ICTs Will Make Governments ICTs Will Make Governments Unrecognizable by Today's Unrecognizable by Today's

StandardsStandards

Christopher WilsonSenior Research FellowCentre on Governance

University of Ottawa

How is technology changing the landscape How is technology changing the landscape of governance & governments?of governance & governments?

• Connecting more people• Increasing transparency• Creating more knowledge but also

democratizing knowledge• Creating more opportunities for self-organization

& collaboration• Facilitating greater access to more resources• Creating more value• Creating more communities• Increasing the self sufficiency of citizenry

What happens to leadership What happens to leadership if followers won’t follow?if followers won’t follow?

The Leadership BargainThe Leadership Bargain

• Leaders are created by followers• Followers will follow iff the leader is

perceived as ethical and effective– Might, right or charisma no longer justifies leadership – People want to follow but only if they believe the

integrity and competence of a leader will help them get what they need

– However, the distinction between leaders & followers is continuously being eroded -- generating at times disloyalty and even active resistance

– No followers >> no leader

Questions

If people can self organize using the internet to produce collective goods and services -- think MOOCs in education -- what will be the new role of government?

Questions

If we can finally give up on the notion that perfect privacy is neither technically feasible nor socially desirable, then how can we protect ourselves against the harms that may befall us from individuals, organizations and governments who try to use technology while remaining anonymous?

Questions

If we democratize knowledge and enable everyone with very sophisticated technology, how can we protect ourselves from those very few disturbed individuals who just want to do others harm simply because they can?

Questions

In a fully transparent multistakeholder world, can we finally move on to an accountability framework that's about learning instead of the current one of blaming and shaming?

Questions

Can we finally recognize that democracy is a mechanism for the shared ownership of all citizens and not some modern version of entitled aristocracy? 

Questions

Since we are all connected, can we reorganize our public sector around scalable learning rather than avoiding waste (which it does very badly at any rate)?

Deeper Questions

Maybe the question to ask is, what is the most ideal form of social coordination that we can imagine, use the technology to help create it and then call that government.

Where to go from here?

Any one of these notions would be totally transformative for a modern government, but technology is pushing all of them onto public consciousness at once.

Since we can't count on leaders who are not in control of all the necessary levers of resources, knowledge or power and who are also wedded to the status quo, what processes might be put in place to facilitate the needed transitions? If you can’t rely on leaders, then what?

The notion of leadership The notion of leadership was for a different era. was for a different era.

It’s time to retire it.It’s time to retire it.

Leadership is a mechanism of social coordination

One that can transform random groupings into ordered social structures

…and increases the groups’ capacity for specialization and coordinated activity

But Leadership has Fallen into Disrepute

Parliament is a Sham- Macleans

The $50B leadership The $50B leadership industry is a “fraud”industry is a “fraud”

- Barbara Kellerman, Harvard

In over 40 years, the In over 40 years, the leadership industry has leadership industry has made no meaningful or made no meaningful or measurable improvement measurable improvement in human condition.in human condition.

- The End of Leadership

The entire “leadership The entire “leadership class” is “fundament-class” is “fundament-ally self-dealing”ally self-dealing”

– New York TimesThe Senate is the The Senate is the backwater of the backwater of the US governmentUS government

– New YorkerUS CEOs have done more to US CEOs have done more to hurt the economy than hurt the economy than

anyone else – even more than anyone else – even more than the President or Congressthe President or Congress

– Fox News

“a dog could have run GEa dog could have run GE” – - GE CEO Jeffrey Immelt of his predecessor Jack WelchHSBC execs apologize for HSBC execs apologize for

laundering money for Al laundering money for Al Qaeda and drug cartelsQaeda and drug cartels

– The Star

Only 9% of Canadians Only 9% of Canadians have confidence that the have confidence that the Federal government can Federal government can address their problems address their problems

- Nanos Research

Washington is Suicidal

- Newsweek“Nearly every pillar of Nearly every pillar of American society has American society has revealed itself to be revealed itself to be corrupt, incompetent, corrupt, incompetent, or bothor both” - Time

The 2013 global "Trust The 2013 global "Trust Barometer" survey, finds as trust Barometer" survey, finds as trust in institutions continues to climb, in institutions continues to climb, only 18% of respondents trusted only 18% of respondents trusted business leaders, and business leaders, and government leaders scored only government leaders scored only 13%.13%.

