Guidebook

**Building Alliances**

Produced by

National Association of Conservation Districts

In Cooperation With

National Association of State Conservation Agencies

USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

1994

This guidebook was scanned from one of the original hard copy
publications and prepared for presentation on the Web by the staff of
the NRCS Social Sciences Institute. No content modifications have been
made to the publication. (8/26/1999)

This guidebook was scanned from one of the original hard copy
publications and prepared for presentation on the Web by the staff of
the NRCS Social Sciences Institute. No content modifications have been
made to the publication.

All programs and services of these groups are offered on a
non-discriminatory basis without regard to race, color, national origin,
religion, sex, age, marital status, or handicap.

**Guidebook -- Building Alliances**

This guidebook explains the steps for creating an alliance (network,
coalition, partnership, or other cooperative effort for promoting
conservation) to promote conservation goals. The text provides
information on the following:

-   The definition of an alliance

-   Reasons for forming alliances

-   Advantages and disadvantages of alliances

-   Steps for building an alliance Effective ways to maintain an
    alliance When to end an alliance

    This guide also includes a list of references for additional
    information about alliances.

## Introduction {#introduction .unnumbered}

We define alliances as a credible group of individuals brought together
to accomplish a specific goal or purpose which will benefit all members
of the group in some way. Many alliances are surrounded by some
controversy in the beginning simply because they consolidate two agents
of change, power and interest. People are wary of combinations that mix
power and interest because there is a potential to exclude others. Thus,
it is vitally important to investigate the motivations for an alliance
before agreeing to lead or become a part of one. After you are satisfied
with the goal and organization of an alliance, and you are willing and
able to assume the risk implicit in such a combination, then it is time
to act.

When we refer to alliances in this guidebook, we are referring to an
association or partnership created to promote mutual conservation goals.

\"Alliance building\" is the process of selecting the most effective
members for the team and bringing these members together. Alliance
members may consist of individuals, organizations, businesses, or other
groups.

## Reasons for Forming Alliances {#reasons-for-forming-alliances .unnumbered}

People enter into formal alliances for a variety of reasons. We will
look at the four most common circumstances that may lead to forming an
alliance. These situations are:

-   In response to a threat

    Individuals, groups, and organizations will sometimes band together
    in an attempt to preserve security and stability in response to a
    threat, real or perceived.

-   In cases of similar or shared beliefs

    People or groups which share common beliefs or goals may also form
    alliances. Although alliances have historically formed in reaction
    to a threat, increasingly, nations and other organized bodies are
    using alliances as proactive tools to solve problems.

-   Economic interdependence

    Groups, which rely on each other financially, or which make
    financial exchanges, may form alliances.

-   Groups share the same members

    Alliances are sometimes formed when group members of one
    organization are involved or somehow associated with another
    organization. People will often move in and out of both circles. The
    \"insiders\" can use their knowledge of these organizations to
    emphasize joint areas of responsibilities, vision, and goals;
    thereby, identifying possible alliance members.

    **Advantages and Disadvantages of Alliances**

    Alliances usually originate in response to a proposed change and are
    often flanked by controversy, Recently, however, people form
    alliances to be proactive.

    **Advantages of Alliances**

-   **Increases resources:** An alliance can overcome shortcomings,
    inadequacies, or the lack of resources of any single group.

-   **Results in more creative solutions:** The pooling of ideas, which
    result from a cooperative effort, generates more creative solutions
    to problems.

-   **Allows more risk taking:** In some cases, groups may be more
    likely to take risks because the responsibility for failure does not
    rest on any one individual.

-   **Spreads out the workload:** Alliances permit a sharing of
    responsibilities so that no one individual or group has \"to do it
    all.\"

-   **Raises community awareness:** The formation of an alliance often
    increases public awareness of the conservation program or project
    being undertaken.

    **Disadvantages of Alliances**

-   **Requires time and skill:** The team must include at least one to
    three members who have the skill and time to initiate and build the
    alliance.

-   **Results are not always readily apparent:** The process can appear
    to be time consuming, especially in the beginning, because often the
    results of the alliance\'s efforts will not be apparent until
    program or project implementation occurs.

-   **May require special training:** The alliance will need at least
    one individual to be trained in group dynamics to facilitate
    compromises and negotiations among alliance team members.

-   **Motivation and enthusiasm may be difficult to maintain:** It may
    be difficult to keep team members interested if program or project
    planning takes an excessive amount of time.

