We've gathered resources to help your team collaborate, including templates, guidance, methods and research. We will update this section regularly. If you don't find what you need or if you have resources you'd like to share with other CoRE-ers, please let us know.
There are numerous factors that influence the formation, composition, operations, and success (or not) of teams. Below are a number of resources to help address these factors:
Team Collaboration Resources
Although each research project has unique features, certain core issues are common to most of them and can be addressed by collaborators by working through the questions in this Sample Partnering Agreement template, developed by the NIH Office of the Ombudsman.
More resources to help your team define how they will work together and to do so effectively include:
Collaboration and Responsible Conduct of Research
This Library Guide on Responsible Conduct of Research & Scholarly Activity provides access to a host of resources on collaboration and the responsible conduct of research and scholarly activity.
Challenging Team Members
Some team members may present challenges for the group. These articles provide guidance for managing difficult personalities:
- A Field Guide to Jerks at Work by Jena McGregor (The Washington Post)
- How to Work with Someone Who Isn’t a Team Player by Carolyn O’Hara
Stages of Team Development
Bringing people together to work on a project seems simple, but forming a strong engaged team takes a little work. This article describes the different stages of team development and provides guidance on how to navigate the rocky ones:
Team Skills and Dynamics
Many drivers of conflict within a team are unseen – goals, roles, and procedures – and are consequently not addressed. There are a number of questions and tools that a team can use to prevent these conflicts, including spending the time to develop a charter that lays out a team’s identity, mission, vision, procedures/norms, boundaries, and endorsement. A team charter is dynamic as it reflects the growth, maturation, and changes that teams are constantly undergoing, and the charter may be applied in different ways depending on factors such as team size. Ultimately, though, it is intended to provide a common understanding of goals, roles, procedures, etc. to all team members and increase the team’s opportunity to achieve success.
- CoRE Team Skills & Dynamics Presentation by Tuck Pescosolido (UNH Chair and Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Management)
- CoRE Team Charter Template provided by Tuck Pescosolido (UNH Chair and Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior and Management)
Working with Other Disciplines
This article describes 10 things that can make interdisciplinary collaboration easier and more effective.
Communication and Collaboration
Ethical cornerstones lay the foundation for collaboration such that relationships are valued; trust is built; social capital is established; and accountability is defined. To build collaborations and ensure that these cornerstones are solid, teams need productive (and sometimes challenging) communications to assess the values, wants, needs, desires, and progress of the collaboration and to move from individual interests and values to group interests and values.
- CoRE Communication and Collaboration Presentation by Renee Heath (UNH Senior Lecturer of Communication)
- The Pyramid of Collaborative Language by Renee Heath and Matthew Isbell
Online Tools to Foster Team Development and Productivity
This seminar discusses innovative strategies and tools that can be used remotely to foster research teams and hold productive research retreats, while combatting Zoom fatigue.
- Interdisciplinary Research in the Age of Zoom: Fostering Research Teams and Productive Research Retreats ... Despite Zoom Fatigue by Alecia Magnifico (UNH Associate Professor of English) and Bethany Silva (UNH Research Assistant Professor of Education) and TILDE team representatives Ashley Barry (UNH Lecturer of English) and Laura Allen (UNH Assistant Professor of Psychology).
Academic research included here delves into team science, facilitating interdisciplinary teams, and challenges to collaboration:
The Role of Land Trusts in Landscape-Scale Collaborative Initiatives – Chapter 6: Challenges of Collaboration by Margaret Macdonald
The CITRA Research-Practice Consensus-Workshop Model: Exploring a New Method of Research Translation in Aging by Myra Sabir et al.
Enhancing the Effectiveness of Team Science by Nancy J. Cooke and Margaret L. Hilton (Free PDF available to download)
Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research and Education: A Practical Guide by Edward G. Derrick et al.
What makes for success in collaborative science? Focusing less on the science and more on the scientists by Jessica L. Bolin and Curt. C. Grimm
Measuring Collaboration Among Grant Partners by Bruce B. Frey et al.
Collaboration & Team Science: A Field Guide by L. Michelle Bennett et al.
There are many resources available to help you communicate about your research scholarship, both here at UNH as well as more broadly.
UNH Communications and Public Affairs resources
- DIY design kit: develop brochures, invitations, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and posters, and more.
- Logos and Branding: downloadable versions of the UNH logo to meet your design needs as well as guidelines for use of the UNH marks.
UNH Academic Technology resources
- Develop a myPages website for your research and scholarship:
- The Parker Media Lab (237 Dimond Library) provides a variety of services, equipment, and best practices, relating to rich media, video conferencing, and synchronous web classroom tools.
Social Media
Social media is another platform for researchers to share findings with broader audiences, attract collaborators, and remove various boundaries for brainstorming and problem-solving.
- Social Media Presentation by Taylor Sievers (UNH Communications and Public Affairs Associate Media Producer)
- How Academics and Researchers Can Get More Out of Social Media by Lina Duque
- Yes, Serious Academics Should Absolutely Use Social Media by Emily Willingham
- Sharing Research on Twitter May Lead to Higher Citations by Tara Siebarth
- Twitter Predicts Citation Rates of Ecological Research by Brandon K. Peoples et al.
