• They are using a board with visuals, with different colors and shapes, to organize ideas.

• They are aware of their available resources, including the capabilities and limitations of those resources, AND they intend to use them—They know what the local stores and movie theatres have or don’t have and are making a plan for how to loop that into their trip.

• The group hears from all voices, getting everyone’s knowledge, thoughts, and ideas on the possibilities, as well as keeping track of each other’s preferences.

• On the continuum of collaboration, where we can classify a situation on the scale of most simple to most complex, we can see this situation sliding along that scale even in this short amount of time, as more information and considerations come to light. It started pretty simple: “let’s go see a movie,” but became more complex as they considered everyone’s needs and their potential options.

• Even though Sheldon did not end up going with them, he was part of the conversation on what needed to be done. It was decided that he didn’t fit in this particular instance. In your work, there may be factors that make this the case for you as well, or it might be that something one person wants to focus on isn’t possible right now until something else changes. It was decided Sheldon wouldn’t go because of his own needs and where he wouldn’t/couldn’t bend. They made it a joke, but his capacity and expectations of the situation created a complexity that he was able to recognize was not supportive to the need of the group.

• He was not only part of the conversation, but his self-awareness throughout also helped them better understand and prepare for the problem (they knew right away a Slurpee wasn’t going to work!).

• When we are collaborating, or attempting to collaborate with others, we may come across difficulties in that process, either because of another person’s capacity or other personal reasons. There are also times in your work when someone will not be able to participate in collaborative efforts due to their capacity or job requirements.

• Rather than assuming or deciding for the other person that they won’t be involved, there are still ways that they can be part of the conversation to include their thoughts, knowledge, and expertise, or at least be kept in the loop and made aware of what is going on at the site and with the other TAPs.

Trudi’s career started as a Speech and Language Pathologist. For 35 years she served as the Director of Services for Children with Disabilities Department at Southwest Human Development and did so until 2023. Trudi currently serves as the Senior Consultant of Leadership and Strategy for the agency. Trudi also Co-Authored the book Reflective Supervision and Leadership in Infant and Early Childhood Programs.

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