Book Reviews 953

Ricardo S. MorseUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Russell M. Linden, Leading across Boundaries: Creat-

ing Collaborative Agencies in a Networked World

(San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2010). 352 pp. $40.00 (cloth), ISBN: 9780470–396773.

Matthew J. McKinney and Shawn Johnson, Work-

ing across Boundaries: People, Nature, and

Regions (Cambridge, MA: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, 2009). 176 pp. $25.00 (paper), ISBN: 9781558441910.

It is no overstatement to say that collaborative gov-

ernance—also referred to as collaborative public

management (Bingham, O’Leary, and Carlson

2008) and the New Public Governance (Osborne

2010)—is becoming a dominant, if not the dominant,

frame for public administration today. We live in a

shared-power world (Crosby and Bryson 2005), and

as a result, the public’s business increasingly is being

carried out through “multiorganizational arrange-

ments” in which public agencies work “across bound-

aries . . . in multisector and multiactor relationships”

(Bingham, O’Leary, and Carlson 2008, 3).

Collaborative governance can be seen as a superor-

dinate term encompassing extensive literatures on

networks, partnerships, and third-party government,

as well as similarly extensive literatures on democratic

governance, citizen and stakeholder engagement, con-

sensus building, and so on. Collaborative governance is

an integrative concept, transcending (at least some-

what) a standoff between the market-oriented New

Public Management and the democratic or humanistic-

oriented New Public Service.1 Th e old debates can be

transcended by viewing public value creation as the end

of governance, and collaboration—with other public

organizations as well as citizens and other non-state ac-

tors—as a principal means to that end (Stoker 2006).

However, recognizing the ascendance of collabora-

tive governance is not to say that it is public admin-

istration’s new one best way (Alford and Hughes

2008). Rather, it shifts the focus from hierarchies to

networks. Hierarchy and control certainly remains

salient for public administration, but it is work on the

boundaries of organizations where more attention is

being focused. It also should be noted that the shift

toward collaborative governance is more than a shift

in scholarly discourse. It is clear at all levels of govern-

ment that collaborative governance is being embraced

in practice. President Barack Obama’s Open Govern-

ment Initiative just as easily could have been called

the Collaborative Governance Initiative.2

While the practice of collaborative governance is not

new, the scholarship on collaborative governance is

very early in its development, with the vast majority

of research having been published within the past

decade. During this time, there have been many note-

worthy books that have contributed to the conceptual

development of collaborative governance;3 however,

they are all, by and large, written by and for academ-

ics. Th is review examines two books that are written

more for practitioners, in which the emphasis is less

on theoretical development and more on the practical

concerns of how to do collaborative governance.

Th e two books represent diff erent threads of the

collaborative governance literature. Russ Linden’s

Leading across Boundaries: Creating Collaborative Agen-cies in a Networked World is an accessible guide for

students and practitioners within the interorganiza-

tional (or network) thread of the collaborative govern-

ance literature. Matthew J. McKinney and Shawn

Johnson’s Working across Boundaries: People, Nature, and Regions is written more from an intergovernmen-

tal perspective, examining the process of collaborative

governance at the regional level. Taken together, these

two books provide a robust view of the state of the art

in the practice of collaborative governance.

Leading across BoundariesRuss Linden is a public sector management consult-

ant and educator and the author of several popular

Th e Practice of Collaborative Governance

Ricardo S. Morse is an assistant

professor in the School of Government

at the University of North Carolina at

Chapel Hill. His research and teaching

focuses on collaborative governance and

public leadership. He is the coeditor of

Transforming Public Leadership for

the 21st Century and Innovations in

Public Leadership Development, both

published by M. E. Sharpe.

E-mail: rmorse@sog.unc.edu

954 Public Administration Review • November | December 2011

books in public management, including Seamless Gov-ernment (1994) and Working across Boundaries (2002).

His most recent book, Leading across Boundaries, rep-

resents something of a culmination of three decades of

work in the area of cross-organizational collaboration.

Th is timely book off ers a rich set of lessons learned for

practitioners just as collaborative governance is being

widely embraced across the fi eld of public adminis-

tration. His earlier book, Working across Boundaries, was at the forefront of explaining the emerging set of

concepts that we are now calling collaborative govern-

ance. Leading is something of a companion volume to

Working, but rather than justifying and explaining col-

laboration, it takes as a given today’s networked world

and homes in on practical advice for public managers

seeking to fi nd collaborative solutions.

