You are definitely resonating with the gestalt or something.
"Studies show that women and people from marginalized communities are given fewer opportunities to speak and are criticized more harshly when they do in a range of synchronous work settings."
[...]
We found that women’s performances were rated 17% higher when they recorded asynchronously, and that this effect was driven by the degree of creativity in their singing, based on ratings by experts in Baul folk music. (The experts assigned overall ratings to every track as well as timestamped all creative choices made by the singer.)
This creative freedom when singing alone was further captured in interviews with the experimental subjects. After recording asynchronously, one woman said, “I was completely free. I could sing as I wished. I missed some notes at a place, but then I caught on with it later on. I had complete independence and it felt like I was flying like a bird.” Men’s performances were not significantly different in the two conditions, and thus asynchronicity seems to help women without hurting men."
I have always felt the collaborative process results in "more than the sum of the total". Much of what is prooffered is uninhibited and provides those"outsied the box" thoughts. Thisd kind of collaboration stimulates participants to places they've never thought about before and can result in really innovative approaches. That is exciting! However, there are also adventures which need a guiding hand element to steer the energy in a more desirable direction - particularly in problem solving, where resolution is needed quickly. I love your realization about being more thoughtful about what you are passing on, and wondering if, had there been more time for more thought in the spontaneous collaborative process, would the results have been somehow more meaningful/effective. The bigger picture in the baton passing is that you, and you alone, are really responsible for the end result. Good to see your reflections on all this. Thanks!
Apr 26, 2023·edited Apr 26, 2023Liked by Nina Simon
It sounds like a good next step from this insight is understanding when to use which approach. I was just reading a very old book on social psychology that cited research about effectiveness of teams in terms of generating the best ideas. One insight they offered was that when it was clear who the expert was, it was better to have that individual do the work and when it wasn't clear who would have the best ideas the outcome was better when there was a collaborative approach that allowed the best ideas to surface and be vetted by the group.
Interesting. Thank you so much for sharing this. Part of me agrees... and part of me feels like that kind of hierarchical thinking is what made me interested in mass collaboration in the first place! i.e. that it might not always be clear who the expert is, or what kind of expertise is needed.
That doesn't sound like disagreement to me, more of a different take on the decision criteria compared to how it's been done in the past. The instances of it not being clear who the expert is or what kind of expertise is needed are exactly the instances when this would recommend a more collaborative approach. It's clear on either end of the spectrum, e.g when you're the author, you are the ultimate expert on your book, and when you're creating a collaborative museum exhibit, the group is needed. It's the area between those two extremes that requires judgement, and I like that you're questioning the traditional ways that judgement has been made and applied. Maybe the use of the word 'expert' is wrong there. It's just a stand-in label for "the person who's best suited to do the task that is best done by a single person." Rigid, oppressive hierarchy is problematic, but rejecting all hierarchy also probably isn't a great way to go.
This is a both/and situation. Better fully developed ideas a step forward but uninformed baton passing doesn’t work either. I am better off having learned both and more judicious about when. Thoughtful piece as always xx e—
The two people I was thinking about most as I wrote this were you (both for your writing about Shaike and the tidal wave influence of the Boston Children's Museum on collaborative exhibition-making) and Don Hughes from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who once wrote an article I couldn't unearth about the deficiencies of the group-work exhibition model. I know this is something you've worked and led and thought a lot about, and I am so glad to see your words here. Sending you love!
The full value of the Baton Pass approach and its implicit demand for trust only became more apparent to me during the shutdown. Staff cuts required it. A remote working environment allowed me to rely less on real-time collaboration, but it also gave me an opportunity to focus and do more fully developed work. I’m now trying to figure out how to create space for both kinds of work in this new world. Congratulations on your new book! I know what an accomplishment that is!
Amazingly right after I read this, someone had shared a link to a study in Harvard Business Review noting that asynchronous work can often lead to greater creativity - https://hbr.org/2023/04/research-asynchronous-work-can-fuel-creativity
You are definitely resonating with the gestalt or something.
"Studies show that women and people from marginalized communities are given fewer opportunities to speak and are criticized more harshly when they do in a range of synchronous work settings."
[...]
We found that women’s performances were rated 17% higher when they recorded asynchronously, and that this effect was driven by the degree of creativity in their singing, based on ratings by experts in Baul folk music. (The experts assigned overall ratings to every track as well as timestamped all creative choices made by the singer.)
This creative freedom when singing alone was further captured in interviews with the experimental subjects. After recording asynchronously, one woman said, “I was completely free. I could sing as I wished. I missed some notes at a place, but then I caught on with it later on. I had complete independence and it felt like I was flying like a bird.” Men’s performances were not significantly different in the two conditions, and thus asynchronicity seems to help women without hurting men."
Fascinating! Thank you for sharing this.
I have always felt the collaborative process results in "more than the sum of the total". Much of what is prooffered is uninhibited and provides those"outsied the box" thoughts. Thisd kind of collaboration stimulates participants to places they've never thought about before and can result in really innovative approaches. That is exciting! However, there are also adventures which need a guiding hand element to steer the energy in a more desirable direction - particularly in problem solving, where resolution is needed quickly. I love your realization about being more thoughtful about what you are passing on, and wondering if, had there been more time for more thought in the spontaneous collaborative process, would the results have been somehow more meaningful/effective. The bigger picture in the baton passing is that you, and you alone, are really responsible for the end result. Good to see your reflections on all this. Thanks!
It sounds like a good next step from this insight is understanding when to use which approach. I was just reading a very old book on social psychology that cited research about effectiveness of teams in terms of generating the best ideas. One insight they offered was that when it was clear who the expert was, it was better to have that individual do the work and when it wasn't clear who would have the best ideas the outcome was better when there was a collaborative approach that allowed the best ideas to surface and be vetted by the group.
Interesting. Thank you so much for sharing this. Part of me agrees... and part of me feels like that kind of hierarchical thinking is what made me interested in mass collaboration in the first place! i.e. that it might not always be clear who the expert is, or what kind of expertise is needed.
That doesn't sound like disagreement to me, more of a different take on the decision criteria compared to how it's been done in the past. The instances of it not being clear who the expert is or what kind of expertise is needed are exactly the instances when this would recommend a more collaborative approach. It's clear on either end of the spectrum, e.g when you're the author, you are the ultimate expert on your book, and when you're creating a collaborative museum exhibit, the group is needed. It's the area between those two extremes that requires judgement, and I like that you're questioning the traditional ways that judgement has been made and applied. Maybe the use of the word 'expert' is wrong there. It's just a stand-in label for "the person who's best suited to do the task that is best done by a single person." Rigid, oppressive hierarchy is problematic, but rejecting all hierarchy also probably isn't a great way to go.
This is a both/and situation. Better fully developed ideas a step forward but uninformed baton passing doesn’t work either. I am better off having learned both and more judicious about when. Thoughtful piece as always xx e—
The two people I was thinking about most as I wrote this were you (both for your writing about Shaike and the tidal wave influence of the Boston Children's Museum on collaborative exhibition-making) and Don Hughes from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, who once wrote an article I couldn't unearth about the deficiencies of the group-work exhibition model. I know this is something you've worked and led and thought a lot about, and I am so glad to see your words here. Sending you love!
The full value of the Baton Pass approach and its implicit demand for trust only became more apparent to me during the shutdown. Staff cuts required it. A remote working environment allowed me to rely less on real-time collaboration, but it also gave me an opportunity to focus and do more fully developed work. I’m now trying to figure out how to create space for both kinds of work in this new world. Congratulations on your new book! I know what an accomplishment that is!