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Knowledge Sharing Innovations in the Natural Resources Community: A toolkit for community-based project teams

Abstract

Preface

Chapter 1 - Introduction

Chapter 2 - Assessing impact

Chapter 3 - Environmental Complexity

Chapter 4 – Reducing the risk of failure

Chapter 5 - Critical Success Factors

Chapter 6 - Advice

Appendix A: Project Descriptions

Appendix B: Project characteristics

Appendix C: Project Highlights

Appendix D: Teleconference Participants

Appendix E: Reflection Workshop Participants
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Chapter 5 - Critical Success Factors

Leverage existing partnerships and resources

As described in the previous chapter, scarce resources and the geographical distance separating project team members presented challenges to the eight teams. However, the grantees found leveraging existing partnerships and existing resources helped them overcome many of the obstacles created by these conditions. Participants talked about how they drew on their past partnerships to identify and acquire resources, to share experiences and to connect with new partners. Working with known partners allowed the trust already established in previous projects to be leveraged for these new knowledge sharing efforts.

One of the first tasks of all the team members in each project was reaching out to current collaborators. The second was to use these networks to both explore potential interest in the new effort and to use these existing networks of contacts to connect with other unknown potential collaborators. Many of the teams crossed organizational and professional boundaries reaching beyond the natural-resource field to Web-design and marketing professionals, system developers, as well as academics to help bring in subject matter expertise to fill gaps in their existing teams. Others used existing partnerships for disseminating information about their projects to the wider community of natural-resource organizations and school districts. Many found that new partners could be brought in to provide a specific knowledge or skill that would be relevant during a particular stage of the project or to complete a specific task. Understanding that not all partners need to be connected to the project and involved in the same way allowed the project lead and core participants to bring in those less interested in or available for the overall project but interested in and capable of participating in a specific, and often critical activity. For example, a number of the teams drew on technical skills available in local universities. These individuals did not need to hire a full participant to provide a valuable resource to the projects in terms of very specific tasks such as data base design and Web site development.


Engage past partners and seek new ones
Engaging existing partners in the development of their Web site was very important for the team from Shelburne Farms. The field of place-based education is relatively new and in order to ensure comprehensiveness of their material, the team needed to engage various partners from the governmental, non-profit and private sector. These partnerships provided the opportunity to gain important feedback on the design of the Web site, to engage others in populating the Web site’s content, and to find new partners. Leveraging existing partnerships meant not only reaching out to past collaborators to work on new projects, but also to leverage new contacts to achieve project goals.
Promise of Place

Another benefit of leveraging existing relationships according to the grantees, was the opportunity provided to leverage the small amount of resources available by bringing in more partners willing to invest in the effort – some with money, but most with time and energy to work on some aspect of the project. In other cases existing connections provided opportunity for taking advantage of purchased software licenses in partner organizations. Several of the teams were able to take advantage of existing software already purchased by their partners or their home institution, enabling them to use this technology at no cost. Others found that existing course work or curricula used in other parts of the country could be adapted to reduce the costs of new curriculum development. Leveraging existing resources was found by the grantees to be especially important in those cases where there was a time lag between the desired start of the project and arrival of grant funds. Leveraging existing resources helped the teams conserve scarce resources and allowed them to concentrate on areas that were novel or needed extra attention. Some of the teams were in the unique position of having available resources that could be used in the short term to start working on their projects prior to when the grant monies were available.


Don’t reinvent the wheel
The Cooperative Weed Management Areas (CWMA) team started their project by drawing on a workshop model and cookbook used successfully in the western CWMAs as a blueprint, thus considerably decreasing the cost of developing completely new curriculum. The team customized the western format and text to better address the issues faced in the eastern states. They then piloted the workshop and cookbook in four trial training sessions. The feedback they received from this ‘in-person’ training was then used to fine tune the material before broadcasting the training in a distance environment. The team found this iterative process to be very successful not only to work out the mechanics of the course but also as a way to introduce the material to new instructors who may not be familiar with the distance training environment.
Cooperative Weed Management Areas



Strategic Framework
A strategic framework is a structured way to understand a project proposal by helping you clearly define each key service objective and its customers. The framework then helps you identify the resources, partners, and innovations that might contribute to success. To be most effective, the strategic framework should refer to one project-specific objective at a time. Strategic frameworks can be devised by one person and then presented to and reviewed by others, or they can be created through a facilitated group decision conference.
Source: Making Smart IT Choices

Tips
  • Use existing relationships with others as potential resources for the team.
  • Create a “snowball effect” by asking your contacts to use their contacts and so on.
  • Reach out to others in the not-for-profit world (universities, colleges, etc.) and across your communities of practice to explore creating cooperative agreements that will provide you access to technology or other resources at no or reduced cost.
  • Reach out to partners who may have the funding flexibility to allow for preliminary work to begin prior to the availability of the grant funds.
  • Consider your project from a holistic perspective by using such tools as the Making Smart IT Choices Strategic Framework. This tool helps you place your project into the larger context of customers, resources, and innovations.