It is noteworthy that Linden emphasizes leadership

rather than the more common notion, in the public

administration literature, of (collaborative) manage-

ment. Linden recognizes that collaboration is more

or less an “unnatural” act (157), requiring strong

leadership to make happen. Th ere are important

managerial elements of collaboration, to be sure, but

when the focus is on how collaborative governance

arrangements come to be, and once they come to be,

how they are sustained, we are talking about leader-

ship. However, leadership for collaboration is diff erent

from traditional, hierarchical notions of leadership.

Leading across boundaries where “no one is in charge”

(Crosby and Bryson 2005, 3) requires a diff erent set

of attributes and skills (Morse 2008).

Linden opens the book with a discussion of the

response to Hurricane Katrina, using the highly dis-

cussed case to contrast Michael Brown’s and Th ad Al-

len’s leadership styles (9–13). Of course, Brown is rep-

resentative of a “hierarchical mind-set,” whereas Allen

exemplifi es a “collaborative mind-set” (12). While it

is reasonable to question the fairness of this compari-

son (in the sense that many other factors were in play

beyond the two individual mind-sets), it is a vivid

way to draw the reader into the world of collaborative

governance and the paradigm shift it entails.

Linden builds on the Katrina example with a richly

drawn case study of Alliances for Graduate Education

and the Professoriate, a very successful multicam-

pus partnership aimed at increasing the number of

minority graduate students in science, technology,

and related fi elds. Again, the focus is on the leadership

role of an individual, in this case a federal manager

named Roosevelt Johnson, and the “diff erent way of

thinking” that characterized his work with the organi-

zation (34).

With that setup, Linden develops the foundations

of collaboration in the remaining chapters in part

I of the book. At the heart of this discussion is a

collaboration framework that he fi rst introduced in

Working across Boundaries. Linden conceptualizes

collaboration as occurring when the right people are

involved, in an open process, around a high-priority

issue. Th e partners must have shared goals and often

are brought (and held) together by a champion (or

champions). Partnerships become eff ective and lasting

as participants exercise collaborative leadership skills

and develop and maintain trusting relationships (38).

Th ese last two points are discussed at some length as

separate chapters in part I.

In part II of the book, Linden unpacks the concep-

tual model, diving deeper into such issues as how

to create collaborative teams and develop common

goals and commitment. Th ese discussions include

several illustrative case studies, mostly drawn from

the author’s own experience and fi rsthand knowledge.

Th e chapters include numerous lists of strategies and

tasks and several tangible tools, including stakeholder

identifi cation and force-fi eld analysis as a diagnostic

exercise to use with stakeholder groups.

Part II also includes specifi c examples and advice

around dealing with problems that are inherent in

many collaborative eff orts. Linden turns to a joint

Arab–Israeli initiative in Galilee to illustrate strate-

gies for overcoming cultural diff erences (138–43).

He looks at the problems of collaboration within

the U.S. intelligence community to discuss people

problems that inevitably arise in collaborative eff orts.

And in another chapter, Linden addresses head-on the

“most challenging hurdles to collaboration,” namely,

turf, egos, and fear of losing control (178). Th rough

multiple cases, Linden demonstrates how collaborative

leaders were able to overcome these very common and

very diffi cult challenges.

Part III of the book shifts from collaborative processes

and skills toward a discussion of structures and broad

strategies that contribute to “developing and support-

ing sustainable collaborative cultures” (195). Linden

examines colocation as a strategy for improving col-

laboration, highlighting the development of fusion

centers after 9/11 to improve the sharing and analysis

of intelligence data across many agencies. He discusses

the use of the CompStat approach for developing

mutual accountability across agencies. Th e example

of Washington State’s GMAP (Government Manage-

ment Accountability and Performance) process is

highlighted as a successful example of this approach.

Linden also explores how the “New Web” can be a

tool for collaborative governance.

Linden states up front that his book is written for

“practicing managers and leaders” (xxi), and it is true

that the book is very accessible and engaging and

should be attractive to practitioners and students in

particular. Anecdotal evidence from this reviewer’s

Book Reviews 955

accessible, the weak link to the scholarly literature is

understandable.4

Working across BoundariesTh e authors of Working across Boundaries: People, Nature, and Regions, are also, like Linden, “praca-

demics” (Posner 2009). Principal author Matthew J.

