How to Make Collaboration Work

Time-tested principles for making collaboration more effective, efficient, and even fun.

"Straus is one of America's preeminent facilitators with stories to tell and lessons to share. With his help, you , too, can build a collaborative organization or community." —Lawrence Susskind, Ford Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning, MIT and President of the Consensus Building Institute

Every day we work with others to solve problems and make decisions, but the experience is often stressful, frustrating, and inefficient. In How to Make Collaboration Work, David Straus, a pioneer in the field of group problem solving, introduces five principles of collaboration that have been proven successful time and again in nearly every conceivable setting.

Straus draws on his thirty years of personal and professional experience to show how these principles have been applied by organizations as diverse as Ford Motor Company, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston Public Schools, Kaiser Permanente, the city of Denver, and many others.

How to Make Collaboration Work shows how collaboration can become a joy rather than a chore-a kind of chemical reaction that releases far more energy than it consumes.

"Lawyers, consultants, accountants and managers need to learn how to manage conflict and build effective teams. Straus captures in this lively book all the best learning about how professionals can facilitate collaboration." —Robert H. Mnookin, Williston Professor of Law, Chairman, Program of Negotiation, Harvard Law School

"The magic of Straus's book lies in its capacity to translate complex ideas and profound insights into powerful principles about how people can work together effectively." —David Chrislip, author of The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook