Some language and ideas I am playing with: 'serving the public' and 'special understanding/capability groups'

Some language and ideas I am playing with…

1.

If we reframe ‘public’ as ‘citizens, civil society organizations, government, etc.’ – in essence, citizens + public institutions, can we change the mindset of all of these folks to that of “public servants?” It might be framed as individual citizens and organizations that think about serving the whole ‘public.’ So not, public servants in the sense of 'people who work in government,' but more 'public servants' in the sense that 'they serve the public.' (again, a reminder that 'public' here would essentially mean 'citizens, CSOs, gov, etc...' or maybe 'society' as a whole).

Thoughts?

2.

A short e-mail conversation between a friend and I a few months ago:

I had just shared some of the ideas behind the work I am doing so he was asking questions about it.

Friend: So we determine a revised or new path by gathering as much information about an issue from as many people as possible (or reasonable). I keep thinking about my good friend who said change management is nothing more than the engineering of consent -- the message is there must not be pre determined solutions. 

Me: If I understand you correctly, yes, but pushing it beyond just information gathering. The central tenant of this is that you need different types of expertise and view from many parts of the problem to come up with a solution to a complex problem. I am proposing that we build processes and approaches that bring these different points of view together. I also believe there is a lot of value in deliberation by people with a view of the system. The very act of guiding people through a problem solving process will lead us to better solutions. Right now each group (in many cases) is tackling the problem from their own angle and do not have the knowledge or expertise from another actor to improve their action.

Friend: Secondly is this any different from the much maligned "special interest groups " on a broader scale?

Me: It is kind of like special interest groups. But it is different on two dimensions. [Many of] the people I want a part of this aren't necessarily organized - it may be a Sudanese man in Scarborough who runs a shoe shine shop. He has an important perspective to add to how Canada is operating in the Sudan and South Sudan.

The second difference is that these are more "special understanding/capability groups [and] individuals” [people or organizations with a particular value to add] rather than “special interest” groups. People coming together not because they have an interest that they are advocating for, but they are bringing a particular value add to contribute to the problem solving and/or action.

I do agree that special interest groups play a very important role and can often be game changers. Civil society has a massive role in societal problem solving. My interest is in bringing together others who aren't associated with interest groups - and bring them together with the government, with folks from other countries, and with folks from interest groups  - and have them deliberate and take action together.