McKinney is the director of the Center for Natural

Resources and Environmental Policy (CNREP) at the

University of Montana and affi liated with the Lincoln

Institute of Land Policy, the book’s publisher. He has

more than 20 years of experience in collaborative gov-

ernance work, particularly in land use and environ-

mental issues. Shawn Johnson works with McKinney

at CNREP. Whereas Linden looks broadly at a wide

range of public agencies and issues, McKinney and

Johnson zero in on regional collaboration, particularly

around land use and environmental issues.

In similar fashion to Linden’s work, McKinney and

Johnson’s book is aimed at practitioners, present-

ing “an array of practical and tested strategies and

techniques” for regional collaboration (xi). Also like

Linden, the authors draw from their own experience

working in partnership with the Lincoln Institute

as consultants for regional collaboration eff orts and

training sessions. A foreword states that the authors

have been able to “fi eld test” ideas that, by and

large, are drawn from consensus-building theories of

“mutual gains negotiation” (xi). A lot of that work is

included in the book as case studies to illustrate vari-

ous points. Similar to the Linden book, the strength

of the cases lies in the fact that the authors were

involved in them. Th eir participant-observer perspec-

tive adds a richness that often is missing from cases

written from a more detached point of view.

Working begins by identifying “a gap in governance”

created by the mismatch between jurisdictional and

institutional boundaries and the “territory of the land

use, natural resources, and environmental issues we

face” (2). Th e authors adopt a normative view of gov-

ernance familiar to a public administration audience:

“a transparent, public process that engages diverse

interests through inclusive, informed, and deliberative

dialogue and action” (3). Various forms of regional

collaboration have been formulated over the years to

deal with the governance gap. Th e authors present and

discuss the strengths and weaknesses of a continuum

of arrangements, from informal networks, to more

formal partnerships, to regional institutions (11–22).

Included in the discussion of partnerships are regional

councils of government and intergovernmental agree-

ments, which are receiving an increasing amount of

attention in the public administration literature.

After establishing the case for regional collaboration

and outlining the various institutional forms that it can

take, the remainder (and bulk) of the book is a how-to,

MPA classroom fi nds that students appreciate the

directness, emphasis on practical takeaways, and

numerous case studies that pervade this book. Th e

focus on specifi c, practical advice is defi nitely the

strength of the book. Leading across Boundaries, like

popular management texts aimed at private sector

leaders, is not bogged down by numerous references,

complex methodologies, and jargon-fi lled “academic”

prose. It is clearly written with practitioners and

students in mind.

Th is strength, of course, also can be a source of criti-

cism of the book. Specifi cally, some may take issue

with the inability of readers to trace the ideas back to

anything other than the author’s experience. Th ere is

no explicit methodology or even serious engagement

with what is now a substantial body of research on col-

laborative governance and leadership. While there is a

bibliography, it is notable that scholarship in the area

of collaborative leadership by Luke (1998), Crosby

and Bryson (2005), and Huxham and Vangen (2005)

is nowhere to be found. Similarly important and

highly relevant research on public networks and inter-

governmental management, such as that by O’Toole

and Meier (2004), Agranoff (2007) and McGuire

(2006; see also Agranoff and McGuire 2003), Mandell

(2001), and Provan and Milward (2001; see also

Milward and Provan 2006), to cite only a few, are

nowhere to be found in the bibliography.

Th is raises a question about whether the author

deemed the academic research not useful for his

project, which clearly is aimed at practical wisdom for

practitioners, or whether the author simply did not

consult those sources at all. Whatever the case, these

omissions point to a need in the academic fi eld of

public administration to take pains to make research

fi ndings relevant and accessible to the “real world”

(Bushouse et al. 2011).

But this criticism is tempered by three points. First,

the extensive experience of the author (30 years

working with public organizations at all levels) is, of

course, a valid place to fi nd practical wisdom. Just

because the takeaways are not based on scientifi c

studies, that does not mean they are not useful or

valid. Second, Linden’s points are not inconsistent

with the fi ndings of public administration research on

collaborative leadership and governance. Th e reader

will not fi nd Linden’s framing and advice to contra-

dict substantive research fi ndings. Th ird, Linden’s

observations resonate with this reviewer’s and other

readers’ own experiences with collaborative proc-

esses. Th e book certainly would be strengthened from

a scholarly point of view by aligning the takeaways

with the growing body of research on collaborative

governance, in addition to the author’s anecdotal evi-

dence. But given the intended audience of the book,

and the fact that it clearly was written to be widely

956 Public Administration Review • November | December 2011

ConclusionTh ere still is much to learn about how to best design

collaborative governance processes and structures

to solve public problems and create public value.

