Collaborative Tools – Collaborative Operating Agreement

By Radical Purpose and originally published at radicalpurpose.org

“I believe in standardizing automobiles. I do not believe in standardizing human beings. — Albert Einstein, Physicist

Collaboration is a fundamental part of the future of work. When we remove the Force Paradigm, it becomes clear we need new ways of seeing and interacting with each other. The new world of collaboration requires that we co-create new tools.

We have co-created an open-source Collaborative Operating Agreement as a way to facilitate the development of new collaboratives.

The Collaborative Project is an open-source project to co-create Needs-Paradigm-based collaboratives to demonstrate the benefits and challenges of shifting away from the Force Paradigm.

We are developing collaboratives in France, USA, and Belgium. These collaboratives are experiments in new ways of working. Our efforts have led to the open-sourcing of this sample Operating Agreement.

The Collaborative Agreement is a visual contract. We believe that this simpler form of contract allows everyone to participate in their creation and permits members to take ownership of the process and the results.

It will take a lot of work to bring about the Future of Collaboration. We hope these early steps will inspire others to make the shift away from force-based organizations towards ones that meet their needs.

Feel free to check out the work in progress that is the agreement. Join us in evolving it and help us create new versions. This is an on going project with the opportunity to change how we see and organize our work.

Check Out the Agreement

Collaborative Canvas

Collaborating is difficult for most people. We have been trained not to collaborate and instead compete.  The Collaborative Canvas is a framework that helps people reconnect with why we collaborate in the first place. The Canvas reinforces collaboration as an exercise in serving our needs and those of others.

Learning to collaborate requires that we understand our motivations

To learn more about the Collaborative Canvas [workshops have been offered and might be offered again.] It helps team members connect and bond in ways they’ve never been able to before.

Featured Image and some paragraph spacing added by Enlivening Edge Magazine. Photo by Thirdman