Ron Freedman

Horizontal Linkages - A Recipe for Success

By Ron Freedman

Interest is growing in Ottawa in the issue of “horizontal S&T linkages” - in other words “How can federal science departments best work with one another and the outside world?”. The Council of Science and Technology Advisors (CSTA) is mounting a linkages study and science ADMs from a number of departments are meeting soon to develop a plan.

Surprisingly, in the course of 30-plus years of studies of federal S&T (e.g. Glassco, Lamontagne, Wright, Science Council, Lortie, NABST, Auditor General) practically no attention has been paid to the linkages issue.

Today, there are two good reasons for the growing interest in the topic. First, is to combine resources in order to address public good science issues that cross departmental boundaries. Secondly, to tap more effectively into the resources of the university and industry sectors.

In many respects, though, the linkages issue is old news. Federal labs have always cultivated linkages with one another and with university and industry researchers. 5NR, Toxic Substances Research Initiative (TSRI), PERD, Climate Change Action Fund, MEND, NSERC Research Partnership Agreements, CRTI - the list of important S&T linkage efforts is large. What is new is the attempt to systematize or institutionalize linkages - to treat linkages as a core way of doing business, rather than just an adjunct to business as usual.

Truth to tell, in the past federal labs have often had difficulty in working with one another. That is the subject of the upcoming ADMs confab. For the first time there is serious momentum behind the discussions. Based on work we have done on the internal linkages issue we would offer the following principles for effective internal linkages.

1. Start with a vision and a plan. Every S&T organization in government has a strategic plan. But previous efforts at improving horizontality have lacked this crucial element. Create a multi-year linkages plan. Use the plan to set personnel and cash resources. Establish a central planning group for horizontal linkages.
2. Commit senior managers. Put the commitment in writing. The troops take their lead from the top. If they sense serious commitment to horizontal linkages they’ll respond. If they think that linkages are another “flavour of the day”, the endeavour is doomed.
3. Choose a robust organizing theme. Does horizontality mean everyone interacting with everyone else? Probably not. At minimum, horizontality requires people with similar missions and similar science competencies to form alliances. Figure out who really needs to work with whom.
4. Integrate policy and science. Many prior efforts at establishing horizontal linkages only worked at the science level and ignored policy. Effective linkages demand that corresponding policy interests also be linked to one another and to science.
5. Don’t let money get in the way. The real currency of government is people (PYs), not cash. Determine each partner’s contribution to a project initially by the number of personnel they are willing to contribute. Let the cash follow the people.
6. Reinforce personal acquaintances among researchers. What’s the single biggest impediment to federal researchers working together? They don’t know one another. Find ways to build personal acquaintances among researchers in different departments. Once they discover their mutual interests they’ll create their own linkages.
7. Put someone in charge. Effective research can’t be run by committees. Put someone in charge. Give them authority over the project and the resources to work with. Hold them to account. Promote them if they succeed. Ensure they’ll have a good job to return to when the project is over.
8. Focus on outputs and outcomes. Research for research’s sake won’t do. Determine in advance what outputs are required. Require each project to develop an implementation plan in advance.
9. Structural horizontality is the long term goal. Study how to integrate resources in a structural way (combining people, facilities, equipment and cash in a seamless “virtual organization”), not just in a functional way (“let’s work together on project X”.)
10. Experiment with new forms of employment. If university researchers can be employed by more than one department, why not government researchers? New ways to employ and manage people working on horizontal projects are called for. Why not, for example, “managers-at-large” who will be employed by several departments and work only on horizontal projects?

The linkages issue is being partly driven by necessity (shrinking budgets and growing requirements). But once its real potential to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of federal S&T is understood there will be no turning back.

Ron Freedman is a partner in The Impact Group and publisher of RE$EARCH MONEY.