Comprehensive Collaboration Plans: Practical Considerations Spanning Across Individual Collaborators to Institutional Supports

Abstract

This chapter provides a framework for integrating and applying the principles and strategies for effective team science that are described in this volume. The framework, called Collaboration Planning, aims to guide a deliberative approach to assess and plan for ten key influences on both scientific and collaborative success. These influences range from the initial scientific rationale for a team science approach to the collaboration readiness of participating individuals and institutions to team communication and coordination mechanisms to quality improvement for team functioning. The Collaboration Planning framework guides current or future collaborators through dialogue and planning around each influence. It draws their attention to key issues for consideration related to each influence, and facilitates discussion of how to leverage facilitating factors and plan for, or mitigate, challenges. Decisions are captured in a resulting written document called the Collaboration Plan. The Collaboration Plan summarizes the various ways the team plans to build the foundation for, and support, effective collaboration across the lifespan of the team science initiative. Collaboration Plans can be used in multiple ways. The Plans’ core function is as a roadmap to facilitate effective team formation and functioning. The Plan also can be used for benchmarking or guiding quality improvement-oriented evaluation. Collaboration Plans also can be used to communicate a team’s likelihood of collaborative success, goals, and needs to a wide variety of audiences, including funders, current and future team members, stakeholders in the team’s success, and organizational leaders. In addition, they can be used as models to guide future teams in laying the foundation for success.