Mather, Martha., Gabe Granco, Jason Bergtold, Marcellus Caldas, Jessica Heier Stamm, Aleksey Sheshukov, Matthew Sanderson, Melinda Daniels.. 2023. Achieving Interdisciplinary Success with RISE: A Widely-Implementable, Iterative, Multi-step Structured Process for Mastering Team Collaboration.
Abstract
Experts from different disciplines often have difficulty meshing their specialized perspectives into the shared mindset that is needed to address complex environmental problems. Existing training programs neither provide a systematic way to develop team skills nor offer a protocol for identifying increasingly connected interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary (IT) questions. Here, we illustrate a tractable, widely-implementable process that accelerates the development of these missing skills. Our RISE process (Route to Identifying, learning, practicing IT team Skills to address complex Environmental problems) can be used by diverse teams as a tool for training, research, or professional interactions. RISE helps professionals with different expertise learn from each other by repeatedly asking jointly developed questions that are tested quantitatively using a common IT dataset. The output of these quantitative tests are then discussed and synthesized. As a result, individual perspectives, originally informed by disciplinary training, are replaced by a shared understanding.