Opportunities to Collaborate
One thing we often overlook is how many opportunities we have to collaborate with others yet so often we choose to take on the world on our own. When really we could all benefit from taking some time to explore opportunities to collaborate. I think sometimes the hesitancy to collaborate with others comes from the lack of focus on collaboration skills and benefits of it in the school system.
As an elementary school teacher, I see the need for students to collaborate and the benefits they get from learning from each other and working together. I think as students get into the higher grades the amount of time and opportunity to collaborate in effective ways gets diminished as they are forced to focus on standardized assessments and tests. We need to find ways to value teamwork and interpersonal skills more than we value individual achievement and performance. This would set the stage for more collaboration when students exit the school system.
How can we re-educate ourselves into seeing and understanding the benefits of collaboration and not view working with others as competition. I know for myself that effective collaboration works when everyone involved is onboard and working together. We all have memories of group work projects where one person did all the work while the others fooled around or when there was that one person that did not do their job in the group work project and brought everyone’s performance down. These memories often leave a bad taste in our mouths for entering into collaborative projects.
So how do we collaborate effectively? First, I would say know your limits. Focus on what you are good at and find people who excel in areas that you don’t so that you can utilize each others strengths. Being a single mom, I often think and feel that I have do everything myself but as the years have gone on I realize that I do best when I seek help for things I am not good at, like building a deck or fixing my furnace. Those tasks I cannot even attempt to think I can take on myself. I am lucky enough that I have amazing friends who can share their skills and expertise in areas I don’t.
At work it is the same. Teaching can often be a very individual career where you do not collaborate much because you are in a room with children and no other adults. My best teaching is always when I collaborate with others and we work together to build projects or tasks that hone on our individual skills. Often initial ideas are completely modified into a way better version of the initial idea because of effective collaboration and brainstorming.
This week I want you to think about how often you collaborate with others. Is it effective collaboration or is it frustrating? Analyze what is going on in your home life and work life and see if there is an area of either one where you could collaborate with another. After your collaborative experience notice if your feelings around collaboration has shifted. Was it a good experience or a negative one? What factors played a role in making the experience positive or negative.
Truly in the end, I think collaboration done well can help us feel more fulfilled and do a better job than we would have if we spearheaded everything on our own.
