Session 3 – Developing Effective Collaboration Skills

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to:

• Articulate the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration for developing sustainable food systems
• Identify personal strengths and relate them to principles of effective group work
• Reflect on personal and cultural values and behaviors in a group setting

Required Readings and Resources

• Hinrichs, C. (2010). Conceptualizing and Creating Sustainable Food Systems: How Interdisciplinarity can Help. In A. Blay-Palmer, Imagining Sustainable Food Systems: Theory and Practice (pp. 17–35). Surrey, UK: Ashgate. Available in Canvas.
• Jared Lindzon, 2014. “What job will you have in the future”. The Globe and Mail, August 22, 2014.

• Before coming to lecture, complete the on-line Strengths Finder assessment. Record your top 5 strengths, submit them to Canvas, and bring them to class.

If you are a student purchasing for the first time:

• Shop for CliftonStrengths for Students access codes
• Select a quantity of 1 access code and Checkout
• You must now register for an account
• Register with an "@alumni.ubc.ca" or “mail.ubc.ca” email address
• Ensure that you receive the verification email and follow the steps outlined to activate your account
• Continue the checkout process using your account
• Review your order subtotal -- this is where you will see a discount applied to your purchase if you used an "@alumni.ubc.ca" or “mail.ubc.ca " email address – current discount price will be $28
• Complete your purchase!

Doing the strengths finder assessment can provide insight into what your unique strengths are, strengths that can be harnessed to make your group interactions effective and efficient. People come from different backgrounds, both academic and sociocultural. As a result we all have a unique perspective. To address the non-linear, wicked and complex problems associated with the modern food system, multiple perspectives are essential. Learning to work collaboratively goes hand-in-hand with addressing food system challenges using multi-disciplinary perspectives, essential in today’s workplace. This course will provide you the opportunity to gain experience working with a group of people with different perspectives which can most certainly be added to a resume. Furthermore, being in-tune with how you function in a group or how you use your particular strengths in a collaborative setting will provide you an edge when approaching potential employers and going for job interviews.

Interdisciplinarity and the Food System

Francis and colleagues (2011, p. 228) make a useful distinction between multi-, inter- and trans- disciplinary approaches: a multidisciplinary approach “brings together multiple disciplines, but does not guarantee an integration of perspectives or research methods, nor any emergent value of the process”; interdisciplinary approaches address issues single academic disciplines are incapable of managing by allowing for a blending or modifying of approaches to better suit the problem at hand; and transdisciplinary strategies incorporate non-academic ways of knowing into knowledge generation activities, acknowledging that certain types of issues require engagement beyond narrowly defined expert knowledge.

At the level of interdisciplinarity, “perhaps the most widely recognized reason for such interactions is the need to avoid ‘blind spots’ associated with particular disciplines and professions and to escape their characteristic reductionism in the face of systemic complexity” (Jordan et al., 2008, p. 93). In LFS 250 and the LFC series, we frame curricula in a manner that intentionally integrates the natural and social science dimensions of the food system to inform the study of production, distribution, and consumption. In the same spirit, transdisciplinary strategies incorporate non-academic ways of knowing and acting in collective action on complex food-systems challenges. This requires an intentional inclusion of perspectives at all levels in the food system, including those who work directly in the food system — on farms and at distributors and processors — to those who receive its end products — consumers — and those who shape it — citizens, politicians, and educators. Inclusivity provides opportunities for students to interact with diverse stakeholders and “determine a set of goals that will lead to an improved future food system, using social, ecological and economic indicators of sustainability” (Lieblein & Francis, 2007, p. 85). Through this structuring of curricula, we aim to bring the voice of the community into the classroom, or bring the classroom to the community, in a manner that frames the interaction as collaborative and reciprocal (Hilimire et al., 2014).

References

• Hilimire, K., Gillon, S., McLaughlin, B. C., Dowd-Uribe, B., & Monsen, K. L. (2014). Food for Thought: Developing Curricula for Sustainable Food Systems Education Programs. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 38(6), 722–743.
• Francis, C. A., Jordan, N., Porter, P., Breland, T. A., Lieblein, G., Salomonsson, L., … Langer, V. (2011). Innovative Education in Agroecology: Experiential Learning for a Sustainable Agriculture. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences, 30(1–2), 226–237.
• Jordan, N. R., Bawden, R. J., & Bergmann, L. (2008). Pedagogy for addressing the worldview challenge in sustainable development of agriculture. Journal of Natural Resources & Life Sciences Education, 37(1), 92–99.
• Lieblein, G., & Francis, C. (2007). Towards responsible action through agroecological education. Italian Journal of Agronomy, 2(2), 83–90.

Tutorial Session

In your tutorial session, you will engage in an activity designed to demonstrate the challenges of working in a group setting. Your TA will facilitate an interactive (but silent!) activity that will provide insight into how you function within a group given your own personality and background as well as how this can impact group functioning overall. You will also be asked to prepare your Team Charter. The template provided in Canvas is an excellent tool that can help you and your group members to be efficient and effective through planning. You’ll be asked to look at the upcoming semester’s group assignments from now until December, and break down the tasks, and set deadlines for when the tasks should be completed. It will also help you reflect, as a group, how potential conflicts will be dealt with.

* Complete the Strengths Finder (just renamed to CliftonStrengths, same thing though) assessment before coming to class (there is a $28 cost). Record your top 5 strengths, submit them to Canvas, and bring them to lecture**

In this session, we will explore the results of your Strengths Finder assessment and relate them to effective group work. In LFS 250 (and the LFC series and your future career!), you will engage in interdisciplinary, collaborative projects. Often, finding the appropriate content required to address the issues in the projects is the easiest part of the process. What is most challenging is managing the roles and expectations inherent in effective group work. This session will help you identify your strengths and the strengths others so your group develops strategies for communicating and participating as effective members in an interdisciplinary team.

https://www.strengthsquest.com/234665/top-clifton-strengths-students.aspx?mpp=1&g_source=link_sq3&g_campaign=item_225683&g_medium=copy

If you are a student purchasing for the first time:

• Shop for CliftonStrengths for Students access codes
• Select a quantity of 1 access code and Checkout
• You must now register for an account
• Register with an "@alumni.ubc.ca" or “mail.ubc.ca” email address
• Ensure that you receive the verification email and follow the steps outlined to activate your account
• Continue the checkout process using your account
• Review your order subtotal -- this is where you will see a discount applied to your purchase if you used an "@alumni.ubc.ca" or “mail.ubc.ca " email address – current discount price will be $28
• Complete your purchase!