Designing a Collaborative Process: Before, During & After

Collaborative processes often are initiated and paid for by governments whose officials need to make a decision. However, in a consensus process the sponsor alone does not decide whether there should be a process or how it should operate. The core principle is that parties share decisions about process and outcome. Even though the parties make these decisions jointly, the sponsor plays a key role as leader, partner and stakeholder.

Before Discussions Begin

Sponsors should work with the parties to:

  • Assess whether or not to use a consensus-based approach
  • Ensure the process is representative
  • Select and work with a facilitator
  • Plan and organize the process

Assess whether or not to use a consensus-based approach

Sponsors should determine their own willingness and ability to use such a process by asking the following questions:

  • Is the situation appropriate for consensus building?
  • Is a consensus process compatible with the agency's objectives and responsibilities?
  • What obstacles exist that may hinder consensus building?
  • Does leadership support the use of a consensus process? If agency leaders are not willing to consider such an approach, sponsoring agencies should decide to involve the public in some other way.

If leadership is open to implementing a consensus process, and if the situation seems appropriate, sponsors should then assess other stakeholders' willingness.

  • Interview stakeholders to determine what they think about the prospects for consensus. (In some cases, an agency staff member can conduct these interviews. In others, the interviews should be carried out by an independent facilitator.)
  • Review the results of the assessment with agency leadership to reconfirm leadership's commitment and willingness to proceed.

Engage participants to ensure the process is representative and inclusive

  • Identify the parties who should be consulted and involved to ensure the process is legitimate.
  • Both sponsors and participants decide which interests should be represented at the table. Interest groups then select their own representatives.
  • Provide training or orientation for participants, as well as financial support.

Select and work with a facilitator

  • Decide together with the other parties, if possible, on a facilitator from inside or outside the sponsoring agency who will manage the process.
  • Work with a facilitator or staff member to conduct the assessment.

Plan and organize the process

  • Work with the facilitator and other parties to design the process and write ground rules.
  • Identify and provide the necessary resources. These may include staff and logistical support.
  • Identify and provide needed information.
  • As sponsor, define your role in the process. Will you participate in the negotiations? Clearly define how the outcome will be linked to the agency's official decision-making process. If several governments or agencies will make decisions, be clear about procedures for each and how they will be coordinated.

During the Discussions

Sponsors play a leadership role. Although leadership may also come from other stakeholders in the process, the sponsor has a special responsibility to keep abreast of the discussions and their implications for translating agreements into formal decisions and eventual implementation.

Sponsors should select their representatives carefully. Representatives should be both good communicators and negotiators. They should have stature in the agency, the trust of agency leadership, and the ability to communicate with them and know which solutions they are most likely to accept. A sponsor's representatives have some special responsibilities to:

  • Set the tone of collaboration by modeling good listening, being willing to cooperate, and acting in good faith
  • Keep the group informed about the agency's statutory authority and barriers that might preclude some options
  • If necessary, bring in field staff (as options are developed) to ensure that solutions are practical
  • Work with the other parties to find mutually acceptable solutions
  • Keep agency leadership advised of progress, as well as discussing any tentative agreements with them and bringing suggested changes back to the parties

After the Discussions

The sponsor should formalize and implement the consensus agreement:

  • When an agreement is reached, solicit public review and comment in accordance with agency procedures.
  • If the public expresses significant concerns about the agreement during the formal review, meet with the other parties to consider changing the agreement.
  • Carry out other tasks that may be specified in the agreement. If the final agreement calls for efforts involving other stakeholders, organize those efforts.
  • Develop benchmarks so the agency and all other stakeholders can stay updated on progress of the implementation.

Many citizens, already mistrustful of government, view attempts to reach consensus as co-optation, especially when government officials frame the issues and select the participants and facilitator. To demonstrate their commitment to making a consensus process open and impartial, government sponsors should consider whether they are genuinely committed to trying to reach consensus — whether they will give it sufficient time and resources, share control over the process and outcome, and implement the results if they comply with the mandates. When they do, they can overcome participants' concerns about being co-opted.

If sponsors intend only to seek advice or input, they must be clear about that, too. By convening an advisory group without being clear about what will happen to the group's recommendations, sponsors risk public cynicism if the group reaches consensus and then the sponsors don't carry it out.