The Collaborative Method
Gracy's approach to SOLVING PROBLEMS is biased towards Action and Pragmatism. These attributes are what will make a GiveTrip Project a Success Story. GiveTrip will seek real results delivered effectively at the critical juncture between growing a tourism economy and Saving our Environment.
IDEATION
This divergent stage of collaboration is where ideas are developed. Group activities in this stage are typically called Brainstorming.
CONSENSUS
This convergent stageof collaboration is Necessary to Move Forward from stages of ideation.
The Main Barrier to Collaboration is the difficulty inAchieving Agreement when Diverse Viewpoints exist. This can make Effective Decision-Making more difficult. Even if collaboration members do manage to agree they are very likely to be agreeing from a different perspective. This is often called a cultural boundary.
GRACY METHODOLOGY APPLIED TO PROJECTS:
Deliberate setup of a team
Collaboration by leader is a team model where the members are chosen by a leader. While the leader has common leadership qualities, those who assemble high performing teams also understand the process of collaboration. The goal is to pick team members with compatible values, schedules and working environments while also addressing interest and acuity.
Four roles have been identified and are defined as follows (note that individuals may score high in more than one category) Higher performing teams often have a diverse set of skills and an appropriate number of persons in each role—as required by the goal of the team.
The conceptualist role typically provides ideas, concepts and the ‘visionary’ direction of the group
The formalist role typically excels at production tasks that relate to organization of content, adherence to formal requirements and quality of craft
The operations role typically offers professional demeanor, documentation of process and articulation of verbal and/or visual presentation
The technician role often excels at performing research and using technology.
Thinking styles:
Internal thinkers typically express themselves best through writing and take longer to develop and express ideas.
External thinkers typically express themselves best through speech and are faster at developing and expressing ideas.
With both thinking styles, each benefits from the existence of the other; internal thinkers ‘feed’ off of the rapid-fire ideas of external thinkers and, conversely, external thinkers are ‘grounded’ by the deliberate pace at which internal thinkers operate.
Detailed thinkers typically focus on specific, existing situations and start small, eventually working towards solving the greater whole of a given problem.
Visionary thinkers typically focus on broad, potential situations and start big, eventually working towards solving the more specific parts of a given problem
Detailed and visionary thinkers succeed in opposite realms and collaboratively can produce results faster and better than alone.
Working styles:
Two primary types of working styles exist, each benefiting from contributions of the other:
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Alone/Quiet/Focused workers are typically self-paced, internal thinkers who are driven by goals and are conscious of ownership issues. They are usually best at expressing themselves in writing.
Shared/High-Energy/Dynamic workers are typically fast-paced, external thinkers who are conceptual/visionary and work towards building consensus in real-time. They are usually best at expressing themselves verbally
Learning styles:
For collaboration purposes, three learning styles are typically identified:
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Auditory learning occurs through hearing the spoken word and represents approximately 25% of the population
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Kinesthetic learning occurs through doing, touching and interacting and represents approximately 40% of the population
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Visual learning occurs through images, demonstrations and body language and represents approximately 30% of the population
Through the use of varied (or redundant) communication styles, collaborative groups can communicate better both internally and externally.
To Sustain Effective Collaboration as a group works to meet its goals, the following components should be included.
Interpersonal communication
Communication is composed of the following:
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52% based on body language
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37% based on the tone of voice
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11% based on words
In collaborative groups, Two Styles of Communication are likely to be found:
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Indirect communicators are typically persons who use intuitive means to understand the needs and desires of others. They find direct questions difficult to answer and direct communication rude and insensitive.
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Direct communicators are typically persons who use conscious thought to understand the needs and desires of others, they ask questions directly and expect direct responses
Respect
In collaboration, respect is a critical component of group performance.
Values:
Group values, when contributed to and accepted by all, are an excellent way to increase morale and performance within collaborative group settings.
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