A Quick Teaming Protocol to Enable Inclusive Collaboration
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18357/otessaj.2025.5.2.111Keywords:
closeness, psychological safety, STEM education, interdisciplinary, teamworkAbstract
This article details the development of a teaming protocol designed to quickly build inclusive teams in academic and research contexts. We address a grand challenge directly–that of developing equitable and inclusive STEM education and workplaces. Such collaborative teams involve learning, as members of interdisciplinary teams learn from one another as they frame and solve problems. Such teams depend upon trust and psychological safety. Teams benefit when teammates value diversity, develop a collaborative mindset, develop closeness, establish team norms, and create a space in which all team members feel safe and empowered to express themselves. It is less clear how to intentionally create the necessary conditions to allow teams to collaborate successfully. Utilizing research from the fields of learning sciences, team science, sociology, psychology, and social justice, this paper aims to develop a compact teaming protocol that supports the development of successful teams with high levels of trust and psychological safety. The protocol draws from several different tools previously implemented with pairs and teams to rapidly develop team rapport, norms, and workflows. If successful, this intervention could be used to increase inclusion in student collaborative learning teams as well as in interdisciplinary research teams.
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