Skip to main content

Collaboration

At team level, collaboration is always preferable to cooperation.

These two methods of coordinating work are generally used synonymously. This is a mistake that can have consequences for interpersonal relations and performance.

Interdependence reigns within cooperative and collaborative groups, but it does not have the same scope in the two approaches. In the cooperative approach, interdependence between learners is very strong, since the contribution of one is only meaningful if it is complemented by the work of others. The complementary nature of tasks and their close coordination create an effect of mutual dependence. The collaborative approach, on the other hand, values associative interdependence. The most important thing for members is to be together, to pool their ideas, to share their achievements and to find inspiration, support and backing from the group 1

Collaboration is work coordination based on shared responsibility. Under these conditions, several group members have similar and complementary skills, and a good understanding of the tasks required of other team members.

For example, a team of electricians who come to install a company's cables and switchboard have a shared knowledge of the problem. If a specific job needs to be done, several electricians can take it on, with sufficient shared skills.

Another example can be found in the world of sport. In a team, there may be forwards, defenders and pivots. Yet, during the match, roles can change quite naturally. And at the end of the match, the whole team celebrates victory or celebrates defeat.

Collaboration requires each team member to take an interest in the others. Knowing their peculiarities, strengths and weaknesses. To know whether they're in high spirits or in a bad mood. And in either case, they can adapt socially to ensure that the overall level of performance is maintained.

There's an intimacy in collaborative teams, a level of closeness and solidarity that fortifies cohesion and develops talents that wouldn't exist without it.

Samah Karaki proposes five levels of collaboration2:

  1. Hostility: at this level, we're in tribal-style competition.
  2. Reluctant truce: players are forced to play together.
  3. Tactical collaboration: the benefits of working together are greater than those of working individually.
  4. Strategic collaboration: the desire to collaborate prompts reflection on means and methods.
  5. Transformational collaboration: collaboration becomes a source of development, learning and personal and interactional transformation.

To make this collaboration possible and effective, it's important that each team member feels available, confident and reassured.

It seems that the part of the brain that enables us to communicate, understand others and create collectively, becomes less available when our emotional networks are preoccupied with psycho-social threats.3

This is where the safety factor comes in.

  • 1

    France Henri et Karin Lundgren-Cayrol - Apprentissage collaboratif et nouvelles technologies - Centre de recherche LICEF - 1998

  • 2

    Karaki, Samah. Le travail en équipe : Un peu de neurosciences pour les pros qui veulent collaborer autrement (Les carnets Soft Skills) (French Edition) (p. 18). Dunod.

  • 3

    Karaki, Samah. Le travail en équipe : Un peu de neurosciences pour les pros qui veulent collaborer autrement (Les carnets Soft Skills) (French Edition) (pp. 19-20). Dunod.