Collaboration has become that word that’s being thrown around carelessly like paper cups. This is especially apparent in open offices that have taken down desk dividers and engulfed office partitions to embrace the hot and swanky stand-up desks and whiteboards on wheels.
Just like hot-desking is not synonymous with collaboration, nor is teamwork. In teamwork, individuals usually operate in silos towards a shared goal and the leadership is fixed. In collaboration, individuals are participating as autonomous entities where leadership is context-dependent and leaders arise when the situation demands. In this article, I’ve gathered some of my reflections and learnings on collaboration during my demi-decade experience of working in culturally diverse countries like Australia, Netherlands and India. Packed like sardines: Collaboration is more than its Oxford dictionary’s definition, “the act of working with another person or group of people to create or produce something”. A successful collaboration is an exchange between space, tools and people- between different styles of working, between languages, values, beliefs, softwares and hardwares. This exchange is facilitated by a conducive space and strengthened by supportive culture. A good balance between ‘we’ and ‘me’ is an imperative to a good collaboration as further explained in this HBR article that says “the more demanding the collaboration task is, the more individuals need punctuating moments of private time to think or recharge.” If you have to elbow your colleague to finish your wireframes, that isn’t a good set-up no matter how close-knit a team you are. Cultural breadcrumbs: The space we occupy is a reflection of the culture we embody, both on an individual and an organisational level. In China (collectivist culture) workers are more comfortable with densely-arranged workstations when compared to United States (individualist culture). In Netherlands, “more fluid spaces that encourage equality and reflect a focus on well-being” are symbolic of their egalitarian and feminine culture, in comparison to the masculine Italy where hierarchical offices are important. To be more a productive and considerate collaborator its beneficial to know that our relationship to space can be rooted in national identities. You can read more about how culture shapes our workplace in this HBR article. Same same but not different: We collaborate to get a fresh perspective, to eliminate bias, to get deeper into a topic, to be more creative, inclusive and innovative in our approach and outcomes. Collaboration thrives on diversity- in gender, age, expertise, culture, background. A heterogenous team is more like to come up with innovative ideas than a homogenous one. More hands, however, do not guarantee less time but instead can facilitate deeper work and cover more ground. Me too: People are more likely to be persuaded when in groups, also known as group thinking or herd mentality or the bandwagon effect, which can be catastrophic to collaboration. Yes, we all want to be that exception but our need for security can cause us to become the Ms. Me Too (or Mr./Other). This can lead to agreeing or disagreeing onto something that may not be thoroughly thought through. Organisations require a culture that fosters disagreement whilst maintaining cohesiveness within the team. Say it right: Believing that there is only one answer can lead to a competitive tone rather than a cooperative one which is destructive for collaboration. However, knowing that everyone has the answers creates a safe place for everyone to be heard, bounce ideas of each other to co-create. Mon-oh-god: Collaboration will get strangled by the cold hands of a monologue, every single time. “Keep contributions short. Points should be made in a few words, and build incrementally into a coherent whole. “, says Terence Brake in his article about collaborative conversations. Body talk: Watch out for the cultural nuances when interpreting non-verbal cues. For example- Nodding up-down is a symbol for agreement in most cultures, except in Bulgaria and Greece where that nod is used to convey disagreement. Gesturing is considered impolite in Japan, and they’re less likely to use non-verbal cues to communicate. The famous ‘thumbs up’ is a rude signal in Middle-eastern countries and Greece. In North American countries and UK, silence is considered uncomfortable, even problematic but its used to show agreement in China. Silence is a mandate before answering questions in many aboriginal cultures. More on cultural differences in body-language here. No two collaborations are the same and for each it’s vital to be patient, have a unbiased mindset and an learning attitude. A bit of background: I joined a team for a short 4 month stint. There were a series of projects on with this agency at the time. After a number of consecutive busy weeks in preparation of presentations, I left a disconnect with my team and other colleagues on the floor. There were barely any chats by the water cooler some afternoons which was a serious bother for me. I really wanted to know how everyone was doing. Was everyone just busy with work? Was there more going on? So, one afternoon, I placed a map in the kitchen area so people could “plot” how they felt on this map each day. People began huddling there, looking at the way the map evolved. Mind you, it was only a paper map and nothing sophisticated but hey, it started a conversation and shunned the silence. Here’s a bit on that. Purpose of the map
There were 56 entries made in total. It’s nice to know that happy was the most popular, followed by the also familiar feelings of being tired and then frustrated. Popular emotions this week (iteration 1) Happy- 7 entries Tired- 6 entries Frustrated- 5 entries Good- 4 entries Relaxed- 4 entries Sense of achievement, interest, zoned-out- 3 entries What’s great is that people added emotions like hungry, anxious, sense of achievement, distracted, zoned-out to the map. This Sense of achievementwas also our latest entry at 7.45pm (looks like, staying back was totally worth it! ) and our earliest entry was at 8.30am being pleased (yes, I would be very pleased with myself too if I made it to work that early).