Signifi cant advances are being made in both academic

research and in practice. Th ese two books represent

a signifi cant leap forward in terms of capturing the

lessons from practice and communicating those les-

sons to a practitioner audience. Th ey both off er solid

conceptual building blocks, vivid case examples, and

practical advice that will be attractive and useful to

practitioners and students in particular.

What would be nice to see in the future is bet-

ter integration between pracademic works such as

these and the growing body of academic research

on collaborative governance. Th e practitioner-

oriented work would be strengthened by being more

grounded in extent, highly relevant research. And the

academic-oriented work would be strengthened by

connecting better to lessons being learned in practice

(as captured in these books), as well as by looking to

communicate fi ndings in more accessible ways for

practitioners. Th at being said, these two books truly

stand out as strong, practice-oriented contributions

to our understanding of collaborative governance,

and they are highly recommended for use in the

classroom as well as in the fi eld by practitioners and

pracademics.

Notes1. See Denhardt and Denhardt (2011) for a discussion of these

contrasting perspectives in the fi eld.

2. See http://www.whitehouse.gov/open for details. Th e fi rst

memo from the administration (titled “Transparency and

Open Government”), sent out on inauguration day, outlined

the broad goals of the Open Government Initiative. Th e three

pillars of transparency, public participation, and collabora-

tion encapsulate well the threads of the nascent collaborative

governance framework in public administration.

3. See, e.g., Bingham and O’Leary (2008), Donahue and Zeck-

hauser (2011), O’Leary and Bingham (2009), Sirianni (2009),

and Osborne (2010).

4. Th is practice also is seen in the general management literature,

where many of the most popular books similarly lack extensive

literature reviews, citations, and so on. Ideally, though, more

practice-oriented books such as this still would be grounded

explicitly (yet unobtrusively) in the relevant scholarship.

5. For example, no reference is made to the work of Feiock and

his colleagues on metropolitan governance and regional col-

laboration (Feiock 2004).

ReferencesAgranoff , Robert. 2007. Managing within Networks: Adding Value to

Public Organizations. Washington, DC: Georgetown University

Press.

Agranoff , Robert, and Michael McGuire. 2003. Collaborative Public

Management: New Strategies for Local Governments. Washing-

ton, DC: Georgetown University Press.

organized around “ten principles of eff ective regional

collaboration” within a four stage model of diagnose, design, take action, and evaluate (28). Th e diagnostic

stage is about determining the need for cross-boundary

collaboration. Here, leaders “identify the compelling is-

sue or catalyst” and “determine if there is a constituen-

cy for change” (35–41). Next, a process is designed to

fi t the needs of the situation. Th e design phase involves

determining “who should convene and lead the eff ort,”

mobilizing “the right people,” mutually defi ning the

region “to match the place, problem, and people,” and

developing an organizational strategy (47–74).

Th e third phase of a regional collaboration initiative

involves formulating and implementing actions. Th e

three principles that guide this phase are facilitating

“scientifi c and joint learning” (which incorporates joint

issue framing and deliberation), developing action

plans, and “translating vision into action” (75–101).

A particularly useful takeaway from the discussion of

taking action is the authors’ “seven habits for eff ective

implementation” (102–5), a list of important insights

culled from experience that separates successful col-

laborative eff orts from the many more failed ones.

Th e fi nal phase of regional collaborative governance is

to “evaluate, learn, and adapt.” Th e principle here is to

“learn together as you go forward and adapt as needed”

(107). Th e authors make another signifi cant contribu-

tion in their chapter on evaluation, as the literature on

collaboration tends to emphasize the front end of stake-

holders, process design, and deliberation. We know far

less about how to best evaluate collaborative eff orts.

McKinney and Johnson present a very useful discussion

of how to evaluate regional collaborations in terms of

both process and outcomes. A related participant satis-

faction scorecard also is included as an appendix.

Working across Boundaries concludes with a discus-

sion (including examples) of four diff erent models of

regional governance for land use or natural resource is-

sues and advice to “move both the theory and practice

of regional collaboration forward” (145). Although the

emphasis of the book is regional collaborative govern-

ance primarily around land use and environmental is-

sues, the principles and practices discussed are broadly

applicable to interlocal and regional collaboration.

