Increasingly, however, that capability is taking on new and more complex dimensions as government moves from a command-and-control culture to a network-managed approach.

Many government leaders recognize that the emerging age of network governance will demand new and different skills. Many more, though, will need to get on board. The demand for network-savvy managers is a logical outgrowth of changes within and upon government. But a variety of factors are accelerating those changes and the need for more enlightened managers.

One is the mounting impact years of government reform efforts are finally having. The push to standardize common financial, human resource, case management and other business enterprise practices across government has drawn—or in many cases, forced—managers to work together not only inside, but also across agencies.

A second factor adding urgency to those efforts is renewed budget pressure. Budgets have always seemed insufficient to tackle the agenda at hand. But the new reality is, agencies have no choice but to combine forces and turn to outside partners to develop solutions that traditionally could have been developed internally.

And a third factor is the increase in ways technology is reshaping how we work—and our ability to collaborate.

Collaboration is certainly not a new concept to business or government. But the dramatic increase over the past 10 years in the number of people who can cluster and connect globally, the speed with which ideas can coalesce and the software tools that can harness those ideas have collectively elevated the art of collaboration to new heights.

Yet many managers, in and out of government, continue to view collaboration as just another word for cooperation.

Both are driven by common objectives; and both require mutual respect as well as mutual benefit. But collaboration is more than cooperation. It rises out of the need to tackle complex rather than common problems. It requires an array of participants with complementary skills and knowledge. And it involves harnessing the power of collective thinking, including the inevitable undercurrent of conflict.

The need for federal, state and local government—and the private sector—to collaborate has grown only more intense in the aftermath of 9/ll and Hurricane Katrina.

The good news is the tools to foster collaboration have never been more readily available. But the talent, know-how and support to use these tools are still lacking in many government offices.

The requisite ingredients for effective collaboration—and network governance—aren’t exactly a secret. It takes:

• Trust—manifested in actions, not words
• A common ground of understanding and respect
• A relatively clear outcome in mind
• The motivation to seek win/win solutions
• Meaningful data, knowledge and expertise
• The ability to recognize and respond to different communication, learning and problem-solving styles
• Empathy, patience and persistence.

These attributes aren’t readily found on a resume; nor are they often rewarded. But if government leaders are to be properly prepared for the demands of 21st century governance, it is consummate collaboration skills we need to look for and develop in today’s public workforce.