Carpenter and Kennedy give eight suggestions for building constituency support. Make sure that all the interests groups are represented, even it that means bringing more participants into the negotiations. Make sure that the groups and their representatives establish regular and effective means of communication. Make sure that the decision making process within the group is clear and acceptable. Respond promptly to disagreements within a group.
Task groups are useful ways to include more constituents directly in the process.
Constituents may need to be educated about the principles and process of negotiations. Pace the negotiation process to allow representatives adequate time to meet with and inform their constituents. Finally, the authors note that pacing and communication are particularly important during the end stages of negotiation, when the push to settle may drive the representative ahead of his or her constituents. The Water Roundtable negotiations included representatives from the Environmental Alliance and the Western Water Advisory Council. Both groups had constituents with widely varying perspectives, but succeeded in uniting to support their respective representative.