Following on from our latest article “When do you start collaborating”, this next one answers another question asked during our Open Studio - Collaborating for success. 

Q: “How do you manage collaboration among disparate skill levels and work styles, both at individual and interdepartmental or inter-institutional levels?”

We recently hosted an Open Studio panel discussion about effective collaboration, and received a few audience questions on the topic which were both interesting and chunky. While the team touched on them in the conversation, we had a lot more to say so we've turned our answers into a series of blog posts - here's the first one.

The side-effects of COVID

COVID messed up the events industry, but Nadine and Lisa at Something Digital gambled on being able to do some kind of hybrid in-person/remote event, and I think that gamble paid off because the anti-plague format actually worked really well.  

Talk about timing. Just as we were discussing whether 2020 had changed the digital divide at the Something Digital Festival, the 2020 Australian Digital Inclusion Index was published.

Many of the themes it raised were echoed by the panel's own observations. We all agreed that the pandemic had accelerated digital take-up. But access, affordability and skills are still sadly holding us back.

Why is it that some teams are more collaborative than others?

It’s not something in the water. There’s no training course that instantly made them all great collaborators. So what’s the secret? Nailing the four essentials that make the right culture for collaboration to bloom.