Alt(ernative) Metrics
Social media can also be another impact measure of one’s research and scholarship (altmetric scores).
- Altmetrics Presentation by Eleta Exline (UNH Associate Professor and Scholarly Communication Librarian)
- Zoom recording of Social Media and Altmetrics Collaboration Café by Taylor Sievers (UNH Communications and Public Affairs Associate Media Producer) and Eleta Exline (UNH Associate Professor and Scholarly Communication Librarian)
Trends in Scholarly Communications
Understanding the complexities of the current scholarly communication landscape is important for researchers at all stages of their careers, including developments in open access publishing, researcher profiles, new services in the Scholars’ Repository, and data management for multi-disciplinary research teams.
- Trends in Scholarly Communications Presentation by Eleta Exline (UNH Associate Professor and Scholarly Communication Librarian) and Patti Condon, Ph.D. (UNH Assistant Professor and Research Data Services Librarian)
- Zoom recording of Trends in Scholarly Communications Collaboration Café presented by Eleta Exline (UNH Associate Professor and Scholarly Communication Librarian) and Patti Condon, Ph.D. (UNH Assistant Professor and Research Data Services Librarian)
As with building strong teams, there are resources to assist in building strong organizations.
Strategic Planning
Strategic plans define the overall mission of a program or center and provide a road map to get there. They can be an effective way to align the efforts of staff and faculty towards agreed upon goals and objectives. Strategic plans are also commonly used to communicate the value of the organization to stakeholders.
The NOAA Coastal Services Center provides a preplanning workbook to help organizations collect and share information: Preparing to Write Your Strategic Plan
Logic Models
Creating a logic model can help clarify the relationships between project goals, objectives, and outcomes, and it can serve as an effective communication tool for team members and stakeholders.
There are numerous logic model templates. One example can be found here; additional templates and explanations can be viewed and downloaded here.
A copy of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation Logic Model Development Guide can be downloaded here.
Positioning a Center for Success
Positioning a Center for Success by Mark Milutinovich, director of UNH Large Center Development, about what it means to be a center at UNH, strategies for success, and center-level funding mechanisms.
Strengthening Institutes and Centers
UNH has developed guidelines to develop, review, and sun set institutional centers and institutes. The UNH Center and Institute Toolkit includes information about assessing needs, effective management and metrics, and comprehensive reviews.
Emotional Intelligence is "your ability to recognize and understand emotions in yourself and others, and your ability to use this awareness to manage your behavior and relationships." (Bradberry and Greaves) Learn more about Emotional Intelligence and how it relates to successfully achieving your professional objectives:
Emotional Intelligence Presentation by Pat McCabe (UNH HR Partner)
How to Manage Work Relationships that Push Your Buttons by Daniel Goleman: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-manage-work-relationships-push-your-buttons-daniel-goleman/
How to Save a Meeting That’s Gotten Tense by Joseph Grenny: https://hbr.org/2017/12/how-to-save-a-meeting-thats-gotten-tense
Your Brain is Hooked on Being Right by Judith E. Glaser: https://hbr.org/2013/02/break-your-addiction-to-being
Learn to Respond, Not React! by Marshall Goldsmith: http://www.marshallgoldsmith.com/articles/learn-to-respond-not-react/
How Successful People Stay Calm by Travis Bradberry: https://www.forbes.com/sites/travisbradberry/2014/02/06/how-successful-people-stay-calm/#5757296c2f79
Travis Bradberry’s blog: http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/
Brene Brown on Blame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZWf2_2L2v8
Brene Brown on Empathy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Evwgu369Jw
We probably have all experienced bad meetings - but hopefully some great ones, too! Bad meetings can eliminate enthusiasm and engagement. The resources below can help you organize your meetings so that they are productive, efficient, and appreciated (if not enjoyed).
- 7 Habits of Highly Effective Meetings from Project Management Hacks
- A Step-by-Step Guide to Structuring Better Meetings by Liane Davey
- Agenda Template from MindTools
- Running Effective Meetings by the Mind Tools Content Team
- Do You Really Need to Hold That Meeting? by Elizabeth Grace Saunders
- Facilitation Tip Sheet by Communities for Public Health (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Learn more about evaluation rationale, types of evaluations, and addressing the evaluation requirements in your proposal:
Building Evaluation into Your Collaborative Research Presentation by Eleanor Jaffee (Evaluation Program Director, UNH Carsey School of Public Policy)
Building Evaluation into your Collaborative Research Presentation - Zoom Recording
Building Evaluation into your Collaborative Research Presentation - PowerPoint Only
Learn more about working with UNH's Corporate and Foundation relations team as well as foundations for which UNH has developed institution-wide strategies to increase proposal competitiveness.
Corporate and Foundation Relations PPT by Nancy Broude (Director, Foundation Relations, UNH)
Learn more about identifying collaborative funding opportunities, including different search and writing strategies that you might employ.
Identifying Collaborative Funding Opportunities Presentation by Lynnette Hentges (UNH Research Development)
Team Project Inventory - Information All Sponsors Need by Lynnette Hentges (UNH Research Development)