KEYNOTE AT COMMUNITY MEETING OF COQUITLAM RIVER WATERSHED ROUNDTABLE (June 2017): "Everyone needs to agree on expectations, and how all the players will work together," stated Kim Stephens, Executive Director of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC, when he explained the ‘regional team approach’
Note to Reader:
On June 10, 2017, the Coquitlam River Watershed Roundtable convened a Community Meeting for the purposes of discussion about sustainable watershed management in the Lower Coquitlam River. The Roundtable invited Kim Stephens, Executive Director of the Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC, to make the keynote presentation.
Inter-Generational Journey to a Resilient Future
“Talking about the regional team approach gives me an opportunity to reflect on what you are doing and to relate that to what we are doing,” Kim Stephens told the Coquitlam Roundtable audience.
Mission Possible
“Regarding the keys to a resilient future, I am approaching it from a water perspective because water is the centre of all life. To set the context, I wish to explain what we mean by the Regional TEAM Approach.
“As long as I have been a practicing professional, we have always talked about the ‘regional approach’. It was by accident a decade ago that we discovered the power of the word TEAM. Inserting the word team between regional and approach changed everything.”
“We all have to do our part. That is the reason for encouraging all the players in the local government setting to embrace Shared Responsibility,” continued Kim Stephens.
“These are two key concepts. They are universal in terms of being successful. They apply to the Coquitlam Watershed Roundtable situation.
“We talk in terms of mission possible. You can bring people together. It is another important concept and the Coquitlam Roundtable is proving it.”
Collaboration in Action
“We use the word collaboration a lot in British Columbia. And it means something to us. But in other parts of the world, my experience is that they don’t really understand our ‘top-down, bottom-up’ approach. It just seems that they think differently when it comes to putting collaboration into practice,” stated Kim Stephens.
“Even going across Canada, there is more of a prescriptive way of looking at things. As British Columbians, we have to keep that in mind when we are talking to audiences outside British Columbia, they don’t really understand what we are doing.
“It may take us longer to get there, but collaboration is how we get to the destination. Once you agree on expectations, then each community can reach the goals in its own way.”
To Learn More:
Click on What Happens on the Land Does Matter! – Moving Towards “Sustainable Watershed Systems, through Asset Management” to download a PDF copy of the complete PowerPoint presentation by Kim Stephens.
