Leading from behind: Influencing Fisheries Policy and Management Through Partnerships

One tactic natural resource agencies utilize to meet expectations they have to do more with less, is to intensify its participation in partnerships. But to be most effective at meeting its primary purpose, a natural resource agency must have staff capable of influencing partnership outputs. However, before agency staff attempt to influence others they need to look inward to determine if their guiding principles are aligned with having trust and integrity serve as their foundation for forming working relationships.  Additionally, because people try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided, agency staff’s level of influence can be increased by being the first to act when work needs to be completed.  Another attribute used as an effective means to increase a person’s capacity to influence is the ability to actively listen to what people have to say, with the intent of gaining an understanding of their perspectives. As agency staff takes an inside-out, initiative-seeking approach, partners will have increased confidence in their integrity and competence and their trust in agency staff will heighten. Concurrently, leadership capacity of agency staff will grow, providing them with higher levels of influence.