Leadership Comes From Within Leadership should emerge from among the members of the partnership. Someone will have to take the initial responsibility for getting members together. Once members are together, however, consensus regarding leadership will be necessary. Leadership or coordination involves the ability to get people to voluntarily commit to goals and accept responsibilities. A top-down approach will not generally work.

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Building a Successful Partnership

Building a successful partnership takes skill, time and patience. Here are some specific strategies that will help your watershed group's chances of succeeding:

• Identify and involve the "right" people
• Select leadership from within
• Build a common purpose
• Establish attainable goals
• Make best use of talents
• Encourage communication and participation
• Set up a flexible organization
• Know your capacities, skills and financial resources
• Cultivate trust

Why Partnerships Succeed
Partnerships are successful for a number of reasons. Your challenge is to determine what motivates people and make sure these motivations are met. Key reasons partnerships succeed include:

• Members enjoy working with others
• Partnership provides opportunities to meet new challenges
• Potential for professional and personal growth
• Sense of accomplishment
• External factors motivate involvement (e.g., public expectations, organizational mandate, job description)
• Members see a chance to address new challenges or expand their skills
• Members want to demonstrate broader abilities to their "home" organizations
• Community interest and support for the group runs high

Additionally, informal social interaction can provide the glue that holds a partnership together. Encourage these types of interactions and build on the motivations.

Why Partnerships Fail
Most people agree with the notion of partnership, at least in principle. However, partnerships may be unsuccessful for a variety of reasons, including:

• Past failures
• Lack of commitment
• Worry about lost independence
• Lack of credit for own contributions
• Personality conflicts
• Power struggles or turf battles
• Partners that do not agree on realistic roles and responsibilities
• Differences in cultural and personal values
• Community interest and support for the group is low, or very controversial
• Rigid attitudes about the problems or possible solutions
• Misunderstandings and incomplete communication