Some Additional Important Attributes of a Successful Collective Impact Agreement

• Date: 01 August 2018

48 ELR 10696 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 8-2018

include the team and its leadership, key drivers of the ini-

tiative, the form of and process of carr ying out the agree-

ment, and the unaccounted-for costs of the initiative.

II. Team

e quality of the team and its leadership is critical to

the success of a CII. Having the right team will not only

increase the chance of developing an eec tive agreement,

but also improve the odds that the initiative is successful.

I emphasize this because at various points, this article sug-

gests that team dynamics, such as power imbala nces or

conict, are minimized through impact transactions, as

compared with impact litigation. Whi le impact transac-

tions probably implicate these dynamics less tha n impact

litigation, any eort that relies on leveraging relationships

and trust also i nvolves personalities and background— and

the potential discord that comes with these attributes.

So, who should be on a team? Given that passions might

run high in collaboratives with high stakes, team members

should have experience managing conict. ey should

also be able to remain objective, even if aspects of the

eort that the group at large has determined are needed go

against something important to them. ere is much more

to say about the attributes of good team players and the

necessary diversity that constitutes a strong team. Perhaps

most importantly, nding team members with the right

level of maturity, diversity, and experience requires exten-

sive eort, so ample time should be devoted to this process.

e long-term benet, in part, is the increased likelihood

that the team assembled will understand the value of a

written agreement, and subscribe to it, increasing the ini-

tiative’s chances of success.

I want to be clear that the author never suggests that

CII teams will be without challenges. She expresses the

need for strong leadership and management—for example,

the need for a strong backbone organization and a project

manager to lead and facil itate the eort. I would encourage

COMMENT

Some Additional Important

Attributes of a Successful

Collective Impact Agreement

by Matthew J. Wagner

Matthew J. Wagner is the Manager of Renewable Energy Development for DTE Energy. His team manages

various aspects of wind and solar development, including communications and community relations.

I. Introduction

DTE Energy recently submitted a renewable energy plan

to the state of Michigan that reects an ambitious eort to

increase the renewable energy component of our eet over

the next several decades. We currently produce about 10%

of our energy from renewable sources and have set a course

for an 80% reduction in our carbon footprint by 2050. I

have been part of this eort since it rst began for DTE

in 2006 and have been involved in multiple collaboratives

that have served the role of educating and creating accep-

tance of wind energy in Michig an communities.

Unfortunately, with these successes we have also seen

this eort become much more dicult, as those opposed

have grown more aggressive—a nd sophisticated— at slow-

ing down or stopping renewable energy projects.

I accepted the invitation to review and oer comment

on Prof. Patience Crowder’s article because I see the poten-

tial strength of the concept of Collective Impact Initia-

tives (CIIs)—and the introduction of agreements into such

eorts—to improve the odds of success in what we do,

as well as in other area s. Transforming our energy infra-

structure is as critica l to the environment as it is dicult

in communities. Applying this concept in a fashion that

holds all participants accountable may become a power-

ful tool as the mandate for renewable development con-

tinues to increase, even as it grows more challenging at

the local level. More broadly, the concept has potential to

align many di erent groups doing other socially important

work—such as work with the poor, clean water advocacy,

etc.—and thereby yield a much greater impact.

e concept of formalizing an initiative’s agreements in

writing certai nly improves its chances of success, but it also

introduces challenges which Crowder does a credible job

articulating. e comments that emerged from my review

of the article involve the other attributes of an initiative

and its corresponding written agreement that would serve

to improve the chances of a CII’s success. ese attributes

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