to deal with. Take time to reach out to them.
As a private company or entity outside government, you may want to join the chamber of commerce to show outward participation. This is actually a great opportunity to tap into the local community and build business integrity at the local level. As a matter of fact, in 2012, a study showed that companies that joined their local chamber were were about 50% more likely to be positively perceived by consumers and those consumers 80% more likely to purchase their product. (Source: Shapiro Group)
Bill Flores (U.S. Representative) described joining the local Chamber Of Commerce at SXSW 2016 as “Punching above your weight belt.” Joining the Chamber Of Commerce offers a strategic edge to being more fully involved and heard.
Step 3: Build Your Story
As a third step in the government co-creation process, it’s very important to build a continuous positive and productive story around your business to highlight the issues you’re facing and how you’re resolving them. At SXSW, Bill Flores describes the tactic as “Drip like a faucet.” In this way, you should let government know steadily how things are going on and that you’re staying current with the other public issues at hand. This can be updates or in-person meetings.
In building a company story, it’s certainly not a good tactic to just model yourself after a another business or startup. This means flying under the radar of what happens with another business that may be close to yours and let them deal with the tough issues. Simply put, you won’t be able to fly for long before you get caught and have to explain your own businesses decisions independently.
As a final way to build the story, don’t assume public opinion will carry you to win the war on bigger policy issues that affect your plans. It actually might help in the beginning but not through a longer dialog with government.
Conclusion
Just as in Service and Experience Design, it’s best to take these three co-creative steps iteratively with government as a continual looping cycle in order to build products and services together that align with public policy.
Even though today’s working relationship between government and the private sector has made strides in the mainstream, we’re still not completely there yet. The good thing is that more and more public officials and stakeholders are opening up to collaboration and design thinking. We just need more conversation to facilitate that process. It’s here where co-creation can play a huge part in not only delivering transformative products, but also evolving a meta approach toward working together with better outcomes for everyone.
