There are eleven principles of collaborative problem solving. Such collaboration is an inclusionary process that promotes lateral communication and shared decision-making. It helps stakeholder groups to develop policy recommendations on a variety of public issues. The eleven principles are listed below:

1. Purpose-Driven. People need a reason to participate in the process.
2. Inclusive, Not Exclusive. All parties with a significant interest in the issues should be involved in the collaborative process.
3. Educational. The process relies on mutual education of all participants.
4. Voluntary. The parties who are affected or interested participate voluntarily.
5. Self-Designed. All parties have an equal opportunity to participate in designing the collaborative process. The process must be explainable and designed to meet the circumstances and needs of the situation.
6. Flexible. Flexibility should be designed into the process to accommodate changing issues, data needs, political environment, and programmatic constraints such as time and meeting arrangements.
7. Egalitarian. All parties have equal access to relevant information and the opportunity to participate effectively throughout the process.
8. Respectful. Acceptance of the diverse values, interests, and knowledge of the parties involved in the collaborative process is essential.
9. Accountable. The participants are accountable both to their constituencies and to the processthat they have agreed to establish.
10. Time Limited. Realistic deadlines are necessary throughout the process.
11. Achievable. Commitments made to achieve the agreement(s) and effective monitoring are essential.

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Source: Natural Resources Research Institute

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