In theory, collaboration is the ideal state for a group working towards a goal.  Collaboration is great, It seems like it should be easy, especially in an era when communication is easy, instantaneous, and gives a seemingly endless variety of tools for humans to work together across geographical divides.

Within the last fifteen years the concept of “the office” has changed dramatically due to the internet and social media tools that allow us to work with people in offices across the country, reach our customers and library patrons, and as was pointed out in our class’s discussion thread last week, work together to transcribe the menus of New York.  I think collaboration is something great to be strived for, but it seems like too often, organizations and teams can run into roadblocks that can derail even the best intentions of teamwork.  I’d like to explore some of the reasons collaboration can be a challenge, even in the ideal circumstances.

A major factor in the success of collaboration is trust.  While telecommuting and working with teams who are not in the same physical space on projects that are based online through social media platforms are efficient in that participants can work any time of the day, any place in the world.  But as Nilofer Merchant argues in the Harvard Review, collaboration can be a dangerous thing when expectations of roles, outcomes, and recognition are unclear.  To expand on this point, in Sally Ellis’ article “A History of Collaboration, a Future in Crowdsourcing: Positive Impacts of Cooperation on British Librarianship,” she quotes Nina Simon, a museum design consultant, on why collaboration can break down in the case of institutions turning to crowdsourcing, “Many museums fear losing control… [but] [t]here’s a difference between having power and having expertise… [m]useums will always have the expertise, but they may have to be willing to share the power.”  It seems to me that without trust, collaboration is not possible.  Trust that people will do what they say they will at the time they say they will.   Trust that collaborators will supply the correct information and that they have the best interests of the project at heart, and trust that everyone is working towards the same goal.  Without these elements, any project could have the misfortune of falling apart.  But, in a perfect storm of contributors staying on the same page towards a common reward, collaboration can be a ideal workspace to create something pretty great.