I also became curious to see what emotions were common at what time of the day and so arranged it in 2 hour segments. 18 entries were made between 8.30–11am Good- 3 Relaxed- 3 Happy- 2 Determination- 2 10 entries were made between 11am-1pm Focus- 2 Happy- 2 Frustrated- 2 15 entries were made between 1pm-3pm Distracted- 2 Zoned out- 2 3 entries were made between 3pm-5pm Happy- 1 Frustrated- 1 Relaxed- 1 14 entries were made post 5pm Tired-3 Sense of achievement-1 Emotion Map- Iteration 2 (Placed in the kitchen area)For the second iteration, I wanted I arranged the map differently and used different mediums. This time I created time slots to help analyse more efficiently and allotted 15 pieces of string to each time-slot. I asked my colleagues to pick a string based on the time they were recording and wrap it around the felt emotion. The emotions were arranged in two columns- left were the more positive ones and the ones on the right negative. Findings It got messy and the strings made it dramatic- as expected. I stopped recording when the strings from the any time-slot ran out. 3pm to 6pm ran out of its strings first as it was the most popular time for people to record emotions. People recorded the most positive emotions around this time too thought 9–12 seems like a happy time-slot too. ‘Contentment’ was the most popular positive emotion felt- 6 votes and ‘Relaxed’ with 5 votes. Between 12noon to 3pm people recorded the most negative emotionscompared to any other time-slots- 24 recorded. ‘Tired’ with 7 votes was the most popular negative emotion felt, which wasn’t surprising seeing the late nights people were pulling for the upcoming sprint reviews. That square shaped pixellated puzzle holds within it an ginormous amount of information when compared to its better-known ancestor-the barcode. QR codes store information in two directions- horizontally and vertically and can store up to 1,520 alpha-numeric characters like email addresses, names, websites, geolocations and text. On the other hand, a barcode stores information horizontally and can stores identification numbers with up to 25 characters. QR codes are available in various colours and are customisable with logos and shapes being added within them. Seeing these customisations, I became inquisitive about its form and experimented with the inside shape of the QR code. I found that a QR code remains valid albeit it was multicoloured or if some of its pixels (or data bits) were adjusted. In the case of the QR code for Plai design’s website (my research and design practise), its essence was towards the right side of its form and so if I adjusted any pixels on the right, the QR code wouldn’t scan. It’s also important to keep the Finder patterns untouched as those are markers used to scan. Each QR code has its own encryption, so these findings may not be applicable to yours.
Some readability issues such as low contrast, inadequate quiet zones (white spaces), printing inconsistencies, scanning angle and distance should be considered when modifying these zones. This flexibility in form is shaping the design of an interactive installation of an ongoing project- Project Smart Campus, where I’m helping Amsterdam School of Applied Sciences improve the campus facilities for its students. Here’s a useful article that helps understanding QR codes better-https://www.mpofcinci.com/blog/barcode-vs-qr-code/ Here’s a guide on how you can make your own QR code from scratch-https://www.thonky.com/qr-code-tutorial/module-placement-matrix |