Working Collaboratively

Effects

Good:

- voices
- generating ideas
- improves community outreach
- teaches you to share/ compromise

Bad:

- can be too many voices
- personalities
-conformity: some people, in order to stop disagreeance, will just conform. This takes away from constructive debates/generating ideas (don't allow the halo effect to get in way of work!)

Effective Listening

In groups, you must learn to listen, using some of these simple tips:
- paying attention to speaker -- eye contact
- listen for repeated/emphasized points
- don't allow your emotion to get in way of hearing the other person
- ask questions
-provide feedback -- and do so nicely (see Being a Critic below)

Agenda Setting (p. 49)

-Planning stage: set dates, material needed, divide duties among group members
- Set boundaries of discussion: focus on tasks that your job is requiring

Diplomacy

-bite your tongue, figuratively. If you listen, then stop and think about what person has said and then formulate your thoughts before responding.
- compromise: what is most important to you, give your idea/point to the group, but don't expect to get everything your way. Be realistic and expect give and take. Heck, you even want each person to have a part in the project!
- keep it to project: don't make project about you, but about the company
- again, check your emotional baggage for the flight
- Hear others; reach out without a gun to your head . . .

Being a Critic

- focus on the writing, in both discussion of piece and in your written response. Practice commenting on the language of the piece, not on the person. Don't address the writer as the subject of your response, but go to text to explain what needs work.

-be positive and provide possible solutions: Don't say, "This is makes no sense"; instead say/write, "The verb is missing from the sentences.
- it may sound dumb, but acknowledging so generally is much meaner and negative than actually providing a specific rememdy to writing that needs help. The only thing "This makes no sense" does is tell them what they may already now. But, providing a solution is like providing a prescription.

-start off your critique with the general point(s) of strength and weakness, and then come back to and explain those points by providing example lines within writing that need work (or praise), and then make suggestions for those specific parts that need most work.

Individual Identity

-remember: not everyone is you, and that not everyone thinks, acts, or writes the same. Be careful and reminding of people's personal identity --gender, cultural heritage, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, personal space...the list goes on.


In-class: Case 4: Handling Interpersonal Conflict -->responding on your individual blogs.