Phil Rigdon (Yakama Nation) and Urban Eberhart (farmer and irrigator) walk together in the Yakima Basin. Photo / Michael Kern
Milgard School of Business partners with Puget Sound Institute to develop a collaborative leadership program to tackle critical challenges like land stewardship, climate justice, and housing insecurity.

New Collaborative Leadership Program for Puget Sound Aims to Empower Future Leaders

November 27, 2024
The Collaborative Leadership Program, with the Milgard School of Business and UW Evans School of Public Policy and Governance, is bringing together the wisdom of the past with up-and-coming leaders to expand cross-generational and interdisciplinary collaboration of complex issues such as land stewardship, community planning, and housing insecurity.

The University of Washington’s Puget Sound Institute (PSI), in partnership with the Milgard School of Business and other partners, is launching an innovative Collaborative Leadership Program to train the next generation of leaders dedicated to protecting and restoring Puget Sound. This initiative, developed with support from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Department of Natural Resources, focuses on teaching collaborative skills essential for navigating complex challenges related to environmental protection, resource management, and public policy.

Building on years of work, including a series of oral histories and a documentary featuring prominent Washington leaders, the program is designed to foster intergenerational knowledge exchange. It will offer training in essential skills such as conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, and interest-based negotiation. According to PSI, the program will emphasize learning from past successes in collaborative governance within Puget Sound, providing future leaders with tools to address current and emerging environmental challenges.

By building emotional intelligence and the collaboration capacity of these leaders, these groups will be able to navigate the intersectional challenges that come with different stakeholders. Many parties will come with varied levels of sophistication or be participants with different buckets of developmental areas and individual skills. They need to be good partners while representing the needs of their organization. 

Key Program Elements and Goals:

  1. Collaborative Leadership Course: Developed by PSI and the UW Tacoma Milgard School, this course will incorporate insights from Puget Sound’s history and case studies. Open to students and professionals, the course aims to build collaborative competencies and leadership skills within the workforce.
  2. Interdisciplinary Curriculum: With input from the UW Evans School of Public Policy, UW Earthlab, and the AgForestry Leadership Foundation, the curriculum will focus on Puget Sound examples, addressing themes like climate resilience, environmental justice, and diversity.
  3. Cross-Sector Engagement: The program will create opportunities for participants to engage with public, private, and tribal sectors, strengthening partnerships and supporting regional resilience.

The program adapts and distills knowledge from interviews, archives, and other preserves and synthesizes them to prepare the next generation. Cultivating these leaders satisfies both the needs of the campus mission with its community impact, and cross-disciplinary practice, serving in partnership with local Tribes and building an empathetic frame for solutions working together. The project needs additional bridge funding to extend its reach, with goals to expand its scope to include broader Washington regions, feature landmark case studies, and develop video profiles of key leaders.

Interested community members, alumni, and leaders are encouraged to support and engage with this exciting initiative. 
The program is a transformative opportunity to build a stronger, more collaborative Puget Sound and ensure that future leaders are well-equipped to meet environmental and resource management challenges head-on.
For more information on this project, please contact Michael Kern at Mkern@uw.edu

(Phil Rigdon of the Yakama Nation and Urban Eberhart of the Kittitas Reclamation District

Photo of Phil Rigdon, Yakama Nation and Urban Eberhart, Kittitas Reclamation District, taken by Michael Kern
Willie Frank III, Jim Wilcox, and David Troutt in a screenshot from their oral history interview by TVW

Pictured - Willie Frank III, Nisqually Indian Tribe, Jim Wilcox, Wilcox Farms, and David Troutt, Nisqually Indian Tribe from their interview with TVW.
Written by Noah Carr
Photos provided by Michael Kern - Credited photographers listed below the image.
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