The final stage in the organization step is to capture the group’s organizational agreements in the form of “Working Agreements”. These can also be referred to as “Operational Principles” or “Collaboration Agreements” or any other phrase that might fit for the group and its purpose.
The facilitator will normally prepare a draft set of working agreements based on the information from the assessment and by conferring with key parties in advance of convening a first meeting. Sometimes the draft can even contain some “place-holder” language to be filled in by the participants when they are together. Often this draft set of agreements forms a major part of the agenda for a first “convening” meeting of the group. It helps them to confirm how they really want to work together, and to hash out any concerns they might have about how committed others are to the process. If there has been negativity in the media or in public meetings, discussing the working agreements is the perfect time to bring it out and talk about how to change the tone.
For example, groups often agree that even though their meetings will be open to the public, none of the participants will report to the media about what went on in the meetings. Or they may commit not to speak about what anyone else has said during a meeting. Sometimes the group will want to appoint one spokesperson for the group, or may even want to agree on press statements to go out after each meeting.
Negotiating the working agreements together gives the participants a sense that they really can work together and come to agreement. It is likely to be their first agreement!
Now it is time for you to attempt to pull together the pieces of the organizational step into a draft set of working agreements for your project. Follow the checklist below, and see what you might come up with, even though we know you don’t really know the exact process concerns that the potential participants have.
Post a draft of potential working agreements for your collaborative process group on your Student Blog Assignment as 10-6. I will link some examples of actual working agreements, so you can see how others craft them. These, however, are the ones actually negotiated by the parties, not the initial draft.
Here are some examples of working agreements. Note they also give a good overview of the process design.
Introduction to Collaborative Governance 
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