About the Book
This third edition of Collaboration: What Makes It Work is an example of the enduring importance of collaboration. Reaction to the first edition, published in 1992, showed that researchers and practitioners alike found it a useful tool. They appreciated its emphasis on providing a practical reference for decision-making that built upon credible, research-based information. The twenty-first century has brought with it rapid changes and increasingly complex challenges. This third edition in large part responds to the complexity witnessed daily in the authors' work with community, nonprofit, and government organizations. It offers new research and insights paired with practitioner wisdom, adding a "how-to" perspective to help listeners put the success factors to work. Nearly twenty-five years after the first edition was published, it is not just the "how" of collaboration that has changed--who we are collaborating with has changed as well. Today, nearly every collaboration involves some degree of working across difference. Bringing together diverse people, organizations, or sectors in a way that will foster collaborative success requires a unique set of skills. This third edition will ground you in the factors that support successful collaboration and assist you in incorporating those factors into your work.
About the Author :
Kirsten M. Johnson is the director of community engagement and systems change at the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation, where she manages a portfolio of community-driven projects aimed at creating equity. Johnson's work focuses on engagement, collaboration, and systems change addressing complex challenges impacting the communities that Wilder serves. Johnson brings the lenses of emotional intelligence, intercultural competence, and network weaving to all of her work. Johnson studied political science and women's studies at the University of Minnesota and has worked in the nonprofit sector on collaboration and community development for over fifteen years. Prior to coming to the Wilder Foundation, Johnson's work supported a variety of nonprofit organizations, including the StreetWorks Collaborative, VEAP, and Arc Greater Twin Cities. Paul W. Mattessich, PhD, is executive director of Wilder Research, which dedicates itself to improving the lives of individuals, families, and communities through applied research. Mattessich has assisted local, national, and international organizations with strategic planning, organizational improvement, and evaluation. He travels regularly to Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom, where he learns from, and consults with, organizations addressing youth development, community development, and the promotion of peace and acceptance of diversity among groups from divided communities. Mattessich has been involved in applied social research since 1973 and is the author or coauthor of more than three hundred publications and reports. He has also served on a variety of task forces in government and the nonprofit sectors. He received his PhD in sociology from the University of Minnesota, where he currently serves as an adjunct faculty in the School of Social Work. Mitch Crawford grew up telling narrative, improvisational stories with his brother, using stuffed animals, tiny army men, and Star Trek action figures as characters. This carried forward to adulthood, crafting such stories with his children, as well as reading storybooks, picture books, and young adult literature aloud to all five offspring. He once read all nineteen original Gertrude Chandler Warner Boxcar Children books to his two young boys one summer, chipping away at them each night before bedtime. A high school teacher for twenty years in history, economics, fine arts, and computer science, Mitch realized that voice inflection, vocal and kinesthetic surprises, and even reading aloud helped keep his students engaged in course material. Now an actor, model, and voice-over artist, his personal branding invokes the smart, funny, and occasionally aloof dad or guy-next-door, or the serious and principled lawyer, doctor, or businessperson. This personal history and these characteristics have helped develop a sincere, trustworthy voice that resonates well with children's literature, first- and third-person POV fiction, nonfiction, biography/memoir, and self-help books. A graduate of Villanova University with a dual major in psychology and philosophy, and an MA and teacher's certification from The Ohio State University, Mitch does his homework and knows how to relate to his audience. For fun, he played volleyball for Villanova in the late 1980s when short shorts and high socks were en vogue. After twenty-five-plus years of that, he switched to tennis, which takes a lesser toll on his body (well, sort of). Mitch loves hiking and traveling with his wife, sneaking out to Five Guys with step-daughter Grace, and being outdoors with their dogs, Izzy and Grommit. John Patrick Walsh made an auspicious debut as Phil Mickelson's caddy for the audiobook of the popular golf memoir One Magical Sunday and has since narrated numerous titles in the inspirational, business, and American history categories. Favorite stage and television credits include the Player King in Ethos Theatre Company's production of Hamlet and the Police Chaplain in ABC's General Hospital. John lives with his wife and two sons in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he founded VoiceOverWalsh, LLC.
John Patrick Walsh made an auspicious debut as Phil Mickelson's caddy for the audiobook of the popular golf memoir One Magical Sunday and has since narrated numerous titles in the inspirational, business, and American history categories. Favorite stage and television credits include the Player King in Ethos Theatre Company's production of Hamlet and the Police Chaplain in ABC's General Hospital. John lives with his wife and two sons in New Canaan, Connecticut, where he founded VoiceOverWalsh, LLC.