Collaboration and Applied Research

Today, I have had a great seminar with R&D.

After a rather traditional introduction, a story about our unit was presented. It has been written over the last two weeks as a chain letter. So it has been send by e-mail and everybody has contributed to the story. It was very interesting to hear the different narratives about our work, our identiy and our shared goals. Wonderful that everybody has contributed with such positive and surprising stories about engagement, curiousity, and diligence in our work.

After a debate about the narratives, we individually painted the picture of our work-life. All the interesting contributions showed that we have different perceptions of our common work and workplace. This part was followed by a group-discussion about the three most important dimensions of our work.

We then enjoyed a great lunch - and afterwards I had a 5 minutes presentation, then I was interviewed in 5 minutes by two of the followers and finally I answered questions from everyone in 5 minutes. It was all about how we shall work with applied research and innovation in the future. The presentation, the interview and the debate were video-recorded, so that people who were absent can hear it. I also look forward to hear if I said anything coherent and sound! Furthermore, I expect that the discussions will continue and I am sure we will find new ways to improve our work.

In the final part of the day, we had a group discussion and we painted pictures of how we currently collaborate. Finally, the three groups presented their visualizations of how collaboration is perceived.

Thanks to Ulla and Kristian for designing and conducting the day. Great job!
Thanks to everybody for contributing in such an enthusiastic way. It confirmed my motto: that it important to have fun at work. It also ensured me that we will do a great work this spring to enhance collaboration and  learning in R&D.