Collaboration Skills
University of North Alabama
Today’s Goals
 Understand and implement skills to successfully
communicate and collaborate
 Collect the positive lessons learned from past
collaboration efforts
 Reflect, collect and learn from experiences this week
 Brainstorm necessary support to develop successful
collaborations
Expectations
 Take 2 minutes to think about your expectations for
today.
 Using one post-it note for each idea and working
silently, write down your individual expectations.
 Organize these notes in the center of your table, read
colleagues’ ideas as you go, and cluster ideas as best
you can with little discussion.
 Talking with your team members, assign a category title
to each cluster and resolve differences.
Sharing
Whip Around
 Move around the room, calling on one participant at a
time.
 Have participants share one of their responses, their
team responses, or team categories.
 When called on, participants should not repeat a
response; they must add something new.
 Keep your responses short and to the point so we can
include as many responses as possible.
Reflection
 For the past two activities (Expectations and Sharing),
the activities were structured to ensure balanced
participation and support collaboration.
 Can you identify some of the structures used to ensure
balanced participation and support collaboration?
 Talk to your table group.
Collaboration and
Communication Skills
What is necessary for successful collaboration?
 Skills
 Norms
 Knowledge
Four Capabilities (Skills)
 To know one’s intentions and choose congruent
behaviors
 To set aside unproductive patterns of listening,
responding, and inquiring
 To know when to self-assert and when to integrate
 To know and support the group’s purposes, topics,
processes, and development
Garmston, R. and Wellman, B. (2009). Adaptive schools: Developing collaborative groups
4 Capabilities
Jigsaw
 Count off 1-4 at your tables. Move into new groups.
 Read the handout silently, highlight and take notes as
you go.
 Once all of your group members are done reading,
share ideas that stayed with you, concepts that inspired
questions, or elements that were confusing.
 Be prepared to share with the mixed group.
Reflection
 How did the Jig Saw activity support practice and
implementation of the 4 Capabilities?
Intention and Behavior
 Clarity of intention in the moment and over time drives
attention
 The what and how a group member participates
 The source of impulse control, patience, strategic
listening, and strategic speaking
 The foundation for flexible and effective behavior
Listen, Respond, and Inquire
 Set aside autobiographical listening, responding, and
inquiring - “ME TOO!”
 Set aside inquisitive listening, responding, and inquiring
- “TELL ME MORE!”
 Set aside solution listening, responding, and inquiring “I KNOW WHAT TO DO!”
Self-assert and Integrate
 When to challenge; when to go with the flow
 Self-assert- does not mean self-focus
 refocusing the group on a topic or on a process
 reminding others of the purpose
 speaking up and advocating
 Integrate - align energy with the meeting
 suspend judgments and counter arguments
 follow the flow of logic and reasoning
Know and Support
the Group
All ongoing groups need to balance three simultaneous
agendas:
 Task focus - group’s ultimate purpose
 Process skills development - expand its capacity for
handling more complex tasks
 Group development - continuum from novice to highperforming
Seven Norms of Collaboration
 Pausing
 Paraphrasing
 Probing for specificity
 Putting ideas on the table
 Putting inquiry at the center
 Paying attention to self and others
 Presuming positive intentions
Garmston, R. and Wellman, B. (2009). Adaptive schools: Developing collaborative groups
Exploring New Information
Delve and Dialogue
 Read the selection about 7 Norms and make
connection with some aspect of your work at UNA.
 With your elbow partner, share some of your
connections.
 Honor the spirit of inquiry with pausing, paraphrasing,
and probing.
Structured Group Sharing
 One group member shares an idea
 No interruptions or questions during sharing
 Set aside unproductive listening, responding, and
inquiring
 You will have 1 minutes to share
 Your group will have 1 minutes for responding:
 Paraphrasing
 Probing for specificity
Dialogue vs. Discussion
 Dialogue: A reflective learning process in which group
members seek to understand one another’s point of
views and deeply held assumptions. This is a listening
practice.
 Discussion: Focuses on cause and effect and the
ripple effects of proposed actions and solutions.
Requires mental and emotional flexibility.
 Decision-making process
 Knowledge of the group’s authority
 Standards for orderly decision-making meetings
Garmston, R. and Wellman, B. (2009). Adaptive schools: Developing collaborative groups
Working Together
Pair Share
 Determine A partner and B partner.
 Both partners: Skim introductory section
 A partner: Read & take notes about Dialogue (pg. 2)
 B partner: Read & take note about Discussion (pg. 4)
 Share what you learned with your partner about
Dialogue or Discussion.
 Why might it be important to understand the difference?
Reflection
 How might you apply the concept of Dialogue and
Discussion to any future collaborative work?
 As a student?
 As faculty?
 As a staff member?
Final Reflection
 How did the 4 Capabilities and 7 Norms influence
participation in the activities?
 How was your understanding of the Dialogue and
Discussion different from other collaborative
experiences?
 If you are working in a group and are the only member
who knows these skills and norms, how might you
influence the group?
Lessons Learned
 Work with your previous Capabilities group.
 Think about what lessons you have learned and would
like to share with others from past collaborations.
 Share with your table group.
 Practice 4 Capabilities and 7 Norms
 Pausing, Paraphrasing, Probing, and Putting Ideas on the
Table
 Make notes.
Lessons Learned Transition
 Move to mixed 1-2-3-4 groups
 Take your notes with you
 Review of 7 Norms
 Goals:
 Clarify the thinking of the speaker (paraphrase)
 Understand the speaker (probing for specificity)
Lessons Learned Part 2
 Practice 4 Capabilities and 7 Norms
 Each member shares information. Others:
 Clarify the thinking of the speaker (paraphrase)
 Understand the speaker (probing for specificity)
 Determine the most relevant ideas
 Create a poster of the most relevant ideas
 Select one group member to share with whole group
 Facilitator Move: PAG/PAU
Lessons Learned Sharing
 One group member shares group’s ideas
 No interruptions or questions during sharing
 Set aside unproductive listening, responding, and
inquiring
 You will have 2 minutes to share
 We will have 1 minutes for responding:
 Paraphrasing
 Probing for specificity
Reflection
 After reading and hearing about the 4 Capabilities, where do you
want to be as a collaborative team member?
 List a description of yourself under “Desired State.”
 Complete the graphic organizer:
What do you need?
Existing
State
Desired
State
What capabilities
should you work on?
 List what you need or what capabilities you would like to work
on.
Reflection
Where are you?
 Fold a piece of paper in half. Label the left side
“Existing State” and the right side “Desired State.”
 Take a few minutes and think about where you see
yourself as a collaborative team member now.
 What do you currently do to contribute or detract from a
collaborative effort?
 Write your thoughts under “Existing State.”
 Facilitator Moves: Count Down