Collaboration

Keystone, CO

July 2006

Good Ideas Come in Groups

Succeed Through Strategic Alliances

On the last SWCS picnic, the board had decided that due to liability issues, we could only have one  (1) alcoholic drink  per person..

   

And Never Bowl Alone!

Locate Labor!!!

Why Collaborate?

• “On most tasks, especially those that involvesome degree of complexity and require somedegree of ingenuity, people are able to do abetter job in well-functioning groups than theycan on their own. They are also more likely to beexcited about their work.”

Alfie Kohn, Punished by Rewards

Why Collaborate? - continued

“People will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging and see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is left to his own devices.”

“Team Projects Build the Group While Strengthening the Individual” – Steve Kadas, NM SWCS

Why Collaborate? – continued

• With Collaboration Comes Innovation• Good Ideas Come in Groups• Our innovation is fueled by our humanity• The most powerful tool in our arsenal is

the human mind• How do we know if our ideas are any

good?• Test those ideas out• May fuel other ideas

Examples of Collaboration

• Congress and SWCS. CEAP progress report to allow updating/comments for the Farm Bill

• American Humane Association and Ralston Purina

• Starbucks and CARE

• Nature Conservancy and Georgia-Pacific

Other Factors of Collaboration

• Ideas come from everywhere • Cheer everything • You're brilliant, we're hiring • A license to pursue dreams • Innovation, not instant perfection • Data is apolitical• Greater meaning• Creativity loves constraints • It's users, not money • Don't kill projects, morph them

Other Factors of

Collaboration – continued

•Research and gather information

•Share information and share equally

•Responsibility by all

•Participation by all

•Value others viewpoints

•Listen to other viewpoints

•Cooperation with all

•Make fair decisions by all

2 Types of Collaboration

• Internal

• External

SWCS Internal Collaboration• Within your Office/Area

• Within your State

• Within your Region

• Within the US

• Your SWCS Director

• The SWCS Board

• With Craig Cox

External Collaboration

• Anything outside of SWCS

Steps in Collaboration

1. Making the Connection - searching for partners- engage top leadership, ensuring strategic fit!

2. Generating Value - what does it mean to each partner?

3. Manage the Relationship – stay focused and devote energy and time

SWCS Examples of Collaboration -

External

• Joint meetings with Wildlife/Range/Wetland/Soil Societies

• Team up with local colleges/universities on activities• Present at Garden Clubs• Involve other Government agencies• Mailings to different organizations or non-profits• Outside the box organizations, such as Historical

Society • Kellogg Foundation

Problem Solving opportunities with all of the above

• Annual joint symposia with SSSA. • Joint work with the Wildlife Society and the

Society for Range Management on our literature review.

• Collaboration with a wide range of organizations—conservation, agricultural, environmental—on farm bill conservation issues; both legislative and implementation.

• Collaboration with SSSA and others on Smithsonian state soil exhibit.

• Annual collaboration on the International Soil Conservation Organization (ISCO) conference

SWCS Examples of External Collaboration - continued

Collaborate within

SWCS - Internal • Don’t forget the collaboration within SWCS and its members, indefinite amount of opportunities to network, solve problems, get ideas, lay out groundwork and work together on common issues.

• This Workshop is a good example of internal collaboration

Prioritizing resource issues at a Legacy Meeting recently in Chadron, NE.   Several different agencies/organizations came together to address resource issues in the Pine Ridge.

Soil Painting Exercise Farm Bill Meeting

Internal Collaboration

Friday’s Examples of Internal Collaborations• Subway sandwich order 3 for $10.99

• Ride to the SWCS with NE/WY/NM members

BLM/NRCS/FS Examples of Collaborations

• Working with Highway Departments• Landowners/permitees• Forest Service• FWS• Exploration Industries• DOE• SWCS• Sawmills• Units of Government

Exercise

Collaboration Checklist

1.Communication2.Sustainability3.Research and Evaluation4.Political Climate

Tools

Collaboration Checklist -continued

5. Resources6. Catalyst7. Laws/policy8. History

Tools

Collaboration Checklist –continued

9. Connectiveness 10. Leadership 11. Community Development 12. Understanding the Community

Tools

Collaboration Rubric Cube

Tools

Collaboration Rubric Ranking

• Ranking on Contributing

• Ranking on Taking on responsibility

• Ranking on Viewpoints

Tools

Examples of Collaborations

• Working together

Questions??