Collaboration

UC Core Competencies - Building Relationships

  • Interacts with others in ways that demonstrate collaboration and cooperation. Builds partnerships with others to achieve organizational results. Cultivates, builds and maintains positive relationships across the organization.

    • Building partnerships

    • Positive relationships

    • Networking/building your network

    • Helping and supporting fellow employees

    • Implementing solutions

    • Fostering open environments, creating a safe space

    • Work relationships/alliances inside and outside the organization

    • Improving relationships

Team Building with Myers-Briggs—Building a Home Out of M&M’s

The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is a useful instrument for illustrating and appreciating differences between each other (though not scientifically sound). One of my favorite activities is demonstrating this to naysayers who equate MBTI to astrology, so here’s a simple team building activity you can use when your unit is in need of something lighthearted. To avoid spoiler alerts, I’m not including photos, but am happy to share some examples from the many times I’ve done this on campus, if you email me.

Firstly, all participants will need to know their...

What's Your Shadowside On a Team?

Increasing employees’ self-awareness of their personal ‘shadow’ on the team helps create a tone on the team that is more open and conducive to team skill sharing. You should use...

Top Qualities of a Great Collaborator

Collaboration is one of the top 3 soft skills employers look for in candidates. So, you might be wondering how to find out if a candidate is a gifted collaborator. Or you might be wondering if you're a natural collaborator yourself. Chances are, if you're dealing with a natural collaborator, they have several of the qualities in this article.

Read the article...

Communities of Practice: The Missing Piece

Communities of practice are rising in popularity at organizations that seek to focus its members on a specific outcome while also having the added benefits of facilitating personal growth and fostering community. Encouraging communities of practice within the workplace directly addresses issues like organizational silos, duplication of work, and discouragement due to lack of support.

Ready to incorporate communities of practice in your workplace? Remember these key elements:

Create a safe environment where members are comfortable asking questions and exploring ideas Support...

The Impact of Interruptions

In order to achieve high performance it is important that we are able to work with focus. We have all had the experience of working on a task and starting to gain some momentum. Our brain is fully engaged, we begin to get immersed, and we sense an underlying feeling of excitement as we begin to make progress. And then…

Fred stops by to say “Hi, nice to see you at your desk.” or

Mary says… “Quick question…” or

John says… “I’m just going to sneak past you to leave a quick note for Nancy.”

In this one moment, this point of...

What Google Learned From Its Quest to Build the Perfect Team

Five years ago, Google — one of the most public proselytizers of how studying workers can transform productivity — became focused on building the perfect team. In the last decade, the tech giant has spent untold millions of dollars measuring nearly every aspect of its employees’ lives. Google’s People Operations department has scrutinized everything from how frequently particular people eat together (the most productive employees tend to build larger networks by rotating dining companions) to which traits the best managers share (unsurprisingly, good communication and avoiding...

How Social Learning is Transforming Professional Development

According to Wenger-Trayner, “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly.” Communities of practice are a key component of effective professional development because learning is a social activity.

There are three components of CoPs:

1. THE DOMAIN: Any CoP is defined by a common interest and focus. It is not just a group of people who like the same thing or have the same tastes—there is a shared...

Why Communities of Practice Are Important

Educational theorist Etienne Wenger proposed and established the concept of collaborative learning through reflection, inquiry, and practice in his 1998 book, Communities of Practice. Since then, communities of practice have become an acclaimed professional learning method due to its long-term and short-term benefits for both the individuals involved and the organization as a whole. As members of communities of practice develop enhanced skills such as networking and confidence, organizations will also gain value in retention of talent and innovation, among other benefits.

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Working with People Who Aren't Self-Aware

A strong sense of self-awareness, having a clear idea of who we are and how we are seen by others, is a valuable trait to possess and practice in both the workplace and in everyday life. However, according to research by the Harvard Business Review, most people overestimate how self-aware they really are. Working towards improving our self-awareness is beneficial to us and those around us. Despite this, it is not a guarantee that others will follow suit. Unaware coworkers can cause interpersonal conflict and frustrate others in the workplace. Chances are, everyone will come across an...

What is Social Learning (And How to Adopt it)

Social learning defines learning as a cognitive process that occurs in a social context through examples and direct experiences, favoring a real-life approach. In contrast to formal learning systems such as classroom or web-based traning, social learning tools present knowledge in relevant social contexts. Social learning promotes knowledge retention, encourages learning in working environments, and allows learners to pull knowledge from experts within the organizations. The 70:20:10 model, a strategy based on social learning, suggests that 70% of learning happens through on-the-job...