Making collaboration work for you

Collaborative work-especially creative collaboration-requires much effort, and is not necessary in many circumstances, especially where the organization can rely on established, repeatable processes to get routine work done. There are times and circumstances, however, when nothing less than an informal or formal collaborative process will serve. The stakes may be high, or the problems to be solved may require non-routine analysis and truly creative approaches. The organization should consider investing in synergistic groups of various kinds (e.g., senior engineers, and strategists) that can be called together quickly to engage in a collaborative process to solve a problem or invent a new approach. Once a group understands how to collaborate, they are able to do it again and again. 
Establishing the conditions that facilitate collaborative work between people and inside existing teams is not a simple matter. GLS understands what it takes, and can help create and maintain such conditions. GLS also models and subtly teaches the dialogic methods that are essential to maintaining collaboration.