Cultivating Effective Professional Collaborations

1. Cultivating Effective Professional Collaborations What is collaboration and why is it important? What are the inherent socio-psychological tensions that must be navigated? What can leaders do to support effective collaborations? Dr. Daniel Gray Wilson Harvard Graduate School of Education, Project Zero

2. Why collaboration? • The voice of policy • 21st century skills movement: curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2002). • The voice of research • Group learning increases student academic achievement, conceptual understanding, and prosocial behaviors/ attitudes. (Cohen, 1994; Slavin, 2010). • Informal learning is the basis for 70% of professional knowledge. (Leslie et al, 1998).

3. Why collaboration? • The voice of policy • 21st century skills movement: curiosity, creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2002). • The voice of research • Teacher inquiry groups increases teacher satisfaction & motivation and student performance (Little et al, 2003). • Collaborative leadership models account for 27% of the variation of student achievement (Hallinger & Heck, 1998; Louis et al, 2010).

4. What enables collaboration? • Shared goals, vision • Motivating challenge • Relevant problem • Diversity of views • Clear roles • Shared leadership • No egos • Equality, democracy • Honesty • Trust • Mutual respect • Taking risks • Time to meet • Fun and humor • Space and food • Open communication • Feedback • Persistence

5. What is collaboration? Collaboration Cooperation Coordination Communication • Dimensions • Interdependent tasks what • Coherent composition who • Group process how • Collective commitments why

6. Fundamental Tensions create shared certainty and maintain doubt. demonstrate competencies anddisclose vulnerabilities. influence through hierarchy andheterarchy. Knowing Trusting Leading

7. Tension of Knowing

8. Tension of Knowing Conditional Claims 70% 50% AssertiveClaims 30% Low Team Performance High

9. Languages of Collaboration Regressive Progressive

10. Tension of Knowing

12. Fundamental Tensions Knowing Trusting Leading create shared certainty and maintain doubt. demonstrate competencies anddisclose vulnerabilities. influence through hierarchy andheterarchy.

13. Tension of Trusting Why is it difficult to seek help?For fear of being seen as incompetent, dependent, and vulnerable.

14. Tension of Trusting Examples of routines. . . • After action reviews • Protocols • IDEO: “Hope-Goals-Fears” A big challenge. . . • 70% of professional knowledge is built informally (US Center for Workforce Development, 1998) • 10% of professional development budgets focus on informal learning (Zenger et al, 2005)

15. Fundamental Tensions Knowing Trusting Leading create shared certainty and maintain doubt. demonstrate competencies anddisclose vulnerabilities. influence through hierarchy andheterarchy.

16. Tension of Leading Leadership is a social interaction of influence, not a characteristic of an individual. Social influence as multiple bases of power . . . Positional: has a legitimate right? Evaluative: can reward/punish through assessment? Expertise: holds specialized knowledge/skills? Relational: social closeness & connectivity?

17. Tension of Leading • Case: Big Picture Schools • 31,000 studentsin 20 US States & 6 countries • 90% graduate, 95% collegeplacement(versus 67% & 44% in US) What is learned? Student-mentor-advisor co-create projects How is it learned? Student-advisor-mentor co-create plans How is it evaluated? Exhibitions in which students, advisors, mentors, community members, and families give feedback.

18. Some Reflections • At its core, collaboration is about co-creation • Collaboration involves inherent social tensions of knowing, trusting, and leading. • Leaders create cultures that navigate these tensions via language, routines, roles, and space/objects • Key challenges remains. . . • How to evaluate cultural interventions to show their intended (and unintended) impacts on 21st century learning outcomes?

19. Bibliography Cohen, E. (1994). Restructuring the classroom: Conditions for productive group work. Review of Educational Research, 64(1), 1-35. Hallinger, P & Heck, R, 1998, Exploring the principal’s contribution to school effectiveness: 1980–1995, School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 9, 157–91 Lee, F. (2002). The social costs of seeking help. Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 38(1), 17-35. Leslie, B., Aring, M. K., & Brand, B. (1998). Informal learning: The new frontier of employee & organizational development. Economic Develop Review, 15(4), 12-18. Little, J. W., Gearhart, M., Curry, M., & Kafka, J. (2003). Looking at student work for teacher learning, teacher community, and school reform. Phi Delta Kappan, 85(3), 184-192. Louis, K. S., Leithwood, K., Wahlstrom, K. L., & Anderson, S. E. (2010). Learning from leadership: Investigating the links to improved student learning: The Wallace Foundation. Partnership for 21st Century Skills. (2002). Learning for the 21st Century. Washington, DC: Partnership for 21st Century Skills. Slavin, R. E. (2010). Co-operative learning: what makes group-work work? In H. Dumont, D. Istance & F. Benavides (Eds.), Nature of learning: Using research to inspire practice (pp. 161-178). London: OECD Publishing. Wilson, D. (2007). Team learning in action: An analysis of the sensemaking behaviors in adventure racing teams as they perform in fatiguing and uncertain contexts.Ed.D, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA. Wilson, D. , Biller, M. (in press). Three phases of learning: Learning in, from, and for action. Organizational Dynamics.