### THE MAGIC FORMULA: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

**Steps for Building an Alliance**

Alliances emerge when one or more parties take it upon themselves to
further their own interests beyond what they could accomplish
individually. Alliance formation not only involves organizations that
have similar interests; some also enlist members based on personalities
and personal interests. There can be a single reason or host of reasons
that influence allies to collaborate with one another. Thus, on the one
hand, there are circumstances such as threats, economic interdependence,
commonalties, and similarities in group membership that can lead to
alliance formation. On the ocher hand, there are human or personal
factors.

Although individuals are often familiar with one another, they may not
have formed an alliance. When people recognize the existence of, or
potential for an alliance, members establish a commitment to one another
that goes beyond daily niceties. Gradually, obligations to allies may
take precedence over responsibilities to others outside of the alliance.
However, individuals may also have had mutual disagreements in the
history of their relationships. For successful alliances to flourish,
such disagreements must either be put aside or worked out in a
professional manner, to avoid disrupting an emerging allied
relationship.

The transition to go from associates to alliances requires some skills
to be successful. There are several measured steps an interested party
can take to facilitate the process. The following is an outline of one
such method.

1.  **Establish a Core Working Group**

The alliance\'s core working group is a team of at least four, and not
more than ten members, who represent the agencies or organizations that
have the most to gain through a successful campaign; and therefore, are
willing to provide the most resources toward that goal.

Core Working Group Duties Include:

-   Determining alliance policies, objectives, and strategies.

-   Number range level0Number range level1Number range level2Number
    range level3Number range level4Number range level5Number range
    level6Number range level7Recruiting alliance team members.

-   Organizing and conducting meetings

-   Removing barriers for alliance members

-   Assigning or training someone to facilitate meetings.

-   Evaluating (and re-evaluating) alliance progress.

-   Dissolving the alliance when it successfully completes its mission
    or ceases to function.

Even if we strive toward democracy in an alliance, we must recognize
that certain members will be more useful to she group by virtue of their
connection to the group\'s goals. One example of this is the SALT Talks
of the early 1980s where arms reduction was the major goal of the
alliance. Although many countries were involved, the United States and
the Soviet Union were the major players in the Summit. The reason is
simple. The bulk of the nuclear weapons in the world lay in their
arsenals.

1.  **Develop A General Goal Statement**

Establish a central goal to which everyone can agree. The ewe strength
of an alliance lies in its agreements. If the group cannot even unite
over the base tenets, then the alliance has been built upon a false
base, which will crumble under the simplest of challenges.

One of the first steps in forming an alliance is to develop a general
goal statement which states the purpose of the alliance. A goal
statement should:

-   Be concise

-   Number range level0Number range level1Number range level2Number
    range level3Number range level4Number range level5Number range
    level6Number range level7Clearly state the position of the alliance

-   Identify the intended outcome of a successful effort

The goal statement should become more specific as the alliance matures
through the addition of more alliance members.

**3. Identify and Enlist Credible Partners**

All participants in an alliance should be in­formed about the issue at
hand and should have an interest in a successful outcome. These
individuals should be team players who are able to motivate and
encourage others, and who can disagree and criticize in a constructive
manner. Alliance members must also possess the ability to negotiate and
compromise.

An initial task toward building strategic alliances is to find out who
should be part of the alliance. How do you select members? Before
selecting members, you must first select organizations that have a stake
in the issue. After this identification, a prospective alliance member
should be well respected and capable of representing this organization.
Asking the formal leader, staff head, director, etc. of an organization
to be part of the alliance is, on the surface, a good idea. These formal
leaders may be the appropriate persons to serve on the alliance.

However, informal leaders sometimes carry more respect concerning a
particular issue than do formal leaders. You can get indicators of who
should be part of the alliance in at least three ways: 1) asking staff
members of an organization who they think should represent their
organization on an alliance, 2) asking other community members who they
think should represent organization X on an alliance, and 3) examining
recent history to find out who represented that organization on other
success­ful (or unsuccessful) programs or projects.

In moving toward a certain goal, the alliance stands to gain more by
bringing the major players on board as opposed to isolating them. Many
times extending an invitation is all it takes to attract vital allies.
Some prospective alliance members may be old allies or old enemies. Some
may be completely new friends or new antagonists. Whether it's an old or
fresh issue, alliance selection should be based on the organization\'s
connection to the issue and the capabilities and personality of the
perspective alliance member.

