The Good Collaboration Toolkit is a collection of materials designed to help individuals and groups develop and nurture effective collaborations. It is intended to be used by people who are engaged in or are embarking upon collaborative endeavors. These might include:

• Students (in secondary school or beyond) working on a group project

• Teams from two or more cooperating organizations or institutions

• Co-workers seeking convergence about visions for shared responsibilities

Collaborative efforts are difficult and often face stumbling blocks. For example, sometimes collaborations have the best intents, but lack the strong leadership necessary for success. Sometimes communication breaks down, or values of stakeholders appear to be in conflict. This Toolkit can help solve these problems and more.

Based on our in-depth research involving educational collaboratives, we observed that good collaborations satisfy eight “ELEMENTS” described below:

Excellently Executed
Leadership Driven
Engaging for Participants
Mission Focused
Ethically Oriented
Nurtured Continuously
Time Well Spent
Solution Inspired

The eight elements structure our Toolkit, and for each, we have created a related set of materials, which include:

• Key reflection questions to focus attention

• Two narratives related to the element at hand, one in which a collaboration succeeds and one in which a collaboration struggles

• Activities which allow stakeholders to further engage with one another and to reflect on the features and purposes of their collaboration

Collaborators will use the materials to explore the aims, processes, and outcomes of shared projects, identifying areas of strength and room for improvement.

We welcome questions about the Toolkit as well as reflections about your experiences in using these materials. Contact us using the form here.