The Kansas Collaborative is a formal structure or vehicle that “eases the way” for more effective cross-government collaboration (local/county/state). The Kansas Collaborative was officially launched on November 22, 2005 at the KAC annual conference with the signing of the Declaration of Commitment to the Kansas Collaborative by Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas Association of Counties and the League of Kansas Municipalities. We at TeamTech, Inc., (a Kansas-based strategic facilitation firm) founded The Kansas Collaborative and serve as the project managers. In addition, the Kansas Association of Counties, through a signed agreement, serves as the fiscal agent of The Kansas Collaborative.
The Kansas Collaborative has saved over $22 million to date with 47% of these savings accruing to local jurisdictions. Harder to quantify, yet easy to experience, are the significant savings realized by streamlining processes and utilizing existing resources more effectively and efficiently.
The Kansas Collaborative works through a Steering Team that includes representation from each member organization (Kansas Governor’s Office, Kansas Association of Counties and the League of Kansas Municipalities) as well as representation from TeamTech. Breakthrough Teams are officially chartered and launched when three factors are in place:
1. A pressing need has been identified that requires a cross-government/collaborative approach to solve.
2. Funding is secured to pay for strategic facilitation services and project management.
3. Top-level sponsorship is identified so the team charter can be developed and team membership recruited.
Over 130 local and state leaders have participated on one of the Breakthrough Teams. Without their willingness to roll up their sleeves, share ideas and make implementation happen, The Kansas Collaborative would not be possible. Each of them deserves a special note of recognition. These individuals have come together through a facilitated process utilized in the Breakthrough Teams to find ways to:
- Reduce health care costs for inmate populations (this effort received the Council of State Government’s 2006 Innovations Award),
- Coordinate multiple previously uncoordinated efforts to implement GIS (geographic information systems) across local and state governments,
- Pilot local government’s role in promoting healthy lifestyles (Harvey County and KDHE),
- Coordinate transportation purchasing and road surface overlay projects,
- Pilot and find 2-year funding for the local road engineer position (Norm Bowers) at the KAC,
- Innovate ways to use data and GIS to improve human services case management, and
- Explore avenues for addressing the shortage of health care workers for the correctional environment.
To discover more about The Kansas Collaborative or to ensure your jurisdiction is utilizing all the breakthrough team solutions, visit us at www.kansascollaborative.com (the Resource Center tab is the most popular) or contact Kathleen at 913-706-8797 or Joel at 816-914-5344.
Until next month,
Kathleen and Joel