Stephanie Polickoski - Team Leader

Collaboration

Collaboration is essential.

I think everyone knows this already.

But working in a nonstop creative environment for at least 24 hours, how does one keep from basically wanting to kill the other members that they’re working with?

-Simple Answer: Respect.

-Long Answer: Listening to others’ ideas as well as your own. You have to be willing to listen (not necessarily agree) and be open to other’s ideas. You may not like the ideas, and you may not always agree with them, but being open to the ideas is essential. Your ideas aren’t always going to be the best, and you have to be willing to accept that. 


During CreateAthon, as a team leader, I can say that my ideas were not always the best. Thank goodness for my team members. They definitely saved me, and not just with the work, but they critiqued my ideas and concepts efficiently in a way that actually helped us to move forward as a group. Because of the honest critiques, and accepting of other’s ideas, our group functioned a lot more efficiently and effectively, and were able to really pump out some strong pieces. I can definitely say that if we had kept back all our thoughts and worked more on our own individually, we would definitely not have gotten as far as we did with the deliverables. 

Collaboration during CreateAthon is more than just the ideas as well. Collaboration is knowing who you’re working with. Knowing that everyone needs a break, takes criticism differently, and that everyone functions differently.  Yet in the end, you take all of the different factors about each individual person, and you make it all work together.