By Dave DeWitte
The success of regional collaboration in the Minneapolis region has been built on strong relationships, trust and candor among leaders representing diverse stakeholders.
That was one of the findings of a two-day visit May 12-13 by a group of 23 Corridor residents who took part in the first of a series of planned learning visits to guide regional collaboration in the Corridor.
The trip crammed in sessions dealing with supporting tech commercialization and entrepreneurship, fair housing, riverfront revitalization and education transformation, after beginning with a program on the regional Itasca Project.
The Itasca Project is an employer-led civic alliance drawn together by an interest in finding new and better ways to address issues affecting the economic vitality of the Minneapolis region. It has more than 50 participants, dominated by CEOs of private-sector companies.
Regional collaboration has become an established force in the Minneapolis region, according to Nancy Quellhorst, CEO of the Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce, which organized the visit. Among the achievements discussed during the trip were the alignment of collegiate curricula among regional institutions of higher education, the strengthening of university-business relations and improving success in higher education.
The CEO group of the civic alliance meets every Friday and by telephone when commitments prevent a physical gathering. Ms. Quellhorst said the demanding meeting schedule shows a real commitment to addressing issues regionally.
“Collaboration is not a natural act,” she noted. To understand each other and build trust, she said stakeholders must simply spend time together, learning the culture of other organizations and how to speak the same language.
Speaking of language, Ms. Quellhorst said Minneapolis leaders told the Corridor delegation that candor has been crucial to what they’ve been able to accomplish. Rather than hide sensitive issues such as poverty and race, they believe it’s better to bring them into the open so that they can be addressed.
Some obvious differences might make it difficult to directly emulate the Minneapolis approach, Ms. Quellhorst said. One is the large number of corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, which provides a rich pool of leadership talent. CEOs are strategic thinkers who can exercise considerable influence and marshal resources.
“The civic alliance will only take on a project if there’s a CEO who will drive it,” Ms. Quellhorst said.
While the Corridor has significantly fewer corporate headquarters, Ms. Quellhorst said it does have a rich community of small business leaders who can play an important role.
Minneapolis leaders commented positively on some of the achievements the Corridor is making as a region, Ms. Quellhorst said. Most notably, they said the Corridor’s efforts to develop an entrepreneurial ecosystem to support startups and tech companies puts the Corridor well ahead of many other regions.
The Iowa City Area Chamber of Commerce had three goals in organizing the trip, Ms. Quellhorst said: Finding inspiration for regional collaboration, building strong relationships among regional leaders and reinforcing some of the Corridor’s own merits.
Corridor participants included 17 from Johnson County and six from Linn County. Spending the time away together — including hours on a motor coach — was itself valuable, Ms. Quellhorst said. Travel time provided opportunities for delegation members to learn more about each other and the challenges they are facing. By the time it was over, Ms. Quellhorst said, a few delegation members had decided to seek elected leadership roles.
The information gained on the trip was more broad than deep, Ms. Quellhorst said, so future trips may tend to focus more on one or two key issues. Although not everything being done in other communities may benefit the Corridor, Ms. Quellhorst said the hope is to build a knowledge base for the Corridor to draw from as regional collaboration grows.
The Minneapolis connection has already had some influence on the Corridor. Ms. Quellhorst said a visit four years ago to the Corridor by Michael Langley, founding CEO of Greater MSP, the Minneapolis Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership, provided the spark for the regional branding initiative that led to the Creative Corridor brand.
