Effective team work and collaboration

Recently I have been researching collaborative approaches to team work in connection with not only my role as Principal Lecturer but also in preparation for delivery of interdisciplinary courses that cross three schools (Visual Arts, Creative Writing and Performing Arts) in our faculty.  A key aspect in this, of course, is development of good communication within a team.


Attached here is a link to a you tube clip that I found recently.  I will use this as a resource with students and in a team teaching situation. As well as talking about the benefits of interdisciplinary collaborations to promote inventive thinking and to solve problems, there is a section where people are seated around the table that illustrates potential team dynamics (and obstacles) and promotes the idea of an enabler being a crucial element to channel communication.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsndhCQ5hRY&feature=related

 While I find that term a bit odd, preferring facilitator I often see myself in that role.   The clip will be a resource that begins discussions around how we all operate within a group - with the view to creating an environment where discussion on this topic will build peer relationships and provide opportunities to build a culture of inquiry and reflection.  The beauty of this as a resource is that the animation style and content of speech bubbles provide a fairly light hearted and fun method to generate discussion around a topic that for some is difficult and encroaches on personal inhibitions/space.


Attached also is an excerpt from mindtools.com, a site I visit a lot for leadership inspiration.  This excerpt discusses Belbin's definitions of how people operate in a team.  Primarily I sit in the people orientated roles section, however flip in and out of others as required.  This people focus concurs with some work I have done around Edgar Schein's Career Anchors - where I  sit in the Service to a Cause (see below) grouping.

http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_83.htm

Service and Dedication to a Cause

A high score in this area suggests you would not like to give up to pursue work that achieve something of value, such as making the world a better place to live, solving environmental problems, improving harmony among people, helping others, improving people’s safety, curing diseases through new products, and so on. You pursue such opportunities even if it means changing organisations, and you do not accept transfers or promotions that would take you out of work that fulfils those values. 

From Edgar Schein's Career Anchors

Generally I see part of my role within the School of Visual Arts as one that encourages discussion about communication, leadership and how we operate in groups - both for students and staff - in the hope of cultivating an open minded, mutually supportive and reflective creative space.