Zoe Riviere

What: Collaboration is working together towards a common goal or effort. Collaboration is a group social change value because it requires other people working together. Collaboration is important in all group or team settings. I really saw what large impact collaboration had when I was a committee member for Relay for Life at Virginia Tech. I was on the Survivor and Caregiver committee and there was about six other committees all working towards a common goal of raising money, planning, and setting up the huge event of Relay for Life.  All the hundreds of committee members and the exec members were all working together towards a common goal. All the committees did their part in planning the event some dealt with fundraising others were membership or finding vendors for food the night of Relay. It was a major collaborative effort because everyone did a small part with everyone doing their part we put on an amazing event.

 

So What: People have to learn to collaborate and follow through with their part of the work. Collaboration is very important in large events like Relay for Life because not one person can plan the whole event. They have to rely and collaborate with other people. People also learn that they can’t do all the work themselves. Even though they might not trust others to get the work done and completed the way they wanted, leaders have to give some responsibility over to other team members. Also collaboration entails that everyone in the group is sharing ideas and collaborating with one another. When working on a project in a group it is better to collaborate ideas because other people in the group might come up with an answer or solution that you have never thought of before. Collaboration is very necessary in group settings.

 

Now What: I will work to better collaborate with others. Sometimes it is easier to do it all and to not trust other people but collaboration can really benefit the outcome. In the medical industry it is all about collaboration. The nurses work with the doctors who might collaborate with consolers or surgeons to find the best outcome for the patient. I have volunteered at hospitals and it is really amazing to see the immediate collaboration between the different staff at the hospital. I volunteered in the endoscopy wing at Johns Hopkins and the nurses collaborated with the doctors doing the procedure and the transport team taking the patients all over the hospital and lastly the volunteers. They were all working towards a common goal. Hospitals would not run without collaboration because one person could not do it all. 

 

Link to definitions on the 7 C's- Social Change Values:https://www.csusm.edu/sll/leadership/SocialChangeModel.pdf

 

Link to more imformation on Relay for Life:http://relay.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=relay