Is Collaboration A Way Of Practice?

I've been studying the collaborative mind. My research is by no means finished; probably never will be. I feel it is a practice, a way of thinking about people/process/life. It is similar to Zen practice, much in the way Ani Tenzin Palmo said in his speech at the Cambridge Zen Center, the essence of the Buddhist path is mind training.

But where to start understanding collaboration? Well, you got to go to the web to get that answer, right? Collaboration as defined by Wikipedia is...

Collaboration is a structured, recursive process where two or more people work together toward a common goal - typically, an intellectual endeavor that is creative in nature - by sharing knowledge, learning and building consensus. Collaboration does not require leadership and can sometimes bring better results through decentralization. In particular, teams that work collaboratively can obtain greater resources, recognition and reward when facing competition for finite resources.

In the book Collaborative Entrepreneurship by Raymond E. Miles, Grant Miles, and Charles C. Snow, they define it more organizationally by...

Drawing upon over 30 years of research in management, a hundred years of history, and an analysis of global trends to develop a fictional firm, OpWin Global Network. OpWin exemplifies a new species of network organization that provides businesses with a means of achieving continuous innovation through cross-industry collaborations and resource flexibility.

Through the "meta power" of Youtube, we see collaboration as:

A video history of modifying traditional dance for modern use - excellent watch...



An artist, Andy Goldsworthy, who produces site-specific sculpture and land art situated in natural and urban settings bears witness to collaboration with nature...



CISCO CEO John Chambers talking on collaborating USING technology - great insight...



It seems that all are examples of using collaboration in daily practice to drive creativity, innovation and thought. The real message is adoption: those that adopt collaboration find the collaborative mind more appealing which, in my opinion, produces amazing results! So, great that we've defined it and feel that we must adopt it, but how does one go about this? Well, that's for my next blog post...