Our first Collaborative Practices Salon was held on an autumn afternoon late in March 2023, in the mid-century Shine Dome adjacent to the ANU campus in Acton. Our intention for this Salon was to create a space for reflection and exchange on the practice of collaboration, and to begin to build a community of collaborative practitioners from both within and external to the ANU.
The theme of the salon was Emotions. One of the key themes that arose in our initial Collaborative Cultures research was that the human qualities we value and bring to our practice shape our collaborations and their effectiveness. Emotions are one of these human qualities, and their importance in collaborations can often be minimised or overlooked. We invited four guests – Jilda Andrews, Lyndall Strazdins, and Brian Babbington, Anita Beck and Keir Winesmith – to share their thoughts on emotion and collaboration. One simile shared by Anita seemed to resonate with many participants – the ‘pit of despair’, where nothing seems to be working and the temptation to give up is strong, but which can lead to some of the most rewarding work. We invited participants to reflect on and share their own experiences in small groups, using word prompts such as excitement, confusion, frustration and pride. Coming back together we then opened the conversation to the whole room, with participants sharing their reflections with candor and generosity.