for Personal, Project and Organizational Collaborative Relationships
The Blueprint of We: a design document and a collaboration process
A great piece of furniture, beautiful product packaging, the simple elegance of a smartphone app. They all benefit from great design. Our collaborative relationships are no different.
The Blueprint of We is a design document for people who want to get things done. The simple structure harnesses the innate social nature of humans and builds the skills and capacity to deliver on your goals. It is currently used in many languages and cultures in 100+ countries worldwide—from entrepreneurial start-ups to non-profit organizations to global corporations.
Two Blueprint of We Elements
1. A co-written design document
2. An ongoing collaboration process and tools that build trust and reduce anxiety
1. The co-written design document gives people the space to exchange information about who they are and how they work best.
When we have information straight from the source, rather than making assumptions about what other people’s behavior means, our brains engage the neural networks that build trust and lower anxiety.
Your Blueprint is a living, breathing document that evolves and changes over time as your team evolves and changes.
Combine this with team and company strategy, and you have both people and process in alignment. This is the written foundation for clarity and ideation.
2. The collaboration process builds on your written design document and introduces tools to develop collaborative leadership behaviors, calming messy minds and improving on what is already working.
Through a method we refer to as Noise in the System, you learn to clarify and communicate your awareness of what matters, how you operate collectively, and how those behaviors become cultural patterns.
From that awareness, we give you simple, daily tools to help you question, and ultimately change, the pattern thinking that causes anxiety and stress. Stress, when used as a messenger, can give you clarity of direction, ease of decision-making, and resiliency in the storm.
The iterative design process offers an on-going learning cycle about self and others in relation to how you get work done together.
The 5 Components of a Collaboration Document
The Story of Us What draws you to these people and this situation.
Interaction Styles & Stress Messages Who you are. How you work best.
Custom Design Determine what matters most. Mindfully design what, when, why and how.
Questions for Peace & Possibility Capture creative and compassionate you ahead of time.
Short & Long-Term Timeframes Coming back to center and building your document
Apply Design Thinking to Teams
Design Thinking is a widely-used approach to design everything from smartphones to cars (Identify—Define—Ideate—Prototype—Test). We use these same design principles to help you custom design your collaborative relationships, starting with a written design document.
Getting our thoughts and ideas out of our heads and onto paper is the first step in collaboratively building for optimum results—no matter what you’re designing. Take a look at the process of using the Blueprint of We through the same lens you would use to create a new product, project or service.
To Create Your Own Collaboration Documents Contact:
The Center for Collaborative Awareness
Maureen McCarthy + Zelle Nelson
Co-Directors, The Center for Collaborative Awareness
Co-Creators, The Blueprint of We Collaboration Process
+1(847) 859.9046
2021 Greenville Hwy, Flat Rock, NC 28731 USA