Canadians just engaged in one of the riskiest wastes of human, financial, natural, political, and social capital in modern history. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called an election with hopes of achieving a majority government; however, the country’s government looks pretty much as it did a month ago. The “age of minority governments” might have arrived in Canada. What this means is that the mandate citizens have given our leaders is one that expects collaboration across geographic, cultural, and political lines. Unfortunately, Canada’s recent minority governments do not have a great track record of effective cooperation. Here are three collaboration tips for Canada’s minority government to consider as citizens from coast to coast to coast strive for a better normal.
Rethink your position
Adam Grant’s bestseller, Think Again, argues that human beings try to bend others to our logic or perspective by being preachers, prosecutors, or politicians. We advance our point of view by believing we’re right, interrogating our rivals’ points of view, or, in the case of politicians, winning the favour of our audience. Canada’s political leaders could stand to rethink their positions on governance by behaving like scientists, which Grant contends, requires leaders to “favor humility over pride and curiosity over conviction” and “look for reasons why [they] might be wrong, not just reasons why [they] must be right.” For the fifth time in seven elections, citizens have reflected the country’s diverse perspectives by asking for a minority government – over 20 years Canadians send minority governments to Ottawa 70% of the time. For effective, if not transformational policy, to be advanced, leaders should seek to understand what the electorate is seeing in the platforms, policies, and points-of-view of political rivals and focus beyond their own agenda.
Engaging openly and inquisitively with rivals not only broadens our understanding, but it can also enables us to suspend judgment and shift our perspective, too. When we approach collaborative relationships with empathy and seek to understand what’s driving the behaviour or values of folks who might not share our worldview (or who we straight-up dislike), our thinking becomes more open and compromising on issues and ideas emerges as a possibility. My best advice for our political leaders is to think of two or three powerful questions that they can ask their governing partners (and questions they can ask themselves, too) in an effort to understand how we got here – “how am I dialing down the brinkmanship and turning up the cooperation?” might be a good place to start.
Embrace cooperative values and principles
The cooperative model has existed for centuries (and cooperation is one of the most unique human trends). As political parties begin to accept that minority governments are the rule, not the exception, then they are going to need to get a lot better at working with each other. With values such as democracy, equity, and solidarity and a guiding principle of cooperation among cooperatives, the model represents a novel approach to governance, ownership, and collaboration that advances communities’ needs without a winner-take-all mentality.
Not only are cooperative values on the rise in workplaces around the world, but an expectation for cooperation has been delivered to Canada’s federal government – such an expectation builds on the trends I documented earlier this year regarding the rise of cooperative principles and values in modern organizations:
The New Economics Foundation argues that “the rules and institutions that shape our economy are not forces of nature beyond our control, but have been designed by people.” Zamagni agrees, proposing that the value humans create in a “civil economy” represents a way for democracy to perpetually flourish around the world even if it sputters, flounders, or fails in our politics: “It is a fact that the majority of criticism put forward by civil society in recent years and initially dismissed by governments and mainstream academics – on issues such as the rise of inequality, too-big-to fail banks, the impact of austerity policies, etc. – are now increasingly shared by mainstream organizations, think-tanks and government agencies….Bridging the chasm between the institutional dimension of a country and its social dynamics is one of the major challenges facing our societies today.” Leaning on organizations that are independent from governments and that run on values such as human rights, democracy, freedom, solidarity, and equality will ensure that work, as well as our communities, are more equitable and resilient.
If political parties cannot transform the electorate’s diverse mandate into coherent government then Canadians are going to become very tired of elections and will look to other forms of democracy to advance positive change in their communities.
Be egoless
Too much ego is informing too many leadership decisions these days. Being egoless in our worklife means responding to the needs of our communities – family, organizations, teams – as opposed to asserting our views on them to elevate our personal performance or reputation. When leaders serve the work more than ourselves it means letting go of real or imagined self-importance. Canada’s political leaders need to create an environment where other members can advance legislation and positive change in the vein of what citizens desire without fear of partisan blame or retribution. This means focusing on services to other members and, as tough as it’ll be for politicians, putting communities’ needs above their own.
With letters, Tweets, and phone calls, let’s encourage Canada’s political leaders to reframe winning and embrace the collaborative mandate that has been delivered.