I’ve spent my entire professional career in government. I didn’t start out with that goal. At some point during business school, my interests shifted. I began looking to influence how governments could best serve small, community-based businesses.

My professional career began in the field of audit and evaluation. While reviewing and verifying how well non-profit organizations and small businesses complied with the terms and conditions of a wide range of government grants and contributions, I became a certified management accountant (CMA, now Chartered Professional Accountant, CPA). As an auditor, I learned that many government’s granting programs were developed and implemented based on some well-intended public policy that was negotiated far away from the everyday realities facing people struggling in their communities to make a living.

About mid-way in my public service career, when my work in Winnipeg involved delivering federal/provincial programming in support of small business, I seized an opportunity in Ottawa to learn more about the art and craft of policy-making. This move with my life partner David intentionally coincided with our mutual obsession for sailing, racing and running regattas. It’s really not surprising that there are many parallels between the of venerable, self-regulatory sport of sailing and policy governance.

The term ‘governance’ originates from Greek ‘kybernan’ which means “to steer or pilot a ship”. In Old French, governance means “to steer, to be at the helm of, to command, to direct”. The French word for ‘rudder’ – the main control used to steer a ship through a fluid medium – is “gouvernail”.

During a twenty-year stretch working as a policy officer, I learned that effective governing enables stakeholders to participate in decisions that affect them. As governments rely increasingly on non-profit organizations to deliver public services, the process of crafting public policy and a governance model or framework that responds to shifts and vectors has become more challenging.

Governista is a blog about my remarkable professional journey in government and the continuing appeal of collaborative governance.