- The Economist

Contempt for the Contempt for the whole institutionwhole institution [of the Senate]

- Macleans

What is Leadership?• What it should be

– “bringing people together to make something different happen.” - Harland Cleveland

– A way for followers to coordinate their individual activities to produce value-adding, collective outputs through structures of hierarchies, clans, markets, & networks

• What it’s become– a romanticized myth, a cult of personalities who are seen to be

intrinsically special, different from followers & capable of saving us from ourselves.

– the accepted avenue for obtaining additional perks and benefits, but susceptible to people later exposed as weak, liars, foolish, inept, corrupt, vain, lazy, demagogues, selfish and just plain crooks

– A $50 billion industry that in 40 years has produced no evidence that it has produced any ‘better’ leaders, mitigated the effects of ‘bad’ leaders or contributed to the betterment of human society

– an excuse for not adapting to environments where no one is or can be ‘in charge’

Laval Mayor Gilles Vaillancourt charged with gangsterism

Former Italian PM, Former Italian PM, Silvio Berlusconi, Silvio Berlusconi,

sentenced to 1 year sentenced to 1 year in jailin jail

Warning!Leadership can be harmful to your organization

Rob Ford –drunken stupor,

cocaine user, DUI, associates w/

criminals, threatens

colleagues, the uncivil man

Ottawa’s Mayor O'Brien charged

with briberySarkozy under Sarkozy under investigation for illicit investigation for illicit campaign financingcampaign financing

Intergovernmental Affairs minister

resigns over campaign funding

irregularities.

Aboriginal Affairs Minister John

Duncan resigns over ethics violations

I found Mr. Mulroney’s evidence to be not worthy of any credence – Judge Oliphant

ex-SNC-Lavalin CEO Pierre

Duhaime arrested for fraud

Three ex-Nortel executives

charged Lance Armstrong addresses Global Leadership Forum

CEO of “America’s Most Innovative Company”, Enron

Richard Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers, leads his company to $639B bankruptcy

Jimmy Cayne, Chairman & CEO of Bear Stearns, “worst CEO of all time - CNBC

Senators Mike Duffy, Mac Harb, Patrick Brazeau, & Pamela Wallin investigated for

financial improprieties

Wachovia CEO Thompson linked

to $378B in money laundering

prior to bank’s collapse in 2008

Award winning PennState coach convicted serial child molester,

school president forced to resign

FIFA President, João Havelange & other top officials receive millions in

bribes

US Congressman Anthony Weiner

involved in sexting scandal

Collaboration Diminshes Leadership

• But even ethical leaders are in disrepute because they are increasingly ineffective due to issues of complexity and the distribution of knowledge, resources and power…

• The Result: Fewer Canadians have confidence that our leaders can address the concerns that matter to them most – eg. Issues like health care, jobs, education, environment & climate

change, first nations, aging population, social programs, living standards & balanced budgets

• Why? Because these ‘wicked’ problems take more people, more perspectives, more and different resources, and multiple sources of power & authority to resolve. Citizens don’t believe governments can work with others - Policy Options

Followers Create Leaders (but increasingly followers won't follow)

A “weak” and “secretive” A “weak” and “secretive” public service starves public service starves Parliament of the information Parliament of the information it needs to hold the it needs to hold the government to accountgovernment to account.

- Parliamentary Budget Officer

The US Budget failed The US Budget failed because Boehner "did because Boehner "did

not have sufficient not have sufficient support from [his] support from [his]

members to pass."members to pass." - Huffington Post

Leaders without FollowersLeaders without Followers - The Economist

Federal scientists rally against the “Death of Evidence” 10 July 2012

““public servants [should] public servants [should] make their own judgments make their own judgments about the public interest.”about the public interest.”

