Thrive 70 - Collaboration - the dynamic of grouping in real worklife

A quick note for future reflections

In the classroom, the main purpose of collaboration is for deep learning. In real-life, situations often put us to test how well we collaborate in time of "crisis". 

This week, I managed three "crisis" and it has to be resolved through collaboration. Interestingly I played very different roles in all these situations.  In the first scenario, I am the leader with a team of experts. In the second scenario, I was as lost as my team members, who are very diverse in experience. Third, I was the novice under an expert or more competent others.

A work-life experience of a homogeneous high achiever group

As a leader with an expert team, I work together to coordinate decision-making rather than making decisions; the crisis was resolved with a stroke of luck. So in the classroom, in a heterogeneous group of high achievers, the leader just has to be a listener to help coordinate decisions to resolve a learning problem. 

A work-life experience of a homogeneous low achiever and heterogeneous group. 

As a member of a team of a diverse and novice group, the learning is very steep. We have our own ways of thinking, and could the thinking could be all wrong. While I am opinioned about how things should go, with another team member not including the work I prepared and two other members like totally lost due to the changes and not like not doing anything. Such a scenario is an example of how a team will break up.  Did we? We didn't. Instead of thinking, "I had done my part" (in a situation where I am busy with so many other things). I decided that "let helps the teams". With very little time, we clarify, compromise and control our emotions, confess our ignorance and get the task going. In the end, it was an excellent presentation. At least not in a case where one person is presenting, and the rest are seated there. We are more closely bonded. So, in the classroom, how can we help a malfunctioning group to get back to work by their own? The student will have to say in a polite and respectful what they are unhappy about. The teacher will have to come in and get the rock form (the concept in this case) and suggest how to go about it. 

A work-life experience of a heterogeneous, mixed ability group.

As a less competent member, I want to contribute, but I am not that fast. I am not clear on how I do it at times and what is required. So in the classroom, have I wondered how the lower achiever feels in a group?

In the attempts to seek an optimal grouping in collaborative learning, maybe I have gone the wrong direction. Maybe it is not the grouping, but the skills the different profiles of learners should seek to build in different grouping scenarios need to build to keep the team going.