Collaborative problem solvers are made not born – here's what you need to know

People are continually handling problems that require advice from others. We face issues that are broad in scope and impact, such as climate change.

But people are not naturally competent in collaborative problem-solving. Generally, people aren't being taught this skill either. A 2015 international assessment of students revealed that more than 90% of students could not overcome teamwork obstacles or resolve conflict. However, this deficit could be addressed and lead to positive change.

Team members need interpersonal competencies, communication skills like listening to learn, and the ability to take other's perspectives.

Collaborative problem-solving requires team members to create and maintain a shared understanding of the situation. Initially, there will be an uneven distribution of expertise and interpretation of the problem that will require clear communication. Then the team can lay out subtasks based upon member roles, or create mechanisms to coordinate member actions.

There are interrelated factors why so many students are unable to collaborate.

While students engage in group work in high school and college, they rarely receive meaningful instruction, modelling, and feedback about their teamwork abilities. This results in students overestimating their collaboration skills.

• Research shows it's possible to teach collaboration competencies such as dealing with conflict and communicating to learn.
• Students need opportunities for practice. They need to learn to work across disciplines, so that after graduation, they can work across professions on solving complex societal problems.
• Feedback telling students how well they were able to take on the perspective of a teammate from another discipline is required, not merely feedback on whether students solved the problem.