Working across Boundaries is somewhat more grounded

in the research literature than the Linden text, but it

still misses many important contributions, particularly

from public administration scholarship.5 However,

like the Linden text, its intended audience is primarily

students and practitioners and it too is consistent with

research fi ndings, so the criticism here is muted. As a

concise and accessible “manual” (xi) for practice, fi lled

with tips and tools, this text is highly recommended,

along with Linden’s, for students, practitioners, and

pracademics dealing with boundary-crossing issues.

Book Reviews 957

Luke, Jeff rey S. 1998. Catalytic Leadership: Strategies for an Intercon-

nected World. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Mandell, Myrna P., ed. 2001. Getting Results through Collaboration:

Networks and Network Structures for Public Policy and Manage-

ment. Westport, CT: Quorum.

McGuire, Michael. 2006. Collaborative Public Management: As-

sessing What We Know and How We Know It. Special issue,

Public Administration Review 66: 33–43.

Milward, H. Brinton, and Keith G. Provan. 2006. A Manager’s

Guide to Choosing and Using Collaborative Networks. Washing-

ton, DC: IBM Center for the Business of Government.

Morse, Ricardo S. 2008. Developing Public Leaders in an Age of

Collaborative Governance. In Innovations in Public Leadership

Development, edited by Ricardo S. Morse and Terry F. Buss,

79–100. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

O’Leary, Rosemary, and Lisa Blomgren Bingham, eds. 2009. Th e

Collaborative Public Manager: New Ideas for the Twenty-fi rst

Century. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Osborne, Stephen P., ed. 2010. Th e New Public Governance? Emerg-

ing Perspectives on the Th eory and Practice of Public Governance.

New York: Routledge.

O’Toole, Laurence J., Jr., and Kenneth J. Meier. 2004. Public

Management in Intergovernmental Networks: Matching Struc-

tural Networks and Managerial Networking. Journal of Public

Administration Research and Th eory 14(4): 469–94.

Posner, Paul L. 2009. Th e Pracademic: An Agenda for Re-Engaging

Practitioners and Academics. Public Budgeting and Finance

29(1): 12–26.

Provan, Keith G., and Brinton H. Milward. 2001. Do Networks Re-

ally Work? A Framework for Evaluating Public-Sector Organiza-

tional Networks. Public Administration Review 61(4): 414–23.

Stoker, Gerry. 2006. Public Value Management: A New Narrative

for Networked Governance? American Review of Public Admin-

istration 36(1): 41–57.

Sirianni, Carmen. 2009. Investing in Democracy: Engaging Citizens in

Collaborative Governance. Washington, DC: Brookings Press.

Alford, John, and Owen Hughes. 2008. Public Value Pragmatism

as the Next Phase of Public Management. American Review of

Public Administration 38(2): 130–48.

Bingham, Lisa Blomgren, and Rosemary O’Leary, eds. 2008. Big

Ideas in Collaborative Public Management. Armonk, NY: M. E.

Sharpe.

Bingham, Lisa Blomgren, Rosemary O’Leary, and Christine

Carlson. 2008. Frameshifting: Lateral Th inking for Collabora-

tive Public Management. In Big Ideas in Collaborative Public

Management, edited by Lisa Blomgren Bingham and Rosemary

O’Leary, 3–16. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.

Bushouse, Brenda, Willow S. Jacobson, Kristina T. Lambright,

Jared J. Llorens, Ricardo S. Morse, and Ora-orn Poocharoen.

2011. Crossing the Divide: Building Bridges between Public

Administration Practitioners and Scholars. Supplement, Journal

of Public Administration Research and Th eory 21: i99–112.

Crosby, Barbara C., and John M. Bryson. 2005. Leadership for the

Common Good: Tackling Problems in a Shared-Power World. 2nd

ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Denhardt, Robert B., and Janet V. Denhardt. 2011. Th e New Public

Service: Serving, Not Steering. 3rd ed. Armonk, NY: M. E.

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Donahue, John D., and Richard J. Zuckhauser. 2011. Collaborative

Governance: Private Roles for Public Goals in Turbulent Times.

Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Feiock, Richard C., ed. 2004. Metropolitan Governance: Confl ict,

Competition, and Cooperation. Washington, DC: Georgetown

University Press.

Huxham, Chris, and Siv Vangen. 2005. Managing to Collaborate:

Th e Th eory and Practice of Collaborative Advantage. New York:

Routledge.

Linden, Russell M. 1994. Seamless Government: A Practical Guide to

Re-Engineering in the Public Sector. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

———. 2002. Working across Boundaries: Making Collaboration

Work in Government and Nonprofi t Organizations. San Fran-

cisco: Jossey-Bass.