Seminar 8: Collaboration

Aristotle is often credited with the quote “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.” I’ve used that quote and subsequent logic in many instances throughout my career, especially when trying to build collegiality and collaborative bridges within a faculty or department. I left an in-service yesterday inspired by the knowledge, passion and individual/collective strengths of my staff. It was awesome! Oftentimes, people want to bring presenters in from the the outside to inspire and guide a collective group… the strength, however, comes from within. We were tasked with developing lesson ideas and strategies to build climate and promote a culture of respect and rapport as part of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program faculty & staff training. When we met in July for the face-to-face Digital Leadership and Innovation Institute, one of our classmates talked about “letting the race horses run”. That is precisely what happened yesterday… the individuals who were comfortable with different technology platforms made magic happen with their respective skill sets. It was like watching an orchestra, with many different instruments, harmonizing as one collective power!