RE: More Effective Use.....

[Greg Bourne <g.bourne@mindspring.com>]

Thanks for incorporating Tribes into the discussion.  I am currently working with a Tribe on a "collaborative process", where several departments within the Tribal government are working together to resolve some sticky land use issues.  This process involves representatives of both governmental agencies and the community at large.

It is unwise to make generalizations about Tribes as a whole.  Each community has a decision making tradition and culture that may be more or less conducive to "collaborative" solutions, openly involving all major stakeholders with a meanginful role in resolving the outstanding issues.

The first step then, when working with tribal representatives, is to identify and understand the decision making culture - as you should with any other organization or group - and then work with leaders to assess the potential for using a collaborative process.  This speaks to the value, and need, of conducting convening analyses at the beginning of ANY collaborative process.