Collaboration is critically important for achieving the missions of the Corps in the 21st century. Solutions to today’s problems require reaching out to those with different authorities, perspectives, and resources to solve the various dimensions of these problems.

The Corps Conflict Resolution and Public Participation Center thus embarked on an initiative to take stock of the Corps collaborative capacity. This "Collaborative Capacity Assessment Initiative":

• Assessed the Corps current capacity to collaborate with external stakeholders on water resources planning and management    objectives;  Elicited suggestions for capacity enhancements from the field; and  Formulated priority recommendations for how to enhance the Corps collaborative capacity.

Initiative participants completed an online collaborative capacity assessment survey and attended a series of one-day workshops held at each of the eight Corps Civil Works Divisions.  The Initiative resulted in thirteen key recommendations organized by the five components of a system that will support, enable, and reward the use of collaboration: institutional procedures; leadership, authority, and empowerment; individual skill sets; time and resources; and organizational culture. The Corps is beginning to implement these initiatives.

Final Report (pdf, 4.58MB)