– Ralph Heintzman

“we are the 99% and we are leaderless”

Occupy MovementOccupy Movement

Idle No More Idle No More protests beyond protests beyond control of chiefscontrol of chiefs

Globe & Mail

Federalism upside Federalism upside down: Who speaks down: Who speaks for Canada now? for Canada now?

iPolitics

““A tsunami of A tsunami of exposed exposed corruptioncorruption cases in cases in Spain”Spain” – – New York TimesNew York Times

Protests against gov't corruption planned for more than 80 Brazilian cities – CTV

Leadership is a mechanism of social coordination but it is not the only one.

… there is no a priori reason to use only leadership – only habit.

A Leadership Alternative• Stewardship

– Instead of the ‘causal leader’, the steward acts as a ‘catalyst’ among owners helping them to shape change through a combination of process design and relational governance

– The steward “depends for his power on making other people powerful”.

– Stewardship is a collective attribute that is neither personality based nor even people based

Stewards are Created by Owners

• Building co-ownership & developing mechanisms to share it are key tasks

• Stewardship is primarily process design – assembling principles, rules, norms,

behaviours, mechanisms and protocols into an ‘automatic pilot’ capable of generating wayfinding, meaningful self-organization, social learning, resilience, & innovativeness.

• Stewardship is ‘learning while doing’

Stewardship Process• This coordinating process of stewardship has six separate

but interconnected tasks: – gathering together all the relevant actors and information;– creating an effective space for frame reconciliation to ensure

collaboration, leaning and innovation; – doing together but avoiding the rush to decisions and action:; – generating trust with a mix of incentives & moral contracts likely to

fuel both the continuous inquiry needed to facilitate learning, as well as the need for contingent cooperation;

– assuming failure, the constructing of feedback, fail-safe and safe-fail mechanisms to ensure both effectiveness & resilience; and

– creating relationships that foster trust but also develop negative capability - the conditions that ensure the collaboration will be robust enough to survive.

Hints of Things to Come

• Goldcorp Challenge1

– Goldcorp recognized it’s own experts didn’t know enough & with a $500K challenge opened themselves up to the world’s geologists & different approaches to finding gold, taking their net worth from $100 million to $9 billion

• Governance of Tech Startups– A bringing together multiple perspectives -owners,

angel investors, customers, engineers, suppliers – with no perspective taking precedence. Both innovation and accountability are enhanced

1Tapscott & Williams, Wikinomics

Hints of Things to Come• Brazil’s HIV-AIDS strategy2

– With one of the worst infection rates in the world in 1990, WHO said focus on prevention. The sick can’t be saved.

– No one in charge, but guided by communitarian principle that no one would be written off

– Shared leadership, a government asking questions about how things really worked & committed to sharing successes

– Brazil’s infection rate now 33% better than the USA

• Canadian Partnership Against Cancer Corporation3

– A knowledge mobilization partnership of federal & provincial govts and VSOs

– Policy authority & financial resources to implement a national cancer prevention strategy

– Government participation but arm’s-length relationship from them

2 Westley, Zimmerman & Quinn-Patton, Getting to Maybe3 Rocan, The Voluntary Sector In Public Health

Does the situation need

changing?

What is the problem?

How can wework

together?

How do we learn together &

evaluate our progress?

Info GatheringLearning

DoingTrust

FeedbackRelationships

Investigative

Observational

Relationship Design

Learning While Doing

Institutionalizing an Inquiring System

HeuristicsAffordancesChecklistsJudgement

Connoisseurship

Going Forward“You never change things by fighting the

existing reality. To change something, create a new model that makes the old

model obsolete.”- Buckminster Fuller

“We cannot win the future with a government built for the past.”

– US President Obama, 11 March 2011

Thank youThank you

Christopher WilsonSenior Research Fellow

Centre on Governance,

University of Ottawa

Tel: 613-355-6505

Email: wilson@telfer.uottawa.ca