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. Leading Change
Experiments in Modern Democratic Governance
By Alexander D. Moll
Lecture, April 1, 2010
Christopher Newport University

2. Career Mission: Deliver sustainable results
that help clients solve systemic challenges
of administrative governance at the
intersection of technology, information,
culture, and operations to advance
institutional change.
Themes
 Exceptional quality of government
effectiveness in services, protection and
the security of rights.
 Accountability via public participation
that clarifies public will, transparency that
builds trust, and collaboration that
strengthens America’s ability to serve the
public interest.

3. My background
 5 years involved with small and large-scale high-quality
public participation & government consulting
 1,000+ participants to date
 Projects – domestic and international policy questions
 Linking public will and political will for better public
policy
 Other expertise: problem solving, strategic planning,
project management, effective meetings, technical
writing, business analysis, etc.

4. Problem with PEOPLE
Absence of leadership at all levels.
Public Policy  Need add. education and training.
Making  Self-awareness.
 Synthesizing disparate information toward understanding.
 Convening.
 Problem solving (design, creativity + technology).
PLACE
Absence of space for dialogue, deliberation, & problem solving.
 Need sustainable traditions of deliberative & collaborative
democracy in civil society and workplace.
 Applying the design process.
 Collective intelligence in policy-making.
PROCESS
Absence of effective operations for decision making, problem
solving and production.
 Need exploration, conflict resolution, decision-making, and
collaborative work groups among leaders and the public.
 Synchronized, coordinated, inclusive, comprehensive
strategic decision-making and communication schedules.
TECHNOLOGY
Absence of leveraged software to facilitate both effective
clarification of public will and strategic policy problem solving.
 Communication and resolution of public will to political will.

5. Key Distinction
 Government – organization or agency that
exercises authority and law
 goal is excellent customer service through policy or admin.
 maintenance of basic security
 Governance - creating opportunities for input
and influence on policy and decision making
 "governance" is what a "government" does
 define expectations, grants power or verifies performance
 administer services through managed systems
 goal is empowering and protecting rights of citizens

6. Rubric of Effective Governance
• Place
– Architecture
• Work • Work
Environ. Culture & – Transnational
Civil Society
• People
Place People – Leadership
– Citizenship
• Process
Process Tech.
– Work Process
• Decision
making
• Software &
Hardware – Data Flow
• Technology
– Relationship bldg.
– Problem-solving

7. Deepening our Democracy
“I believed that if we were ever going to make our society
more participatory, more democratic, then everyone had to
feel he or she had a stake in the process. Everyone had to
know in no uncertain terms that what he or she say and
think and do matters and counts. Only then would people
from all walks of life be inspired to articulate their
worldview and expand their horizons by engaging in the
complementary pursuits of knowledge and human
excellence.” -- Christopher Phillips, PhD

8. Definitions

9. Civic [L. civicus citizen]
 Civics: a social science dealing with the rights and
duties of citizens.
 Civil: Of, relating to, or involving the general
public, their activities, needs, or ways, or civic
affairs as distinguished from special (as military or
religious) affairs.
 Conclusion: General citizenship. Examples?

10. Civic Engagement
 Definition.
Excerpts from Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, edited by
Thomas Ehrlich, published by Oryx Press, 2000.
Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our
communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and
motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in
a community, through both political and non-political processes.
- Preface, page vi
A morally and civically responsible individual recognizes himself or herself as
a member of a larger social fabric and therefore considers social problems to
be at least partly his or her own; such an individual is willing to see the
moral and civic dimensions of issues, to make and justify informed moral and
civic judgments, and to take action when appropriate.
- Introduction, page xxvi

12. Principles for Effective
Community Engagement
 Linked to Decision Makers
 Diverse Representation
 Informed Participation
 Facilitated Deliberation
 Discover Shared Priorities
 Clear Recommendations for Action
 Sustaining Citizen Engagement

13. Why Citizen (Community)
Engagement is Critical
1. Engagement in decision-making is something
governments should welcome.
2. Engagement in policy formulation and decision-making
can reduce conflict.
3. Engagement can lead to better, longer lasting, and wiser
policy choices with better outcomes.
4. Engagement builds citizen competence.
5. Engagement cultivates mutual understanding, builds
trust and changes in political attitudes or behavior for
both citizens and decision-makers.

14. Deliberative Democracy
 Definition.
What is "deliberative democracy"?
Deliberative democracy strengthens citizen voices in governance by including
people of all races, classes, ages and geographies in deliberations that
directly affect public decisions. As a result, citizens influence--and can see
the result of their influence on--the policy and resource decisions that
impact their daily lives and their future (The Deliberative Democracy
Consortium definition).
Deliberative democracy is a term used by some political theorists, to refer
to any system of political decisions based on some tradeoff of consensus
decision making and representative democracy. In contrast to the traditional
theory of democracy, which emphasizes voting as the central institution in
democracy, deliberative democracy theorists argue that legitimate
lawmaking can only arise from the public deliberation of the citizenry
(Wikipedia definition).

15. The Agora of Ancient Athens at Height of Classical Greek Age (638-322 B.C.)

16. The Bouleuterion The Ecclesia