Tips for Effective Collaboration

Ten Tips for Coping with Resistant Colleagues

1. Find the points on which you agree; articulate those points.
2. Remember it is often the message that is resisted, not necessarily the messenger.
3. Volunteer to serve on a committee together.
4. Sit next to the person, not opposite or across from them.
5. Review student's records with your colleague.
6. Find opportunities for your colleagues to "tell you more" about something.
7. Show authentic interest in an aspect of their teaching.
8. Tell your colleague why you chose education as a profession.
9. Recognize that you cannot change your colleague, but you can cahnge your response
10. Remember you are an advocate for kids and resistance is normal.

Ten Tips for Investing rather than Spending your Energy

1. Participate regularly in activities that renew you.
2. Recognize what you can  do and put your energy there.
3. Realize your job is infinite - FOCUS is important.
4. Say "thank you"when someone compliments you.
5. Identify activities you put off and yet are so glad once you do them. Do these more often.
6. Learn a new skill.
7. Hang out with positive energy people.
8. Learn to tell your own stories to children.
9. Give a sincere and specific compliment to a colleague.
10. Do not say "yes" when you mean "no". 

 Ten Tips for Collaborating Effectively with Paraprofessionals

1. Start and end each day with the paraprofessional.
2. Provide the paraprofessional with construtive feedback ASAP.
3. Say "thank you" frequently for specific acts.
4. Ask the paraprofessional how you can help.
5. Demonstrate what you mean.
6. Recognize the individual and unique contributions of each paraprofessional.
7. Occasionally meet together away from the school or work area.
8. Encourage the paraprofessional to keep a daily journal of activities, thoughts and feelings.
9. Ask the paraprofessional what they would like to learn.
10. Advocate for the paraprofessional's professional growth.

Ten Tips for Disagreeing Tactfully

1. Find the points on which you agree and state them.
2. Use the word "and" more frequently than "but".
3. Post points of discussion on a flip chart. Note the areas of disagreement.
4. Have each person write their opinion; read the opinions aloud.
5. Find your own way of saying, "I disagree". e.g. "I see it differently."
6. State your opinion about the topic not the other person.
7. Restate what you understand others to be saying.
8. Think before you speak.
9. Find support for your viewpoint.
10. Recognize when you are willing to compromise and when you are not.

Ten Tips for Using Nonjudgmental Language

1. Avoid using the words always and never.
2. Use "yes,. and" rather than "yes, but".
3. Ask people to tell you more; elaborate.
4. Put as much energy into listening as you do speaking.
5. Expect and welcome different points of view.
6. Ask "how" and not "why".
7. Give the ideas some "think time".
8. Explain differences (rather than compare).
9. Recognize your own "need to be right".
10. Remember "right" is relative. 

Ten Tips for Expressing Yourself

1. Write down what you want to say.
2. Practice expressing yourself to a friend.
3. Visualize yourself speaking with confidence.
4. Take a deep breath before you speak.
5. Remember you may be speaking for others who share the same opinion.
6. Record your speaking experiences in a journal.
7. Observe others who speak up and note the qualities you admire.
8. Tape record yourself stating your opinion about an issue.
9. Listen to the tape recording and note where your voice is strongest.
10. Write ten ways to express the same message. 

Ten Tips for Asserting Yourself

1. Use "I" statements.
2. Don't preface your statement with an apology.
3. Identify your role models of assertiveness. Note the qualities you would like to develop.
4. Recognize where your opinion is different; state it.
5. Check out your understanding of other's messages.
6. Don't put down another person's opinion; simply state your own.
7. Remember you are disagreeing about an issue, not competing with the other person.
8. Give yourself a time-out from the discussion. Regroup.
9. Give a sincere and specific compliment to a colleague.
10. Do not say "yes" when you really mean "no".

Ten Tips for Drawing Out the Best in Others

1. Ask others for their ideas and opinions.
2. Listen well enough to ask related questions about the topic.
3. Request their help when brainstorming about a current issue.
4. Check to see that you are understanding where they are "coming from".
5. Share common interests.
6. When you have questions or need to discuss an issue, ask when is the best time to meet.
7. Compliments others in authenic and specific ways.
8. Observe what times of day are best for individual interactions.
9. Put as much energy into listening to tohers, as you do when speaking to others.
10. Encourage others to expand or elaborate on topics which they initiate. 

Tens Tips for Not Taking Things Personally

1. Many statements are disguised as questions. You don't have to answer them.
2. Ask for the meanig of the message to be clarified.
3. The message usually says more about the speaker than about you.
4. You are not responsible for the whole world.
5. The speaker would probably say this to a number of people -you just happen to be the immediate receiver.
6. Visualize a cartoon caricature of the person; don't take it so seriously.
7. Reassure yourself like you would reassure a friend.
8. Ask the person if they meant it the wqay you took it.
9. Increase your response-ability not your responsibility.
10. People are more often upset with the situation than with you. 

Ten Tips for Effective Collaboration Suggestions for Use

1. Photocopy the Tips on colored paper, laminate and post.
2. Select a Tip list as a "Feature of the Month". Try one or two suggestions. Note the results.
3. Use one of the Tip lists as a topic for discussion at a facutly meeting.
4. As a recognition tool, give the Tip lists to people who demonstrate these abilities.
5. Design professional development goals related to the tips.
6. Ask team, committee, or task force members to choose areas which they would like to improve.
7. Practice tip suggestions with students first, then colleagues.
8. Reflect on why some tips are easy for you and others more difficult.
9. Write your own tips for something you want to improve.
10. Keep a journal reflecting your progress toward your individual goals.

*    These tips are listed in a book called Collaborative Practices for Educators; Strategies for Effective Communication by Patty Lee, Ed.D. This book   is published by Peytral Publications, Inc. in Minnesota, MN in 1997 and revised in 1999.