Working collaboratively:
Leaders and groups work to create and maintain an effective environment for collaboration and interdependence. Garmston and Wellman assert that the dominant presupposition is that diversity is a necessary resource and that subcultures must connect with and value one another. They further maintain that the knowledge necessary to effectively work in this way includes 4 group member capabilities (chapter 8), 7 norms of collaboration (chapter 3), mastery of dialogue and discussion (chapter 4), successful meeting management (chapter 5), facilitation skills (chapter 7) and the ability to work effectively with conflict (chapter 9).
I think the emphasis on interdependence is a crucial one in relation to the power relationships inherent in any collaborative work. Fullan emphasises early attention to relationships as does Professor Russell Bishop in the Te Kotahitanga project which began with whanaungatanga, supporting participants to make relationship & networking links before even thinking about collaboration.Interdependence generates shared ownership and "simplexity", Fullan's term for love, trust & resistance combined.
ReplyDeleteMichael Fullan, Motion Leadership, the skinny on becoming change savvy. http://www.michaelfullan.ca/images/handouts/11_TheSkinny_A4.pdf
Te Kotahitanga http://tekotahitanga.tki.org.nz/About/The-Development-of-Te-Kotahitanga/History-of-the-Project