‘forging better results through collaboration’

This is the homepage for Christopher Wilson and Associates (CWA), a management and research consultancy operating since 1997. We specialize in issues of collaborative governance, regional stewardship and community-based action. Frequently acting as a learning coach, we work with clients to help them assess and reframe issues, build partnerships, create practical strategies, form effective policies, and evaluate outcomes. 

Our mission is to help organizations forge better results through effective collaboration. Our passion is to work with community innovators who recognize that making a difference, means bringing people together to work collaboratively. Our work with partnership organizations has led to important insights into partner management and governance renewal (see Resolving Collobration Issues) .

Our philosophy is that people can accomplish more together than they can separately . This in fact is the philosophy that should underpin every community and organization.  In addition, we are commited to the principle of stewardship in organizations. We believe that those most affected by problems and those most influential in resolving them should take ownership and accountability for doing so. Top-down, patriarchical management practices are neither innovative enough, nor compelling enough, to produce the necessary commitments from stakeholders or employees to achieve effective and lasting results. Yet if we can redefine how we are with each other and create more welcoming and authentic conversations together, we can  forge new visions of possibility that we can all begin living into.

See our sample Wish List of projects we would be excited to participate in.

The core of our work, aims to address the problems of collective action and overcoming the ‘social traps ’ that are created when individuals and organizations work together. To accomplish this, we help to foster collaborative capacity among participants utilizing a variety of techniques, tools and mechanisms that contribute to trusted relationships and collective learning. Our goal is to improve the quality of partner conversations drawing from our own knowledge and experience and that of our network partners. 
 

The practice of collaboration is not formulaic but the result of learning while doing. We encourage the development of new guiding frameworks and paradigms , the improvement of trust and transparency, and the creation of better mechanisms to satisfy contingent cooperation so that citizens, business leaders, and governments can make better use of their common resources to respond to their collective challenges. See our recent article on collaborative co-governance as a framework for approaching collaboration as a checklist of 'things to pay atention to'.

As a point of departure, we also encourage you to take the Partnership Test below to begin reflecting on the challenges that may be present in your organization or collaboration.

Our network of associates and partners includes: leading academics; business and community leaders; and senior public service professionals; and technology application developers.

Our experience covers all four sectors – public, civic, educational and private, including:

Public: The Public Health Agency of Canada, HRSDC, CIPO, Industry Canada, the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, the Ontario Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities, the City of Ottawa, and Canada’s research granting councils (SSHRC, NSERC and MRC);

Civic: The National Ballet School, PHE Canada, IPAC, the Commonwealth Secretariat, CARE Canada, the Canadian Active After School Partnership, Ottawa Youth Services Bureau, the Social Planning Council of Ottawa, the Ottawa Centre for Research and Innovation, and Electronic Commerce Canada;

Education: The University of Ottawa, the Ottawa Carleton District School Board, the Canada Council on Learning, and Algonquin College; and

Private: Isaix, Invenire, Nortel Networks, Mitel, KAO Infosystems, CGI and the Internet Institute.

Our consulting focus has been in seven principal areas:

• Distributed, multi-stakeholder governance;
• Developmental evaluation and 'learning while doing';
• Mass collaboration and e-government;  
• Community-based collaboration, community networks and smart communities;
• Private public partnerships;
• Regional workforce systems; and
• Local innovation systems and regional advantage.