The Heart- Collaborative Team Shape

Things happen for a reason right?! So there's a reason that this collaborative team shape is in the shape of a heart whilst at the same time being at the heart of collaboration. Like the constellations in the sky you might need a bit of creativity in your thinking to see it but it's a strong metaphor and I'm sticking with it! This is very much a 1-on-1 shape with your colleague sat shoulder-to-shoulder getting the business done. With the seating forming the 'V' (a necessary and related collaborative shape) we extend out to the heart with the arms of each of the individuals creating the silhouetted sides of the our blood pumping organ.

It was when I was reviewing a contact sheet from a shoot of 'warm' images (those that consist of two or more collaborators) that I saw it. I was annotating as a basis for describing the shots and noted when I added the connection between the two with a squiggle over one head to another there it was .. it jumped out. Once you've seen it you can seek it in meetings and workshops where the conditions are such that collaboration is occurring. With both single arms active, one from each of the collaborators(!), what we are experiencing here is a moment in time where a shared thought of understanding has translated through to a shared action. This often suggests that in the area attention in front of the collaborators includes, if not already, a common view of something of other. In Big Picture terms this could be overlapping symbols demonstrating a connection that is now confirmed with shared pointing in it's general direction.

Have a think about when you might see this in your work and if you like it what the conditions are that you could create to encourage it to happen more,