The trans-disciplinary companion modeling (ComMod) approach for adaptive renewable resource management aims to facilitate knowledge integration, collective learning, creative negotiation, and institutional innovation about concrete problems faced by communities In this paper, we compare the effects of different ComMod processes on collective water management at five sites located in northeast and northern Thailand, and west-central Bhutan. At the three highland sites, agricultural commercialization leads stakeholders to review the loca/ water management rules while in Northeastern Thailand land/water management dynamics are interlinked with labor migrations and the market integration of farming activities The main effects of the ComMod processes at these sites are analyzed based on a common framework focusing on the stimulated processes of individual and collective learning, communication, negotiation, and coordinated action. The following effects are documented: individual learning about current situation, increased awareness of a collective problem, understanding each other's perceptions, reaching a common agreement on the problem, exploration of new water management rules, implementation of new practices, and institutional innovation. The discussion focuses on how methodological choices made in the implementation of ComMod influenced the observed effects. The factors contributing to, or limiting, the achievement of institutional innovation are underlined, in particular the role of the local institutional context and the possibility to establish inter-institutional dialogue among multiple levels of organization are highlighted. finally, we point out the need for specific monitoring and evaluation procedures adapted to such highly interactive and adaptive processes.