Collaborative Leadership Resources

At the Wurtele Center for Leadership, we are in a constant state of learning and exploration around the nuances and strategies of collaborative leadership. Below are some resources that we have either created or collected to assist Smith College community members in their collaborative leadership and learning endeavors.

Tools & Resources for Collaboration

“Collaboration” is a term that is used to describe a wide range of team arrangements, which can lead to confusion when one team member means one thing by the term and another means something entirely different. We created a “Forms of Collaboration” graphic to delineate different forms of collaboration along a spectrum of autonomy and integration. The graphic is accompanied by a set of discussion questions, which can be used with groups of students, teams of staff members, academic departments or anyone else working toward a collaborative effort.

Teams that collaborate on a project often jump straight into “task mode,” without taking the time to understand one another and establish a common set of expectations for how they will work together. Research shows, however, how important it is to do the “maintenance” work necessary to establish a culture of psychological safety on a team before beginning work together. Here are structured ways to do this.

  • “Creating a Toolkit for Team Alignment” Video—We created this video for student leaders at Smith, but it includes a number of strategies for getting started with any team.
  • The User Manual—We often like to begin a project with a new team by having each member fill out and share a “user manual” for working with them. We have astudent version of the User Manual that is terrific for use with student groups, and another faculty/staff version of the User Manualthat goes into greater depth.
  • Group Norms Worksheet—Use this worksheet with your team to help you establish some team agreements or norms around how you want to collaborate with one another.
  • Task & Maintenance Exercise—This exercise introduces the concepts of “task” and “maintenance” modes in groups (a concept we’ve adopted from the great work of our friends at Leadership+Design). Use this to help attend to the overall health of the team while also getting things done.

Empathic communication is key to all collaborative work for you and your team.

  • “Communication 101” Video—With the help of Emily Norton from the Design Thinking Initiative, we created this video for student leaders at Smith, to help them think about and practice empathic listening and communication with their peers.
  • Communication Practices—This document offers exercises for groups to practice effective listening and communication skills. It is geared toward student leaders, but it could be modified for other groups or teams.

Identity and cultural competency play an important role in how we lead and work collaboratively in teams. Here are some resources for developing skills to lead collaboratively in a diverse community:

Tensions and conflict are natural parts of working collaboratively with others. Instead of fearing and avoiding conflict, collaborative leaders work to embrace and harness conflict in order to move a group forward. We teamed up with Stacey Steinbach in Student Affairs to create a video for student leaders to help them begin to feel comfortable managing conflict.

Leading collaboratively means gathering as a team frequently to put our heads together, brainstorm ideas, make decisions and connect with one another. Collaborative leaders therefore design a lot of meetings.

Get the most out of your meetings by thinking carefully about how you design a meeting experience. See the Intentional Meeting Design Handbook we created for student leaders to help them design meetings that are intentional and enjoyable.

Leadership Development Fund

What is the fund for?
The Wurtele Center values opportunities for students to develop their leadership capacity as both scholars and collaborators. To help make these opportunities more accessible, the Wurtele Center offers two categories of funding:

  • Funding to support individual students to attend conferences at which they will be presenting their work, alone or in partnership with faculty or staff
  • Funding to support student organizations who are organizing their own conference, workshop(s), or event

How much is available?
Individual students may apply only once during their enrollment at Smith College, for an amount up to $1,000.

Student organizations may apply for up to $2,000 once every two years (in other words, if an organization is granted funding in a given year, they cannot receive funding the following year but may apply again in two years).

Who is eligible to apply?
Currently enrolled Smith College undergraduate students not on leave or study abroad during the proposed activity period are eligible to apply (this includes students applying on behalf of student organizations). Student organizations must be registered with OSE. Experiences for which funds are requested can take place during the summer; however, seniors may not apply for funds to cover experiences that will take place after graduation.

What is expected of students who are awarded funds?
Individual students awarded conference presentation funding and representatives from student organizations receiving funding will be expected to give a short presentation about their experience and how it supported their development as a leader at an event hosted by the Wurtele Center at the end of the Spring semester. If students will be abroad, we can arrange for presentations to happen virtually. The Wurtele Center will provide guidance on what to include in your presentation.

How do I apply?
Students who are interested in applying should complete the appropriate section of the application form. You will then be contacted to arrange a brief meeting with Megan Lyster, Assistant Director of the Wurtele Center, to discuss your funding request.