"Open dialogue is not just about inviting comment and feedback," says Ann Pappert, Chief Administrative Officer of the City of Guelph, "it's a belief that community participation will deliver solutions to complex problems that are better designed, accepted and more sustainable."

Ann has been championing citizen-focused services for over two decades through her work in the municipal governments of Windsor, Kingston, Kitchener, Surrey (B.C.) and Guelph, where she served as Executive Director of Community and Social Services prior to becoming CAO in 2011.

With regards to improving approaches to open dialogue, Ann says governments must move past the need to attain perfection before sharing, and creating a safe-fail environment for taking reasonable risks is critical to the success of innovation in the public sector.

"Open dialogue requires courage and committment from leaders. It also requires humility as individuals and teams to open projects, ideas and programs to critique regardless of how constructive it is. And meaningful open dialogue leads to empathy for the citizen, the customer, the business owner. The reward after the effort is that outputs from open dialogue lead to better decisions."

As for her participation in the upcoming Canadian Open Dialogue Forum, Ann is keen on learning about the experiences and initiatives of other public sector institutions.

"I look forward to finding possible collaborative opportunities so we can share experiences and potentially resources to tackle some of our common issues and opportunities," she says.

On Day Two of the Forum from 9:45 – 11:45 a.m., Ann Pappert will be co-leading a breakout session on Open Dialogue at the municipal level alongside Tobi Nussbaum of the City of Ottawa.

To attend the Forum and engage in the dialogue, register here.