Guiding Principles in Collaboration

What are some guiding principles in collaboration?

Build Lasting Relationships. Collaboration is dependent upon the day-to-day relationship building that develops trust and understanding. This should be ongoing, and not just when we are planning or developing a project. For instance, be involved in the community beyond the role of public land manager. Expand your networks in the community by showing up where people naturally meet and communicate, and meet regularly with organizations that represent user and interest groups. Be there to listen and learn. Do not show up only when the FS has an issue.

Understand legal sideboards and agree on working guidelines early on. All participants must be clear about roles, responsibilities, and sideboards for the collaborative group as well as the laws and regulations that guide their own organizations. Without clearly defined parameters, group and individual expectations may become unclear and their expectations may exceed appropriate participatory levels.

• Communities can be actively engaged in problem solving, in the decision making process and in implementation, but agency personnel need to be clear from the outset when Federal law requires them to maintain decision making authority.

Encourage diverse participation and communication. Collaboration is more successful when there is broad community representation of all affected parties. The formal networks of organizations may not adequately or fairly represent the full spectrum of public values and interests. Having a variety of mechanisms for people to express themselves is essential to ensure that various segments of the population who have differing abilities to participate can do so if they choose, and for us to understand the array of goals, interests, and constraints of multiple user groups.

Work at an appropriate scale. Scales of collaborative efforts vary widely. Selecting the appropriate scale for a particular community must match the ecological concern, community’s values, and sense of place. The scale may be larger or smaller than we assume based on a scientific perspective.

Empower the group. Empowering a community group does not mean giving up decision making authority. However, agency staff must be willing to give up control of the process and participate as partners. In collaborative processes, the agency’s role shifts from convener and manager to information provider, contributor, and partner. Agency personnel must be absolutely clear about the laws, regulations, and policies at play so the collaborative solution falls within acceptable legal parameters.

Share the resources and rewards. Collaborative groups must have access to the information they need to make successful decisions. This includes scientific, legal, cultural, and socio-economic information.

Build a community’s capacity for collaboration and stewardship. Collaboration is a tool to build and strengthen community capacity by developing the skills, education and experience among residents to grapple with change. “Community capacity” can be defined as “the collective ability of residents … to respond to external and internal stresses; to create and take advantage of opportunities; and to meet the needs of residents, diversely defined. It also refers to the ability of a community to adapt to and respond to a variety of different circumstances.”