The Team or The Individual
At www.techlearning.com - according to Craig Ullman in an article titled "Wiki Nation",
"...collective intelligence is more accurate than the insights of a single gifted writer".
On YouTube
a video titled "The Machine Is US/ing us" (very cool video - take a look. on YOUTUBE ( you cannot access from within sbbc because of the firewall) A video depicting web 2.0 and suggesting we rethink ourselves and we are a collective force - should we embrace this idea?
In the Wall Street Journal Feb 8, 2007 journalist Walter Mossberg describes how he records video commentaries to post on his columns - he does it much like we do only then he sends it to The WSJ Web producers who add titles, insert footage, and then the "team" posts it to the WSJ website. Should we do our developing in more of a team structure rather than a-z individually and then share? Is the Henry Ford assembly line way better?
Released in September, "The Workforce Readiness Report Card" from the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, and the Society for Human Resource Management reported teamwork/collaboration among the top five most critical to success in the 21st century workforce. Do we model for our children the skills they need to succeed?
I am not sure what to think of this...could the Borg have been right? It works in sports. It works in families. It works in companies. It probably works in lots of places ...but sometimes you don't have to be a part of the "collective".
posted by tm at
2/08/2007 09:33:00 PM
3 Comments:
I agree with the Wiki article in that "collective intelligence is more accurate than the insights of a single gifted writer." I have already seen evidence of this in my work. Anytime that I collaborate with my colleagues, the work seems to be easier and the product seems to have more quality to it. Perhaps that is just my own personal perception, but I find that collaborating with my talented, intelligent co-workers is always better than trying to fly solo on any project. I learn from them, and they learn from me. Success breeds success, so perhaps we need to collaborate across units as well to truly impact job performance and student achievement...
An effective team has synergism and functions above the abilities of the individual members. Often the championship in sports is won by the team that has NO superstars, over the one that does.
Flip Side.When everybody disagrees with you it's a sign that you are wrong-or the only one that's right.(I'm sure I'm misquoting someone)
The point is, the most effective teams I've been a part of have members that are contrarians- not for the sake of being contrary- but they perceive differently than the majority. Growth comes from the debate, as long as when a direction is decided,the team unites.
“Should we do our developing in more of a team structure rather than a-z individually and then share? Is the Henry Ford assembly line way better?”
I have mixed feelings about this.
One of the reasons I return to my favorite podcasts is the sense of individualism (is that a word) that it provides. A production assembly line is great for cars; I’m just not yet sold on podcasts.
Perhaps is it important to understand the belief of worker as volunteer. When it comes to quality work, I would rather have the involvement of others come as “volunteers’ than from a directive. Worker attendance can be commanded, but their attention must be earned. Their compliance can be insisted on, but their commitment is under their own control. This is a concept preached by Phil Schlechty in his writing on authentic work.
If HRD’s leadership starts recognizing that this work is important and expects on-the-job production, then can we as a group increase collaboration? How can this happen when our learning is on our “own” time?
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