Series of Leading Change slides illustrate an aspect of my resume, namely a range of early professional experiments related to advancing--in small ways--sources of government innovation: transparency, collaboration, public participation and organization design.

1. Experiment No. 4
Champions of Participation (2009)
www.americaspeaks.org
(leadership in action)

2. Champions of Participation
Feedback from Agency Leaders and Managers
on the Open Government Directive

3. Champions of Participation
 Solicit input on the Open
Government Directive from those
who have had the greatest
experience working to make
federal government more open
 Follow up from 2006 conference
 Convened 34 federal managers
and staff on March 30-31, 2009
 Convened 19 senior agency
leaders on May 12, 2009
 Facilitated by four leaders in the
field of public engagement and
electoral reform

4. Participating Agencies
Army Corps of
EPA GAO NOAA
Engineers
Federal Energy
Centers for Disease Nuclear Regulatory
Regulatory GSA
Control Commission
Commission
Federal Highway Institute for Enviro. Office of
Dept of Defense
Administration Conflict Resolution Nanotechnology
Office of the Fed.
National Mediation
Dept of Energy FEMA Coord. for Gulf
Board
Coast Rebuilding
Transportation
Fish and Wildlife National Park
Dept of Interior Security
Service Service
Administration
Veterans
Dept of Labor Forest Service NEA
Administration

5. General Observations
 Significant excitement among agency leaders who have championed
participation, transparency, and collaboration for years
 Some healthy skepticism that adequate resources, support and
commitment will be devoted to advancing OGD values
 Hope that the Directive will be a living document that is iterative
and systematically “marbled” into the government
 Concern that the Directive will overemphasize pilot projects
over systemic, scaled, and lasting changes
 Concern that web-based, ICT approaches will over-shadow
proven face-to-face participation and collaboration methods

6. Major Recommendations
1. President’s Management Council as implementation vehicle
2. Communicate commitment to OGD to all Federal staff through personal
statement from President, resources, and reporting
3. Require agencies to state how they will incorporate OGD goals into major
agency systems such as HR, planning, budget
4. Provide training and other support to assure that federal workforce possesses
public engagement skills
5. Establish systems of reporting and measurement
6. Create communities of practice to foster innovation and diffusion
7. Create incentives through awards, recognition, & funding
8. Demonstrate the value of participation through highly visible presidential
initiatives
9. Address legal and statutory barriers to Open Government

7. President’s Management Council
as OGD Implementation Vehicle
 PMC effectively engages Deputy Secretaries to provide top-level
management support for the Open Government Directive
 Chief Performance Officer should direct the overall Open
Government Directive
 Add independent agencies who do not currently sit on PMC
 Create three inter-agency work groups to carry out the directive:
 OMB should chair a work group to oversee implementation and measure
progress
 OPM should chair a work group to build the capacity of federal
employees
 CTO should chair a work group on the use of technology to support open
government goals across agencies

8. Communicate Administration’s
Commitment to Open Government
 President Obama’s deep, personal commitment to Open
Government must be clearly communicated
 Send a physical letter to every employee from the President
explaining the importance of open government
 Produce a video and send email with link to every federal
employee
 The principles of open government should be repeated
often and consistently
 Congressional leaders should join the President in
communicating the priority of open government
 Adequate new funding and regular reporting requirements
should reinforce the importance of the directive

9. Incorporate Open Government
into All Major Agency Systems
 Require all agencies to submit plans for how they will incorporate
Open Government goals into their missions within 120 days
 Require all agencies to submit plans for how they will incorporate
Open Government goals into all major systems, including human
resources, budget, planning and management, within 180 days
 Require Federal Executive Boards to implement collaborative
partnerships to involve the public and report their plans within
180 days
 Require each agency to designate a senior leader as an Open
Government champion and support designated champion with
appropriate resources

10. Building Capacity & Training
 Define the skills required for all federal employees to take
responsibility for creating a more open government
 Enable each agency to customize training programs to
individual circumstances and needs
 Pay special attention to groups that will have a significant
role in the success of the directive, including political
appointees and OMB budget examiners
 Help citizens better understand the workings of
government so that they know where, when, and how to
engage

11. Measurement & Performance
 Build mandatory reporting about progress towards Open
Government goals into the Performance and Accountability
Reports that every agency must submit each year
 Integrate Open Government goals into individual
performance measures and contracts
 Publicize dates by which agencies must make specific
progress on open government goals
 Ensure that measures are outcome-based, well defined,
and consistent across government

12. Communities of Practice and
Other Supports
 Establish online resource base that will enable sharing of
best practices in participation, collaboration and
transparency
 Create a cross-agency team of internal consultants who are
available to support agencies that need assistance
 Establish a federal institute for public engagement to
gather research on best practices, offer training, develop a
knowledge base, and institute the community of practice.
 Leverage the expertise of non-governmental practitioners
and experts through a roundtable or advisory board on
public engagement

13. Recognition, Morale, &
Incentives
 Establish a highly publicized and prestigious award for
Open Government
 Establish an Open Government Conference at which the
award will be presented
 Create a competitive innovative fund for Open Government
intiatives

14. Demonstrate the Value of
Participation and Collaboration
 Convene a national policy discussion on health care reform in
which more than 1 million Americans participate; demonstrate
potential of participation and government commitment to OG
 Initiate a federal agency intergovernmental collaboration on an
issue like food safety
 Initiate a cross-jurisdictional collaboration between multiple
levels of Federal, State, ad Local and/or Tribal government on an
issue like a national disaster recovery plan
 Initiate individual agency problem solving on a major issue with
public collaboration at every stage on an issue like dam safety
 Conduct and disseminate research that communicates the value
that participation and collaboration can offer

15. Address Legal and Statutory
Barriers to Open Government
 Provide guidance to agencies on policies and interpretations of
statutes (e.g. FACA, FOIA, APA, and NEPA) through a White House
Office/Council on Public Engagement
 Create a venue through which legal staff from agencies
communicate about interpretations of Federal statutes that may
inhibit participation, collaboration and transparency
 Initiate a government-wide review of department, agency and
government statutes, regulations and rules that may inhibit open
government. Develop plans for addressing these barriers.