Idea Bank
  1. Facilitators' Credo

    A Credo for Facilitators was put together by Peter Adler, John Barkai, Donna Ching, Dolores Foley, Holly Henderson, Kem Lowry, Tom Mitrano, and Jane Yamashiro in 1998. The statement grew out of a series of discussions about the use and occasional abuse of “facilitation” in the public, private, and civic sectors. The authors encourage readers to […]

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  2. Collective Impact

    Large-scale social change requires broad cross-sector coordination, yet the social sector remains focused on the isolated intervention of individual organizations. For more on this topic, visit the Stanford Social Innovation Review.

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  3. Impacts of Cultural Differences and Diversity

    Understanding how cultural differences manifest themselves is crucial. While an individual’s nationality does not necessarily determine the attitudes and behavior they bring to a gathering, it can provide valuable guidance on facilitation strategies likely to be more successful over others. 

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  4. Building Trust

    20 things you can do to help environmental stakeholder groups talk more effectively about science, culture, professional knowledge and community wisdom. By Peter S. Adler and Juliana E. Birkhoff, Ph.D. Click here to view the PDF.

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  5. Cross Sector Collaboration Dilemmas and Tensions

    A “strategy map” describes a sequence of phases associated with several types of cross-sector collaborations and some of the activities associated with each phase. In practice, no process “blueprint” describes precisely how a process may unfold. Nor can it anticipate all the process dilemmas or tensions that occur in the design and implementation of collaborative processes. Outlined below are some typical tensions that can occur. 

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  6. 2010 Resource Guide on Public Engagement

    The 2010 Resource Guide on Public Engagement from the National Coalition for Dialogue & Deliberation (NCDD). The Guide is an introduction to collaboration and includes a number of resources on the topic.

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  7. Collaboration: The Courage to Step into a Meaningful Mess

    Collaboration: The Courage to Step into a Meaningful Mess, explores challenges commonly encountered in collaborative endeavors. The article was featured on the Berkana Institute website. Our appreciation to Alycia Lee of the Hub Amsterdam Collaboracy for permission to post this piece and to Lily Bloom Domingo for sharing the article with us.

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  8. A Case Study: Participatory Budgeting in Chicago

    Posted with permission by Groundwork Chicago’s 49th Ward is better known as Rogers Park. It’s a neighborhood of middle-class houses and apartment buildings, home to Loyola University. It’s known for diversity and an affordable, laid-back kind of cool. But the 49th has a new claim to fame: In 2009, the ward’s alderman, Joe Moore, became the first elected […]

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Idea Bank

This section is a place where facilitators and conveners can discuss ideas and share resources related to collaboration. New postings are always welcome.

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