Program 1: You are part of an interdisciplinary community engaged in new general education requirements. By the end of the semester, your group must provide reports to your institution’s government. When you start generating content, one member’s main contribution focuses on editing styles and mechanics, while others focus on reaching agreements on content and suggestions.
Option 2: When you are in the grant phase, a member of the writing team uses Strikethough to delete most of the text without commenting or explaining the decision. Writing ceases when individual participants channel in anger.
Option 3: A group of colleagues decided to draft a vision statement for their units on campus. They participated in a process whereby everyone had a common idea of the department’s vision and mission. But when each of them contributed a portion of the draft, it was obvious that in fact, they didn’t know how they imagined the future of unit work on the same page.
In the best case scenario, we choose the people who write with people. People we trust, people we know will increase their weight and may even be fun. However, many situations are imposed on us, rather than carefully selected. We must complete a report, write an important email, articulate new policies, write and submit grant recommendations, author sharing memos, etc., and a bunch of people we may not choose alone.
Additionally, there are few teams of staff responsible for writing because they are able to write well with others and many do not have the language to talk through their favorite composition practices. In professional writing and higher education, the inability to collaborate on writing products is the cause of endless conflict and inefficiency. How do we learn how to work with people who don’t choose to write?
Not only will we join the writing task, we also advocate for a quick conversation about writing before any team authorship begins. If time is limited, this conversation doesn’t necessarily take more than 15 minutes depending on the size of the writing team (although dedicated 30 minutes may be more effective), but in the long run, this will save you time (probably, possibly frustration).
Drawing inspiration from our discipline’s knowledge (writing research), we provide the following strategies for conversations before embarking on any joint writing project. Quick practice deals with each member’s beliefs about writing, articulates the goals and genres of the project, align expectations and plan logistics.
Shouldn’t we just use AI for this kind of writing?
As generated AI tools are increasingly integrated into the writing process and even replacing its parts, why do people still write? Especially, why do we write together when people are in such trouble?
Because writing is thinking. Of course, the final writing product is important, but the reason for entering the product may be difficult, that is, writing requires critical thinking around project consistency. Asking AI to write, skipping hard planning, thinking and drafting work will make writing more successful in solving actions/projects/products.
Furthermore, not only do we have to complete the product/document (alone or together), but we express shared assumptions, we combine together through dialogue to build relationships. An ultimate written product with a real audience and purpose can be a powerful way to build a community, not just that it may make the writer feel good. A dedicated community is not only important, not only for the well-being of faculty but also for productivity, for effective project completion and long-term institutional stability.
Set the relationship atmosphere
To start a conversation, talk to each other: make a real introduction, participants talk about how they write and what works for them. Talk to yourself: Do a personal intuition check, acknowledge any feelings/bias towards the group members, and commit to understanding how these personal relationships/feelings affect your perception and acceptance of their contributions. Thoughts about authorship identity, ownership and credit, including emotional investment in their own words, are factors in how people write with others.
Explain the purpose and genre of the project
Learn what writing should do (purpose) and the form (type) it should take on the same page. Often, the original purpose of a writing project is that you are assigned a task – students may find it so interesting that college teachers and staff writing at college is essentially homework! Just like our students, we have to go beyond the minimum requirements to meet the requirements to find out why writing a product is important, what it is about and what we hope it can accomplish. To help the group reach consensus and writing conventions on form, find some effective examples of the types of projects you are trying to write and talk to through your favorite projects.
Align your method
Work to build a shared sense of authorship – the “we” approach to work. This is not easy, but it is important for product success and sanity. Face the differences in style and try to reach a consensus that it is not necessary to improve the writing of each other in content. There is always someone who wants to add “still” or write “next” instead of “then” in each transition – making peace less picky. Or, agree to let AI come in and talk about proofreading suggestions from non-personal writers.
This raises another question: How comfortable is it for every member of the writing team to integrate AI-generated text into the final product as people increasingly integrate Chatgpt and its elements into their processes (and Word/Google documentation that provides AI-aided authoring tools).
Where will the cooperation happen? Online in person? Synchronous or asynchronous? In Google Docs, in Zoom, in the office, in the coffee shop? Both technology and timing affect the process, and the author may have different ideas about how and when to write (it may vary depending on the tool the team will use).
When will we cooperate? Set deadlines and agree to stick to them. Keep transparent about each member’s expectations.
How to collaborate? In smaller groups/pairs, all or completely alone? How to discuss and solve the problem?
Finally, suggestions on what not to do
No:
- Just work separately and call it a day. This often leads to disconnected, confusing and low-quality end products.
- Do your best, because you are the only one who can do it. This is almost never true, it is a missed opportunity to build abilities among colleagues. Developing new skills is an investment.
- Overexpand yourself and then feel dissatisfied with your colleagues. This is the sure path to burnout.
- Sit down and let others take over. Don’t be that person.
