Time Spent in Collaboration Professional Organization Alone Group American Consulting Engineers Council 84 16 American Institute of Chemists. American Psychological Assoc 86 14 International City Management Association 79 21 Modern Language Association 90 10 Professional Services Management 80 20 Society for Technical Communication 73 27

Whom Do You Interact With? Other writers Subject matter experts Printing-production people Managers

Advantages of Collaboration Joint knowledge, experience, and writing expertise A variety of ideas and approaches The strengths of all members Different perspectives generating better products

Disadvantages of Collaboration Multiple/conflicting personalities and approaches More time Inequitable division of tasks Loss of personal satisfaction, ownership, or creativity

Why Collaboration Fails? Ignorance of each others strengths and weaknesses Lack of leadership/coordination Lack of appreciation for fellow member’s role Inability to plan and negotiate through difficulties Failure to resolve conflict and to reach consensus

Why Collaboration Fails? Personality conflict Different understanding of the audience, context, and purpose Misconception about the writing process Ignorance of group writing process

Successful Collaboration Writing skills and group managment skills Negotiating and interpersonal skills Being clear about the document and group interaction Open mindedness about intertpersonal conflict Tolerance to multiple perspectives Observing group dynamics and project progress continuously Willingness to intervene anytime to change direction, task, role, and norm if the change

Managing Collaborative Teams Keep lines of communication open Make sure responsibility for final product is shared equally by all members of the team Create small teams to address complex and interesting tasks Make sure written documents are considered as important as the products they accompany

Managing Meetings Set Agenda Focus on agenda items Record task Record process Build consensus, trust Manage conflict Start and end on time

Skills We Need to Focus on Listening Interpersonal communication Managing meetings Plan, conduct, follow through Conflict management Leadership Decision making Trust building