From climate change and urbanization to inequality and the jobs lost to automation, today’s biggest problems are complex and connected. Yet by and large, public servants are still forced to try to solve them in silos and with scarce resources.

Our research found that “disconnection” falls into negatively reinforcing categories in the public sector; a closer look at these categories may help policy makers see the challenge before them more clearly:

  •  Disconnected Governments

There is a truism in politics and government that all policy is local and context-dependent. Whether this was ever an accurate statement is questionable; it is certainly no longer. While all policy must ultimately be customized for local conditions, it absurd to assume there is little or nothing to learn from other countries.

  •  Disconnected Issues

Even in the best-run countries, different government departments often have different networks, different jargon and, perhaps most destructively, different budgets. Budgets, once allocated, are spent down within that department. Budget allocation thus becomes a zero sum game.

  •  Disconnected Public Servants

The isolation of governments, and of government departments, is caused by and reinforces the isolation of people working in government, who have few incentives—and plenty of disincentives—to share what they are working on.

Steps to Connection

  • Broaden the government talent pool
  • Communicate the upside of risk
  • Harness the best of tech to share and learn
  • Use money to drive collaboration

Read the full article about connected policy by Robyn Scott and Lisa Witter at Stanford Social Innovation Review.