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A Collection of Useful Activities For Team Building
Collaborations are the new wave of management, representing collections of individuals connected by the community they serve. It is difficult to manage through a team. Successful partnerships are ones which build team relationships, can focus a group's vision, and build group consensus. There are some tools and strategies that when utilized can help create a purposeful participatory process for partnerships. None of this can happen over night, all of this needs nurturing and time.
Why a collection of activities and not an all encompassing workshop? Adults need to know each other to work effectively together. Activities are easy to use for any point in time and a quick way to establish rapport and participation. They encourage people to express themselves and interact differently than meetings do, they make hard topics easier to talk about. They can help change a focus or activate a shift in thinking or provide a concentration on a problem that needs to be solved.
Partnership members are busy people. They usually wear many hats and have over extended lives. A common thread which has been found in collaborations, big and small, is the complaint that there just isn't enough time to meet and do the work that is necessary. Yet, if this time isn't taken, then the collaboration's work doesn't get done or the involvement isn't equal and there is resentment among the partnership members. With all of that in mind, one of the intents of this collection is to be able to incorporate the activities into planned meeting times. This document is meant to be used and be useful, making the work of collaborating one of mutual fulfillment and not frustration.
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This document's URL is: © 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
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