8 - Mainstreaming and Scaling Co-creation

Summary

Transforming the way that public governance is produced and delivered is difficult given the combination of bureaucratic politics and institutional path-dependence. To imagine whether it is still possible, this chapter looks at how public leaders can transform public institutions through intentional reform and what kind of change they must bring about in order to advance and support co-creation. First, it discusses how different forms of strategic management can help to spur the transition to co-creation. Next, it presents four crucial conditions for enabling the future expansion of co-creation into a predominant mode of governance: 1) the creation of new institutional designs; 2) the cultivation of new forms of leadership and management; 3) the transformation of the role perceptions of key social and political actors; and 4) the development of new ways of measuring effects. The conclusion critically examines competing scenarios for the development of co-creation into a mode of governance and presents a five-step model for the transition to co-creation.