5.2 Successful Collaboration
A Look at Successful Collaboration
Perhaps you are just beginning your academic career, or you may be finishing it up. Either way, whether you’re someone new to college or someone who has been in school for a while, you’ve probably had some experience working in a group or on a team of some sort. Maybe you you’ve been part of an athletic or academic team. Perhaps you have some group experience from being a cheerleader, a boy scout or girl scout, or a member of the 4H Club. Either way, you’re likely familiar with the inner workings of a team or group environment.
This page will look at some strategies aimed at effective collaborative writing in both academic and workplace settings.
Establish clear objectives and tasks
Successful collaboration is created by the use of several strategies, including the ability to establish clear objectives and tasks. Just as with individual writing, team writing must employ clear objectives. It is imperative for the success of the project that the objective is clear from the outset. Clear objectives serve as a goal or end result the team aims to achieve. Those goals or objectives serve as a sort of “lighthouse” that can be seen from a distance to help guide the members to a successful end result.
Each member of the team should know from the start what is expected them. They should know their specific part and the connection of that part to the tasks and roles of other team members. Each member should see their role as important and one, which, if not completed, will negatively impact the project.
It is important, then, that the team develop a space to meet and discuss the project—to ask questions, share ideas, provide input on the overall project, etc.
Conduct effective meetings
Another strategy of successful collaboration is the ability to conduct effective meetings that allow members to comfortably share their views and expertise. Being able to do so is often contingent on the ability of the team to employ careful listening skills versus just allowing a member to speak where team members just hear what is being shared. The difference in the two – listening versus hearing – is defined by intent and purpose. In The Science and Art of Listening (2012), Seth Horowitz delineates the two this way: “The difference between the sense of hearing and the skill of listening is attention.” In order to listen versus hear what is being said, then, you must choose (or intend) to understand what is being said, you must give your attention to what is being said. “Listening is a skill that we’re in danger of losing in a world of digital distraction and information overload.” (Horowitz, 2012). “The richness of life doesn’t lie in the loudness and the beat,” he continues, “but in the timbres and the variations that you can discern if you simply pay attention.” (Horowitz, 2012).
Set a project schedule
Successful collaboration is also dependent upon setting a project schedule. In today’s technological world,