Honest Collaboration: Collaborating When Things Get Real

Collaborate Virtual 2021

We have to collaborate with humans quite often. This is an occupational hazard of our work as human-centered designers. Jokes aside, we love collaborating because it makes our work more impactful and helps our clients create more meaningful connections with their customers.

And yet, collaboration can be very challenging. We don’t often talk about this, but when your work involves other people, creativity, new ideas, and a lot of discussions, hard moments are inevitable.

Unfortunately, when these moments happen, many of us choose to either engage in unproductive debate OR run away by ignoring the issue, changing the subject, or agreeing when we shouldn’t. We make these choices to keep the session moving. It’s a classic fight or flight response on a very human level.

So what do you do when emotions run high, collaboration grinds to a halt, or the magic of creative energy dies at the hands of someone’s mood?

Recorded at Collaborate Virtual Conference 2021, July 13th, 2021.