Collaboration has grown over the last four or five years at my campus amongst our Staff members who represent individual Departments. The five principals highlighted in this module serve as a concrete explanation for this growth.
Today there is a deep respect for the individual and an understanding that they have come to work to 'better' everyone's day including their own. This foundation of respect, fosters a mutual understanding as we all strive to meet corporate objective.
We have common ground which holds all of us accountable for the outcome. All voices and opinions are heard when tackling a problem or issue. This has provided for a deeper understanding amongst the Staff as we can now view the issue from different vantage points.
Leon, that's great to hear. What does your manager do to create that environment?
Dr. Jean Norris
Our management team collabarate on all major issues that affect the overall operations at our campus. The Director at my campus creates an environment that allows for opened dialog, which I greatly appreciate.
That's great Corin! When we can be flexible in our communication style we have the ability to connect with more individuals. Let us know how your new skills work out for you.
We have weekly meetings to make sure everyone is on the same page but corporate people seem to be stuck in their ways and unwilling to hear the newer generations. Now after watching this video I feel i know how to talk to the older generations to help them see the younger generations points of view too.
Growth of an organization has an interesting impact on the staff and as you mention, we may need to make a greater effort to connect with our new larger team. Staff meetings can be a great opportunity to connect. What can you personally do to connect with team members outside of staff meetings?
I am lucky to work for a school where a number of us have been there for over ten years. We used to all go on a retreat together. We all love the school and value each relationship. Now, we're much larger of a company and have to remind ourselves (with overwhelming work load) to still connect. At our staff meetings, we discuss current issues, look at the big picture, and staff have time to discuss.
Thanks! It does help because I know I work with people who not only support me but like working with me. And it helps to go to work every day knowing other people in the office want you to be there!
This is fantastic! It sounds like your organization has a collaborative culture and productive inter-departmental collaboration. I am also sensing that that level of support helps you to be more resourceful in approaching challenging situations. Thank you for your post Kathryn.
Gambel,
Keeping an open dialog is important for any organization and meetings can be beneficial in collaboration. I'm curious, what is your experience with collaboration outside of the meeting setting? Have you had success in that area?
Dr. Jean Norris
I think support for co-workers is done very well at my school. Everyone is extremely respectful of everyone else and there is a great deal of trust among co-workers. We have brief meetings every day to discuss any problem students or school issues and everyone is open to ideas from the entire group. If ther are student issues, there is collaboration in getting different departments involved depending on who has had the most contact with the student.
We have weekly meetings as a team to go over any issues or concerns any of us or our students are having. It keeps the communication lines open, confusion and frustration down to a minimum and boosts overall morale.
Think of the gift you will bring to the team if you can help everyone work on a collaborative environment. Good luck with the training and let us know how it works out.
I immediately thought of a staff member of mine that needs to get better at collaboration. This person tends to blame others first, rather than looking at themselves and finding areas for self improvement. This person also tends to blame the individual rather than the behavior, or the action that caused a problem. I am going to help train my team and this person on how to better collaborate to solve problems within the office place.
Our College as a unique institution. We all try to support each other when numbers match quality and we all have one goal, increase Retention, High rate of graduation every time we open classes and compete in the market above all Nursing schools. Being and working in TEAM makes us grow and confident. We like to sleep relaxed and make sure we always do the right thing in TEAM.
The collaborative principal that is being shared effectively in our organization is shared resources. I believe we all have very specialized and unique resources that we offer the organization and it is done without hesitation.
Keeping an open dialog is so important and can be accomplished a number of ways, including meetings. What other ways can you encourage and open dialog and encourage collaboration?
regular meetings is the key. weekly or daily dissuccions helps to keep an opened dialog and keep cunfusion to a minimum.
Thank you for sharing Terri, it sounds like you have a great collaborating team!
In my admissions dept. I think our collaboration is excellant. We share a common goal from the owner of our school througout all of our departments.We are focused on excellence in preparing our motivated students for successful careers. We take great pride in securing applicants that have the educational background to become successful first as a graduate and secondly as a professional in their career choice. In my dept. we all share the one goal of making a start together. If we do not make it because of a higher rejection rate, we still share the our common goal.
