Getting Started

Assessing the potential for collaboration.

Does a collaborative approach make sense for you? Collaboration does not mean that everyone works together on all things at all times. Not every task or project needs the involvement of others besides you and your immediate colleagues. Collaboration is an approach to making decisions when a problem or issue cuts across jurisdictions and landownerships; when information is widely dispersed; when no individual agency or group has sufficient resources to tackle the problem alone; when there are different interests with a stake in the issues at hand; in short, when there is a clear need to connect with others in a problem-solving mode. Not every situation has these characteristics. How do you know which situation you are in?

Click here for a summary of the Assessment Stage of collaboration.

Initiating a collaborative process.

Collaboration does not happen spontaneously. It happens when someone takes the first step to get it underway. Most collaborative efforts are initiated with simple conversations – on street corners, over the phone, at meetings, at the little league game – between people who may be adversaries or have never spoken before, but who recognize that they are in a situation that needs to be approached in a new way.

Helpful tips on initiating a collaborative process are actually quite simple:
Take the first step! Start simple, but get started! Consider who might be involved in a collaborative effort, and give them a call. Initiate conversations by talking about the issues and objectives that you share in common, not where you differ. Think about different ways to recommend collaboration to others, who might be invited to the first gathering, and what should be the topics for discussion at a first meeting.

Click here for some questions to consider as you think about who might participate in your collaborative process.

 

Stages of the Collaborative Process

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