This week’s guest lecture was given by Mark Elliott, leader and strategy specialist of Collabforge, a Melbourne based firm specialising in collaboration. As an expert on collaboration, Mark Elliott’s discussion of the topic barely fit in the one – two hour lecture time slot. Overwhelmed by a title wave of information, I recorded Mark Elliott’s ideas regarding the process of collaboration to involve the following:

• Coordination – individual elements brought into a space that foregrounds patterns (Google search return, Olympic opening ceremony)
• Coordination makes Cooperation possible

• Cooperation – Individual contributions to a process that aggregates for gain (voting, recycling, office hierarchy) – requirements for compliance to a process (transactional))
• Cooperation makes Collaboration possible.
• i.e. Collaboration requires both Coordination and Cooperation

Some other interesting dot points are:

– Most business’ are transactional and not actually collaborative.

– Dissonance – conscious – you are not getting beyond where the individuals would get individually – doesn’t feel good.

– When you resolve that dissonance into consonance – that’s the moment that feels good – to constructively create stuff together is when collaboration really occurs (micro level).

– So you should notice and feel dissonance and respect it but not dwell on it and instead work to break through it

– In order to expand we have to focus on planning for new members and incorporating them in the contribution – will eventually reach a point where it resembles a dinner party – sub groups having there own conversations.

Collectively creativity – you can’t define the results (otherwise there would be no point) – compare to a team sport – need to have practice games to win the championship – outside perspectives (coaches), practice specific aspects of it, etc.

Points out that to get good at collaborating you need a good group of people and a task to work on and practicing collaboration is a good starting point (lego game) – reflection = was that the best response we had to the collaboration process or was that just a normal response?

Why we collaborate?

1.more fun

2.more possibilities

3.more strategic

“What makes a great brief for us – are the briefs that we have co-created with the client – because they wrote it so they don’t want to see it die”

This lecture made me realise, among an array of other things, the importance of practicing collaboration before attempting to complete a collaborative project. In relation to our group research project we are currently in the process of completing for this class, this practice will be especially important. For some reason, this provokes thought of playing ‘drinking games’ within the group, as not only games but also the consumption of alcohol are both ice-breaking strategies in relation to easing the ability for people to interact and therefore collaborate. Is that okay to think? Or does that just make me an alcoholic?