Diversity in the membership of alliances is an important issue to
consider. It is easy to overlook groups or organizations that represent
members of a culture or ethnic group different from your own.
Individuals from all cultures have a tendency to associate most closely
with members of the same culture. However, the benefits of
cross‑cultural alliances can be great. In reaching outside your own
cultural group, try to identify leaders of groups from other cultures,
and ask for their help. Find out what issues or goals you share in
common. Be inviting, and show a willingness to open yourself to new
cultural norms and experiences.

4.  **Identify Mutual Benefits For Alliance Members**

During an early meeting of the newly formed alliance, each organization
at the table should determine the benefits each alliance team members
can claim upon successfully achieving the alliance\'s goal. Successful
alliances are built on the idea that every member of the alliance
benefits from the cooperative effort; however, members may not always
benefit equally or in exactly the same way. Let\'s say the goal is clean
water, then the table below provides an example of benefits for
different alliance members.

  -------------------------------------- --------------------------------
  **Alliance Member**                    **Benefit**

  Environmental interest group           Increased wildlife and species
                                         diversity

  County government                      Improved human health indicators
                                         in the county

  Conservation District                  Increased adoption of streambank
                                         protection practices and filter
                                         strips
  -------------------------------------- --------------------------------

4.  **Develop a Strategy**

The alliance\'s goal statement provides the groundwork for developing
strategies. Alliance strategies can, of course, relate to the overall
market­ing plan that can be developed through an alliance. For example,
the alliance\'s strategy for accelerating adoption of conservation
measures could include identifying goals, target groups, corresponding
actions, assignments, and beginning and completion dates.

*Goal: To increase the number of water protective conservation systems
by 30 percent after two years*

An alliance strategy may take several forms. One approach to influencing
and changing people\'s behavior is marketing. Marketing strategies,
traditionally the domain of private industry and business, can be
adapted to encourage participation in conservation programs. This
package has resource materials that can show how to set up and execute a
marketing plan that includes defining customers and their needs, setting
up action goals, developing and implementing the marketing plan, and
evaluating the plan.

  -------------- --------------- ---------------- -------------- --------------
  **Target       **Action**      **Who**          **Beginning    **Completion
  Group**                                         Date**         Date**

  Local dairy    Set up          Conservation     January, year  April, year 1
  farmers        demonstration   district         1              
                 field day on    representative                  
                 local dairy     (with                           
                 farm            appropriate                     
                                 alliance team                   
                                 members)                        

  Producers who  Help install    Forest Service   February, Year February, Year
  manage land on woodland filter and the Natural  1              2
  either side of strips around   Resources                       
  the Blue River the Blue River  Conservation                    
  that runs      that runs       Service (with                   
  through the    through the     appropriate team                
  ?XYZ?          ?XYZ? watershed members)                        
  watershed                                                      
  -------------- --------------- ---------------- -------------- --------------

**Effective Ways to Maintain an Alliance**

1.  **Keep Meetings on Track and Interesting**

    How do you ensure meetings do what they need to do in a reasonable
    period of time? Several suggestions follow.

##### Group Development {#group-development .unnumbered}

Within any alliance, it is vital to the success of the group to attend
to both task and maintenance functions. Task functions involve the
accomplishment of concrete, measurable, and tangible goals; whereas
maintenance functions, which are just as crucial to the group\'s
productivity and satisfaction, are often intangible. Group development
is concerned primarily with maintenance functions to ensure that
individual needs within the alliance are recognized. When individuals
within the group as separate and special people are cared for,
motivation and performance can peak.

##### Share and Rotate Leadership Roles {#share-and-rotate-leadership-roles .unnumbered}

Share and rotate leadership roles and responsibilities to avoid alliance
leaders burning out, and at the same time leading others to feel they
don\'t have a chance to lead. By sharing leadership roles, leaders can
learn from one another\'s styles. Further­more, people may be slower to
criticize someone else\'s decisions if they themselves have been in the
position of making decisions on similar issues.

##### Delegation {#delegation .unnumbered}

To provide a means of co-ownership, delegate tasks to individuals or
subgroups within the alliance. Delegating serves a threefold purpose:
(1) to empower, (2) to educate, and (3) to ensure work and power are
spread evenly amongst members and not concentrated among leaders. Care
must be taken, however, that delegation be used carefully. It should
empower, not be a method of control.

2.  **Consensus Decision-Making Model**

###### 

Consensus decision‑making requires each member\'s consent to the
decision before \"group adoption\" can take place. In essence, the group
creates a total majority. The goal of consensus decision‑making is group
unity, as opposed to a majority winning and a minority losing, as is the
case with traditional voting.

