COLLABORATION

Getting into the flow…

This week’s reading (Keith Sawyer, 2007, Group Genius: The creative power of collaboration, New York: Basic Books, 2007, pp.39-57) talks about getting into the creative flow, group chemistry and collaboration. Sawyer describes flow as a state heightened consciousness in which creatives thrive.

How to get into the flow:

1. Skills must match the challenge of the task (not too easy or hard)
2. The goal is clear
3. Constant and immediate feedback of how close you are to achieving the goal
4. Free to concentrate freely on the task

States of flow can occur in individuals, but this article is particularly interest in group flow. Can a group of people reach a higher state of consciousness together and create something extraordinary? Well, the answer is yes, and Sawyer breaks group flow into 10 steps. At first, I found it crazy that someone could just summarise how to get to a higher state of consciousness within a group into 10 steps, but the author has based this analysis on studies of theatre and jazz improv groups, which arguably achieve that state often (if they are good).

1. The group’s goal
   1. competition and loosely structured goals work when there is no specific goal
2. Close listening
3. Complete concentration
4. Being in control
   1. being granted autonomy by management, creative control
5. Blending egos
   1. balancing deep listening with creative contribution
6. Equal participation
7. Familiarity
   1. increases productivity and decision-making effectiveness
   2. tacit knowledge
   3. if group members are too similar, group interaction ceases to be challenging
8. Communication
9. Moving it forward
   1. ‘yes, and’ – theatre improv technique
10. The potential for failure
    1. innovation and frequent failure
    2. deliberate practice: whilst doing a task, thinking about how can i do this better, looking for lessons to be learned

Separately, I know these things are important for a group to work, but seeing all these elements in a list shows me how much work it takes to get a group to function together to make something really special.

Often in university group projects, I have found the elements that are lacking are: complete concentration, blending egos, equal participation, familiarity, communication and moving it forward. This is from my own experience of 3 years working in groups making films. Knowing this though, I can refer to this list in my next group project, and be aware of the elements which have been lacking in the past. Personally, I have trouble with familiarity because it takes me a long time to warm up to people, so I know that in my next group project I should try my best to be friendly and to get to know others.

Another reading we had this week was Jean Tabaka, 2006, ‘What are collaborative teams?’ Collaboration explained: Facilitation skills for software project leaders, Upper Saddle River, NJ : Addison-Wesley, pp.23-43. This reading aimed to explain collaboration and gave its readers some tools to create a more collaborative team.

Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing: The four stages of a creative group

• forming: getting to know one another and skills, figuring out team roles
• storming: jockeying for power and control, conflicts, forming alliances, diverging
• norming: trust, conflicts resolved, consensus, delegation
• performing: team culture is healthy and self-managing, trust, sharing, mutual accountability, self-organization, commitment

Team Roles

D – dominance and drive

I – influence, ‘what ifs’, ideas

S – steadfast, support, relationships

C – conscientious, details

I know that I am a C. I like to make sure a group is following deadlines, that we are meeting all the criteria, that we have all the equipment booked and that everyone is on board with schedules and roles. Sometimes I take on the D role if a group is particularly lacking leadership or drive, in which case I don’t mind taking the reigns, pushing things along and picking up the slack, but if there is someone who has a particular vision that we all agree on or a pushy personality, I remain a C.

Finally from the reading –

Collaborative teams are:

1. Self-organizing
2. Empowered
3. Teams of vision and success
4. Commited
5. Teams of trust
6. Participatory in decision-making
7. Consensus-driven – compromise rather than competing or accomodating
8. Relying on constructive and useful disagreement

I found this reading more helpful than the other because instead of giving one big list of things an ideal group does, this reading breaks down the different stages of a group and how to identify each stage so that you know which direction you need to go. It breaks down the team roles, which is very important, so that as an individual you understand your place in the group, and you can analyse how each individual contributes to the group dynamic. And finally it provides a list of qualities that a collaborative group has, which I think is more succinct than the previous readings list.

All in all, I think keeping all this information in mind will be helpful in my next group project. I am definitely going to write down the team roles and collaborative teams lists in my notebook before my next project, because I’m such a C and I love lists.