Collaboration has many meanings. Its Latin roots are com and laborare, being "working together."

Collaborative processes^® sees collaboration as "collaboration for action" - working together. 

As such we seek to build or improve the stakeholders' relationship but also to move the stakeholders to collective action. That may involve, among others, decision making, developing policy, developing strategic frameworks, assessing technical issues, creating and using working groups that advise the process.

Dialogue is a natural component of collaborative processes. Dialogue has been referred to as "the art of thinking together." We need dialogue to effectively convey our thoughts and to learn. When used in collaborative processes, we can move to joint action.

What distinguishes good collaboration? When Larson and LaFasto (see below) investigated "what factors distinguish good problem solving team" they learned the factors are:

1. Focus: clarity about what they are doing at each moment in their work.
2. Collaborative climate: a climate of fun, comfort, informality, acceptance, competence, value.
3. Communication: openness, problems get discussed rather than avoided or minimized.

Other factors that could be added include:

Concept sources: When Teams Work Best, LaFasto and Larson, Sage, 2001; Dialogue and the Art of Thinking Together, Isaacs, Currency, 1999, The Collaborative Leadership Fieldbook, Chrislip, 2002, Jossy-Bass.