####### Personal Checklist

-   Have a clear idea of what your personal or organizational goals are
    which motivated you to consider becoming part of an alliance.

-   Be prepared to compromise on anything except these goals. Once in an
    alliance, the mission of the group takes priority, which will often
    require compromising individual agendas.

-   Create individual allies within the alliance. Personalities will
    facilitate this process and naturally certain bonds will prove
    stronger than others.

    **Prerequisites for utilizing consensus:**

-   Common goals and interests

    Time \-- There muse be adequate time to work through the process.

-   Commitment \-- The group must attend to process and group dynamics.
    The group must be as committed to the process as it is to the end
    product.

    **Consensus decision making:**

-   Is a process which legitimizes members\' opinions and feelings

-   Number range level0Number range level1Number range level2Number
    range level3Number range level4Number range level5Number range
    level6Number range level7Recognizes individually

-   Requires that the group make a collective decision on what actions
    should be taken based on the integration of everyone\'s opinions,
    concerns, and creativity

-   Number range level0Number range level1Number range level2Number
    range level3Number range level4Number range level5Number range
    level6Number range level7Seeks the best possible solution given the
    expressed feelings and needs of the group

    If group members experience consensus decision making, they will be
    more willing to be involved in seeing that decisions are carried
    out. In general, remember that humans are social beings and want to
    feel needed and pare of the group. There is no better way to affirm
    everyone\'s value and worth to the group than by actively listening
    to their feelings, ideas, and concerns, and then facili­tating a
    group decision that reflects their views.

    Consensus decision making can be a more time consuming process than
    normal processes, but the end result will be richer, more democratic
    and satisfactory to the group than if a simple majority vote had
    been taken, and will result in greater unity among the group.

    Rewards of consensus decision making:

-   The collectively made decision will be implemented

-   Consensus is an instrument of personal change as well as social
    change because it represents a total democratic process.

-   Number range level0Number range level1Number range level2Number
    range level3Number range level4Number range level5Number range
    level6Number range level7Any one person can oppose a proposal and
    halt the proposal\'s adoption until a satisfying compromise is
    reached.

    There are ways to object without halting consensus:

-   Non‑supportive: al don\'t see a need for this but I will go along.\"

-   Number range level0Number range level1Number range level2Number
    range level3Number range level4Number range level5Number range
    level6Number range level7Reservations: \"This may be a mistake, but
    I can live with it.\"

-   Standing aside: \"I personally can\'t do this, but I won\'t block
    others from doing it.\"

Consensus decision making, when it works, empowers individuals, gives
everyone the chance to voice their opinions, and provides a method of
checks and balances.

**ENDING ALLIANCES**

It does not make sense to allow an alliance to continue after it has
outlived its mission. Alliances that are dying a slow death should not
be permitted to linger. Once an alliance is over then they need to have
an official ending that has some form of \"celebration.\" Just before or
just after the alliance\'s ending, the accomplishments should be
documented, publicized, and distributed.

**CONCLUSION**

Forming an alliance can be useful to group of individuals, agency, or
organization facing a task that overextends its present human, financial
or organizational resources and abilities. If the successful completion
of this task offers benefits to ocher groups or individuals as well,
then building an alliance with these parties demonstrates sound
managerial judgment.

### Related Information

The information contained here will be especially useful when applying
Phase 2 of the marketing process: Develop Alliances and Determine YOUR
Role. This phase is explained in the \"Easy to Use Guide for Marketing
Conservation Services\" workbook and the \"Partnership Guide to
Marketing.\" Both of these are available from NACD.

**References**

**Understanding Alliances: The Role of Task and Organizational
Complexity**, Working Paper Series, Peter J. Killing, (University of
Western Ontario: London, Ontario, February, 1987).

**Frontiers of Management**, Roger Mansfield, ea., (Routledge:NY, NY,
1989).

**The Origin of Alliances**, Stephen M. Walt, (Cornell University Press:
Ithaca, NY, 1987).

In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power, Shoshana
Zuboff, (Basic Books Inc.: NY, NY, 1988).

**Local Sources**: College and University Departments of Rural
Sociol­ogy, Business, Labor Relations, and Extension; local government
agencies and other local alliances and their members.

A training module called \"Leadership Identification and Group
Dynamics\" is available through the Natural Resources Conservation
Service. This slide‑tape module gives many helpful tips on how to be an
effective meeting facilitator. The module is part of this marketing
package.