Know Your Capabilities, Skills and Financial Resources As you enter planning, don't "bite off more than you can chew" - at least not much more! Don't skimp on your goals, but try to match your group's resources to their role in attaining those goals. That is, consider carefully the resources that are available to the group both to start and to finish the planning process. Review the technical expertise, experience and capacities of the group. Can you count on the members to provide what's needed, personally, or from their organizations, or by putting up financial resources to hire the technical skills and manpower needed over the course of the planning exercise? If government action will likely be needed, does the group have members from appropriate government units? It's particularly important to have core members of the group who are strongly committed to the goals of the planning, so that you can count on their work and perseverance if the going gets rough and others fade.

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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