Collaborative Team Meetings and Collaboration Techniques - Essay Example

Elements of Collective Collaboration in Meetings Elements of Collective Collaboration in Meetings A collaborative team consists of a group of people who have common interests and work toward a common goal according to Uvm (nd). Members of the collaborative team take their time to discuss the goals that they hope to achieve as a team as well as the goals that they seek to achieve individually considering the team’s vision. In many cases, the collaborative team meeting comprises individuals who have varying skills and share responsibilities, tasks, leadership and resources (Uvm, nd).

The collaborative team meeting is also time conscious and focuses on using energy to build positive relationships among those present in the meeting. There are several elements that must be present in a collaborative team meeting. One of these elements is participation and leadership (Schied 2010). Members of the collaborative team must at all times view themselves as equals. This helps in encouraging and supporting participation. The person with the greatest expertise is normally assumes the role of leader or facilitator.

In some cases however, leadership is held by the members in rotation. This is commonly the case when the tasks to be performed are repetitive with members holding responsibilities jointly. The facilitator must be unbiased in the meeting to avoid being regarded as a manipulator.Another element of the collaborative meeting is the establishment of collaborative strategies and goals according to Mcie (1999). Goals and strategies to be achieved by the team must be developed through cooperation. Ensuring that the members of the team understand the goals help in keeping the team on track and helps in directing the teams activities and decision making.

Decision making is one thing that cannot be avoided in collaborative team meetings according to (Pascale, 2008). Decision making is a joint responsibility, such decisions being made by consensus. Having consensus as opposed to voting ensures that the decisions made by the team are agreed on by members of the group. Without good communication, decisions cannot be made in a group setting. Collaborative meetings involve communication in which cases members of the team are encouraged to open up and express themselves freely without regard to the extent to which other members will agree with their opinions (Mcie, 1999).

Whenever the collaborative team is faced with an issue, brainstorming is applied to come up with possible solutions (Pascale, 2008). The ideas that members in the meeting come up with are noted down and discussed as the meeting progresses. Since conflicts are part of group meetings, it is always important to resolve or otherwise deal with them as they arise. The collaborative meeting ought not to have winners or losers and as such, the team must always apply conflict resolution techniques that have been agreed on (Schied, 2010).

In the event of conflicts, each member in the meeting whether or not subject to the conflict, is treated with respect. In conclusion, for effective collaboration in a meeting, members and the stakeholders should be committed to work as a team and have trust for one another. Members should also be able to share ideas and knowledge through effective communication. In this respect, decision making should involve all the members who should be committed to doing their work effectively without encouraging laziness.

ReferencesMcie (1999) Collaborative Teams Structures for Success, retrieved 5th November, 2010http://www.mcie.org/docs/publications/Collaborative%20teams.doc. Pascalate, Z (2008) Collaboration Decision Making: Perspectives and Challenges, Volume 176 of Frontiers in artificial intelligence and applications, IOS Press, 2008Schied, J, (2010), Vital Elements of Team Collaboration, Linda Richter 2010.Uvm (nd) Collaborative teams, retrieved 5th November, 2010 http://www.uvm.edu/~wfox/Collaborative%20Teams.html