Los Angeles Metro & City of Los Angeles Bureau of Engineering Partnering
Forging Collaboration: Enhancing Trust and Effectiveness in Public Transit Partnerships
Overview
Los Angeles Metro (Metro) and the City of Los Angeles (City) Bureau of Engineering are significant players in regional public transit, with both agencies striving to achieve similar goals while improving the overall effectiveness of working together. VMS facilitated discussions to address opportunities for building trust, improving collaboration, addressing conflicts, and aligning strategic efforts that provided the foundation for completing a new Master Cooperative Agreement. We facilitated collaborative coaching sessions between key leaders from Metro and the City, and other offices within City Public Works to address conflict and improve working relations. We helped to articulate specific requests of one another while coming to a consensus concerning changes both sides can implement.
The Format
VMS led efforts to design and facilitate strategic discussions, including:
- Individual and team coaching sessions across both agencies
- Collaborative working sessions to articulate agency needs and expectations
- Dialogue for conflict resolution/management
- Consensus building on shared goal and path forward
The Objective
- Building Trust: Addressing existing barriers and fostering a trusting relationship through open dialogue and structured engagements.
- Improving Collaboration: Enhancing coordination and effectiveness in joint initiatives to better serve the greater Los Angeles community.
- Conflict Resolution: Addressing and resolving conflicts through facilitated discussions and consensus-building.
- Strategic Alignment: Aligning strategic goals and operational efforts to achieve mutual objectives and streamline partnership processes.
27
participants from both agenciesThe Solution
- The project led to re-establishing trust between the two agencies by articulating specific requests of one another and coming to a consensus around changes each can make. Outcomes from this effort included clearly defined roles and responsibilities and an agreement regarding the shared purpose of their partnership to effectively begin negotiations for a new MCA. The individuals also learned new ways to communicate their needs so clearer expectations can be established to hold one another accountable.
“The team at VMS were a pleasure to work with. Not only did they provide a well-structured environment that allowed us to monitor input and progress, but they were also extremely skilled at forcing honest and difficult conversations between the parties. Their expertise allowed us to move quickly to the root causes of issues, and they provided detailed and specific guidance on those issues that led to a satisfactory resolution.”