Luna Jimenez Seminars

“Collaboration is about people working together effectively towards a shared and accepted set of objectives that generates solutions from a team that no individual could produce alone.” Baroundi Bloor

Collaboration is a bit of a buzz word thrown around in organizational change circles. But what does collaboration really mean when it’s put into practice? How would you recognize collaboration if you saw it?  I have identified five core “best practice”s to enhance or build collaborative partnerships. True collaboration seeks to keep all party’s peerness as central to the endeavor.  Power imbalances can skew both the practice and effectiveness of collaboration.

1)     Early Involvement: Nothing says we’re doing this together better than starting from the beginning together.  Early involvement assumes that your collaboration partner is an essential element to getting any project off the ground—and in it’s long-term success. It’s much harder to establish shared ownership in a project when it’s already underway and you have to adopt or adapt to someone else’s pre-determined outcomes and process.  Often, the collaboration itself shapes the very direction, process and outcomes and is a different project all together by the mere nature of collaborating.

2)     Co-create Shared Objectives: The essence of collaboration is having a shared objective. At the beginning of any new project, work together to agree on these outcomes, along with timescales, activities and everything else that goes with managing any kind of project. When this is not done, the people involved will not know what is required of them, and will undoubtedly be ineffective overall but certainly unclear about their role in bringing the collaborative effort to successful fruition.  If a project is already underway, it’s not too late to go back and clarify!

3)     Design and Protect Time for Collaboration: Time to collaborate won’t appear, you’ll have to create it.  And part of valuing the collaborative process means setting aside the time to do so—and protecting that time from other demands that would seek to infringe on it.  Communicate with colleagues and/or supervisors so that they understand you are using time for collaboration—especially when it may mean you cannot be as available for another meeting or task.  Remember that in the end collaboration creates more space and time because of the increased productivity and sharing of resources.  The more integral collaboration becomes the easier it will be understand why it’s a priority.

4)     Communicate, Communicate, Communicate: Communication cannot be overstated.  Having clear communication at every step of the process is crucial to effective collaboration.  And communication does not mean simply “telling;” clear communication also means listening deeply, checking in to see if you understand what is being said, asking questions that encourage the speaker to “tell me more,” etc.  Using collaborative technologies to increase communication is great—and keep in mind it is no substitute for face-to-face, in person meetings.  Explore various kinds of communication—and use them all.  Discover which are most effective with your team and use them most often!

5)     Recognize and Reward Effective Teamwork: Nothing says “success” like “success.” As you move along this journey, share your observations of collaboration success—both in process and outcome.  The more you affirm your victories the more likely you will be to repeat them.  No success is too small to recognize! In addition, determine how meaningful rewards can be fashioned to acknowledge the team’s success (rather than the individual’s) and implement them.

What are your thoughts about collaboration? Where have you been successful in implementing one or more of these best practices? What other ones might you include? How have you successfully challenged power imbalances in a collaborative relationship? How not?

How Institutional Power Makes Us Clueless: Becoming an Inclusive Facilitator through a Practice of Self Transformation

Presented by Nanci Luna Jiménez, and Shoshanna Cogan

From an early age, our experiences are shaped by power imbalances based on age, gender, ethnicity, religion, class, sexual orientation, etc. These experiences shape both what and how we know ourselves and our world, as well as what and how we don’t know. These power imbalances make us clueless. In this 3-hour interactive workshop we will learn a framework for understanding the dynamic of institutional and internalized oppression, its impact on us personally as well as the groups we facilitate. We will also practice tools to help us effectively interrupt these impacts. With these new-found skills, we will begin to identify how to increase our cultural competency as facilitators and be more capable allies to all participants.

A 3 hour workshop, presented at the IAF North America Conference, in Denver, CO, April 15, 2011

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